The Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album is an award presented at the
Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...
s, a ceremony that was established in 1985 and originally called the Gramophone Awards,
to recording artists for quality works in the
reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...
music genre. Honors in several categories are presented at the ceremony annually by the
National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
The Recording Academy (formally the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences; abbreviated NARAS) is an American learned academy of musicians, producers, recording engineers, and other musical professionals. It is famous for its Grammy Aw ...
of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position".
Originally called the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Recording, the honor was presented to artists for eligible songs or albums. The Jamaican group
Black Uhuru
Black Uhuru is a Jamaican reggae group formed in 1972, initially as Uhuru ( Swahili for 'freedom'). The group has undergone several line-up changes over the years, with Derrick "Duckie" Simpson as the mainstay. They had their most successful pe ...
received the first award in 1985. Beginning with the 1992 ceremony, the name of the award was changed to Best Reggae Album. Starting in 2002, awards were often presented to the
engineers
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the li ...
,
mixers, and/or
producers in addition to the performing artists. According to the category description guide for the
52nd Grammy Awards, eligible works are vocal or
instrumental
An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to inst ...
reggae albums "containing at least 51% playing time of newly recorded music", including
roots reggae
Roots reggae is a subgenre of reggae that deals with the everyday lives and aspirations of Africans and those in the African Diaspora, including the spiritual side of Rastafari, black liberation, revolution and the honoring of God, called Jah ...
,
dancehall
Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The R ...
and
ska music.
Ziggy Marley
David Nesta "Ziggy" Marley (born 17 October 1968) is a Jamaican singer, songwriter, musician, actor and philanthropist. He is the son of reggae icon Bob Marley and Rita Marley. He led the family band Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers until 20 ...
holds the record for the most wins in this category, with seven wins as of 2017.
Recipients
Each year is linked to the article about the Grammy Awards held that year.
2010 controversy
Buju Banton's (real name Mark Anthony Myrie) nomination for the 2010 award sparked controversy and protest due to
homophobic lyrics within his music.
Banton's most controversial song, released in 1988, is "Boom, Bye Bye", which "promote
the murder of gay men by shooting or burning".
Following the artist's nomination, the
Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
GLAAD (), an acronym of Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, is an American non-governmental media monitoring organization originally founded as a protest against defamatory coverage of gay and lesbian demographics and their portrayals ...
and the
Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center
The Los Angeles LGBT Center (previously known as the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center) is a provider of programs and services for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. The organization's work spans four categories, including health, soc ...
placed an advertisement in the ''
Daily Variety
''Variety'' is an American media company owned by Penske Media Corporation. The company was founded by Sime Silverman in New York City in 1905 as a weekly newspaper reporting on theater and vaudeville. In 1933 it added ''Daily Variety'', based ...
'' encouraging Grammy officials to denounce music that "promotes or celebrates violence against any group of people".
[ The advertisement, which took the form of a letter signed by gay rights and ]civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life ...
activists, asserted that honoring Banton was awarding "extraordinary hateful work". The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
The Recording Academy (formally the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences; abbreviated NARAS) is an American learned academy of musicians, producers, recording engineers, and other musical professionals. It is famous for its Grammy Aw ...
responded by insisting that artists are honored for quality music "regardless of politics". Banton has been quoted as saying that he sees "no end to the war" between himself and gay men. The 2010 award was presented to Stephen Marley. Banton was nominated in 2011 for the album '' Before the Dawn''.[ Other reggae musicians that have been accused of promoting anti-gay lyrics include ]Beenie Man
Anthony Moses Davis (born 22 August 1973), better known by his stage name Beenie Man, is a Jamaican Dancehall deejay.
Biography
Davis was born in the Waterhouse district of Kingston in 1973.Moskowitz, David V. (2006) ''Caribbean Popular Mu ...
, Elephant Man
Joseph Carey Merrick (5 August 1862 – 11 April 1890), often erroneously called John Merrick, was an English man known for having severe deformities. He was first exhibited at a freak show under the stage name "the Elephant Man" and then wen ...
, Shabba Ranks
Shabba Ranks (born Rexton Rawlston Fernando Gordon; 17 January 1966) is a Jamaican dancehall musician. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he was one of the most popular Jamaican musicians in the world. Throughout his prominence in his home cou ...
and Sizzla.
See also
* List of reggae musicians
* List of roots reggae artists
* List of ska musicians
* Music of Jamaica
The music of Jamaica includes Jamaican folk music and many popular genres, such as mento, ska, rocksteady, reggae, dub music, dancehall, reggae fusion and related styles.
Reggae is especially popular through the international fame of Bob Marle ...
* Reggae genres
There are several subgenres of reggae music including various predecessors to the form.
Pre-reggae styles
Mento
Reggae grew out of earlier musical styles such as mento, ska and rocksteady. Mento is a Jamaican folk music based on traditions bro ...
References
General
* Note: User must select the "Reggae" category as the genre under the search feature.
Specific
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grammy Award For Best Reggae Album
1985 establishments in the United States
Awards established in 1985
Reggae Album