Ken Boothe

Ken Boothe is, at 73, an icon of the noblest Jamaican tradition, that of Marley and Jimmy Cliff. His first studio steps were taken in 1963, aged just 15, with his partner Stranger Cole.

From the beginning of the 60s he enjoyed success with a series of hits with the legendary Studio One (studio and label, opened in 1963), where he recorded for the famous Clement Dodd. A rare recognition for a young singer from Denham Tow, one of the popular districts of Kingston as well as the most famous Trenchtown.

From the start, Ken Boothe was as productive as he was popular. After the success of his flagship track "Artibella" at the dawn of the 1970s, love songs became his undisputed trademark and ensured his popularity among Jamaican women to this day.

If he is this historical figure of the music of the island, with several pieces at the top of the English charts in the 70s and 80s, Ken Boothe remains nonetheless imbued with the rasta culture that he claims in his most personal privacy.

It was this spiritual fervor and collective spirit that inspired him to play in the Inna de Yard collective, presenting two songs on "The Soul of Jamaica" in 2017 and to release, the same year, a solo album simply titled "Inna de Yard".

More than half a century after his first successes, he renews the magic trick and (re) presents to the public his flagship titles in their most organic and natural version, recorded Inna de Yard, in the open air on the heights of Kingston.

It's a new breath for titles like "Speak softly love", "Black gold and green" or "When I fall in love" thanks to the acoustic instruments (piano, guitar and bass) as well as to the Nyabinghis percussions specific to the groundations rastafarian.

Ken Boothe is also an incomparable stage artist singing in the Jamaican vintage soul-reggae tradition, he has traveled the world and gathered thousands of spectators around his timeless music.

With his charisma, his tuxedo and his intense and pure vibrato, he has been offering high-level performances for almost 50 years with all the class and kindness that characterize him.

Ken Boothe was one of the architects of the new styles of music birthed by Jamaica, writing both the history of his country and the history of music. His set thus awakens the hits of the golden age of Jamaican rocksteady of which he is the great craftsman, a suspended moment in the history of reggae and music, to see and to see again!