RENOWNED reggae historian Roger Steffens is blasting local authorities for the absence of a Reggae Music Hall of Fame. His comments come in wake of the efforts he initiated to have the late Toots Hibbert inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Only two other Jamaican artistes have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, reggae king Bob Marley, who was named in 1994, and Jimmy Cliff who was added in 2009.
According to Steffens, there are other Jamaican acts who should be inducted, but there should be a Jamaican Hall of Fame.
“It’s past time too for Peter Tosh to be inducted there as well. My question is why hasn’t Jamaica instituted an official Reggae Hall of Fame so that figures like Joe Higgs, Coxsone Dodd, King Tubby, Roy Shirley, Alton Ellis, Slim Smith, Jimmy Riley, Justin Hinds, Dennis Brown, Jacob Miller, Prince Buster, Duke Reid, King Tubby, the Mighty Diamonds, and Culture could be honoured in their home country? And the list goes on and on,” he noted.
Steffens was at the forefront of a petition for the nominations committee of the Hall of Fame to consider Toots and the Maytals for induction.
He told the Jamaica Observer that the petition received more than the 5,000 signatures which was being sought and has been submitted to the committee to support the consideration.
“We’re way over 5,000, up to more than 7,400 and rising, thanks to a final push initiated by ‘Native Wayne’ Jobson,” he said.