There are few artists whose career continues to intrigue different generations of music fans. Nadine Sutherland is one such. An artist, whose talents are respected and admired in all age groups. Her voice heralded as one of the best in Reggae music by some music lovers and critics. Throughout a career that spans 40 years, her stage performances and hits continue to captivate new fans, while still maintaining the love and respect from those who witnessed her rise from teen sensation, into her new legendary status. Her wide range of fans always waiting to see what is next from this diva who constantly reinvents herself.
The ‘child-star’ made her stage debut, in 1979, at the age of eleven, as the first winner of Jamaica’s popular “Tastee Talent Contest”. International Reggae superstar Bob Marley signed her to his Tuff Gong label. Nadine went from being known as Reggae’s “Teen Queen”, with hits including “Starvation” and “Until”; to garnering international acclaim as the co-lead on dancehall anthems “Action” and “Anything For You”. She also had the opportunity to work with another Reggae Icon as a teenager. While still a student at St Andrew High School for girls, she was hand picked by Reggae icon Peter Tosh, to provide background vocals on his grammy award album ‘No Nuclear War’. This led her to be one of the top requested studio background vocalists in the late eighties and early nineties. Providing support vocals for Dennis Brown, Gregory Isaacs, Shabba Ranks, Buju Banton and the soundtrack of Disney’s Sebastian the Crab.
Considered by fans and critics alike to be the premier Jamaican female vocalist of her generation, Nadine continued to fulfill the promise she demonstrated as a child. Throughout the 90’s, Nadine remained centre-stage in the dancehall with solo hits Including “Rainbow/ I’m in Love”, “Babyface” and “Wicked & Wild”, as well as collaborations with top deejays including Buju Banton, Mad Cobra, Spragga Benz, Terror Fabulous and Canadian singjay Snow. The hit ballad “Pair of Wings” highlighted Nadine’s songwriting abilities. Released near the time of the shocking death of promising reggae singer, Garnet Silk, her earnest and tender performance became the unofficial tribute. The 1997 release of her self-titled album on VP Records further showcased her depth and sincerity as a writer and performer. The song “No, No (Not My Baby)” is considered by some music critics as one of the most powerful mother-to son ballads ever written. Having devoted most of her childhood and young adult years to her recording and performing career, Nadine took some time away from the industry to explore some of her other interests. She explored her writing skills with articles published in a weekly column in one of Jamaica’s top newspapers ‘The Jamaica Observer’. Her longtime love of dance led to her becoming a certified fitness dance aerobics instructor.
Nadine was soon to find another area of the cultural industries in which she excelled, this was through the medium of television. She was one of the original set of panel judges in the popular Jamaican television show Rising Stars. As the winner of a talent contest herself, she brought her life experience to Rising Stars, which was Jamaica’s first live, made for television talent search. In 2006 Nadine created her own business enterprise, Nadsipadsi Enterprises, to coordinate her many interests and projects. She also became the spokesperson for Supligen Soy, a Nestle-owned nutritional replacement popular in the Caribbean. In 2007 Nadine took on the role of executive producer and released her mega album “Call My Name”. The album gathered considerably chart’s traction scoring the number one position in South Florida, number three in Jamaica and number two in New York. The hit single from the album “Big Things”, was given heavy rotation in the Caribbean Reggae market and the video for the single was shown widely on several international video shows.
The release of her controversial song “Cougar” in 2009 with special features in the video with the likes of world renowned international sprinter Yohan Blake saw her embracing another side of her artistic expressions. The provocative thematic content raised a few eyebrows, however, helping to broaden her fan base. In 2011, she realized one of her dreams which was to become a student. Influenced by Caribbean Cultural Icon Rex Nettleford, she became an undergraduate student at the University of The West Indies, studying the discipline of Cultural Studies. She was awarded a Masters in Arts in Cultural Studies in 2016. With her academic pursuits behind her, Nadine released to singles in 2016. One was a remake of one of the tracks from the album “Call My Name” titled “Remedy” with Zyon I, the other is a Reggaeton track “Never In Love” for producers Vexx Bad. At the beginning of 2017, the video for Remedy was shot and made available to several media stations. Consequently, this has increased the radio play and lifted her general profile and presence the local Reggae/Dancehall market. On the international scene, her versatility and proficiency as a vocalist mastering different genres was displayed. As a song that was intended to be a demo for her being the possible lead chanteuse for the group Soul to Soul, in the early nineties, titled “Love Comes Back to You” was released as a third single from the album ”Look to the Sky”. This album was marketed to Soul and R & B international audiences. She shared solo vocal performance tracks with other world renowned critically and commercially acclaimed artists, like Karen Wheeler, Chante Moore and Maxi Priest. After she made her first European performance at arguably the biggest Reggae festival in the world, Rototom in Spain in August 2017, she was appointed The Director of The Performing Arts for the Challenge Charter Organization in Far Rockaway New York.
Elorm Beenie is an experienced Public Relations Officer and Author with a demonstrated history of working in the music industry.
He holds an enviable record of working directly and running PR jobs for both international and local artistes; notable among his huge repertoire of artistes worked with are Morgan Heritage (Grammy Winners), Rocky Dawuni (Grammy Nominee, 2015), Samini (MOBO Winner - 2006, MTV Awards Africa Winner - 2009) and Stonebwoy (BET Best African Act Winner - 2015). Other mainstream artistes of great repute he has worked with are Kaakie, Kofi Kinaata, Teephlow, (just to name a few), who have all won multiple awards under Vodafone GHANA Music Awards (VGMAs).
Elorm Beenie has done PR & road jobs for Sizzla, Jah Mason, Busy Signal, Kiprich, Anthony B, Demarco, Turbulence, Popcaan, Jah Vinci & Morgan Heritage who came to Ghana for concerts and other activities.
Elorm Beenie has done countless activations for artistes and has coordinated dozens of events both locally and internationally. He deeply understands the rudiments of the industry.
His passion for the profession is enormous. Aside his PR duties, he also stands tall as one of the few bloggers who breakout first hand credible and also dig out substantial information relating to the arts & industry. He is quite visible in the industry and very influential on social media, which to his advantage, has gunned a massive following for him on social media as well as in real life.
He is a strong media and communication professional skilled in Coaching, Strategic Planning, and Event Management.
He's very transparent on issues around the art industry.