Jamaica Reggae Industry Association to Honor Billboard With ‘Extraordinary Impact’ Award

The Jamaica Reggae Industry Association’s JaRIA Honour Awards return on April 10 in Kingston, Jamaica. This year, the show will honor Dawn Penn, Horace Andy and Shaggy with the icon award, as announced Sunday (Feb. 26) in Saint Andrew, Kingston, Jamaica.

Twenty-six of the awardees have already been announced in 16 categories; on April 10, all 31 winners (in 19 categories) will be revealed. One of the already revealed honorees is Billboard, which is being recognized in the extraordinary impact on the reggae industry (media—new media) category.

In addition to several reggae charts, Billboard has covered the pioneers and newcomers in the reggae genre for decades, conducting interviews with legends like Ernest Ranglin as well as rising stars like Grammy winner Koffee – many of them coming from the pen of Billboard contributor and reggae authority Patricia Meschino. Additionally, a comprehensive 2020 cover story detailed the Marley family’s business as it celebrated Bob Marley’s 75th birthday amid a pandemic.

The JaRIA Honour Awards began in 2009. The ceremony honors people, groups and institutions that contribute to the development of the reggae music industry.

One of the JaRIA 2023 icon awards honorees is no stranger to the Billboard charts. Shaggy has topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart twice (with “Angel” and “It Wasn’t Me”), and his 2018 collaborative album with Sting, 44/876, spent 23 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart. Trend-setting singer Dawn Penn’s “You Don’t Love Me (No, No, No)” was a Hot 100 hit in 1994, and revered singer-songwriter Horace Andy contributed to several Billboard 200-charting albums from trip-hop outfit Massive Attack.