Koffee Wins Best Reggae Album Grammy Award - At Age 19!
Koffee Accepting her Award | Photo Source: IG @originalkoffee
Jamaica's young female musical sensation, Koffee, created history for Jamaica and Reggae, when she copped the coveted Best Reggae Album award, for her debut album, Rapture, at the 62nd Annual Grammy Award ceremony in Los Angeles, California at the Staples Center.
Koffee, just nineteen years old and whose given name is Mikayla Simpson, is now
the youngest and
only female to win a Grammy for Best Reggae Album.
On accepting the award, Koffee paid respects to her fellow nominees for their contribution to reggae and declared the award a victory for Reggae Music and Jamaica.
The other nominees were...
- Third World: More Work to be Done
- Sly and Robbie and Roots Radics for the album: Sly and Robbie vs Roots Radics
- Julian Marley for his album, As I am, and
- Steel Pulse for Mass Manipulation
She also included Morgan's Heritage and other giants in the industry, mentioning that she learned a lot from them.
You can read more at her twitter page:
https://twitter.com/originalkoffeeOn her IG page, Jamaica's Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, congratulated Koffee, who she hailed as
"outstanding, gifted and talented daughter of the soil, and also a proud product of St Catherine".
She noted that... despite her young age, “Koffee is an outstanding Ambassador of Jamaica's Reggae music and so is very deserving of the award.
She noted that Koffee’s achievement is indeed an inspiration Jamaicans, especially emerging artistes and women artistes who have to continue beating against the glass ceiling.
Opposition Spokeman on Entertainment, Dwayne Vaz, also congratulated her, noting that Koffee's achievement will pave the way for women with big aspirations to show that they also can achieve excellence.
The album,
"Rapture", spent 32 weeks on Billboard’s Reggae albums chart. That was after debuting at number one.
“Toast”, it's lead single, is one of the biggest reggae song for 2019 and was featured by many celebrities, including making former US President, Barack Obama's,
summer playlist.
References:
- "Koffee Wins Grammy Award", Jamasica Gleaner.com, http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20200126/koffee-wins-grammy-award
- "Koffee Wins Grammy for Best Reggae Album", Caribbean National Weekly, https://www.caribbeannationalweekly.com/entertainment/koffee-wins-grammy-for-best-reggae-album/, Accessed January 27, 2020
- "Grange congratulates ‘thoroughly deserving’ Koffee", https://www.instagram.com/p/B7zrx0BnzLJ/
- TVJ's Prime Time News, January 26, 2020
- RJR Morning News, January 27, 2020