Messenjah

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Messenjah is a Canadian reggae band formed in 1980 in Kitchener, Ontario. They released their first album, Rock You High, independently in 1982 and became the first Canadian reggae group signed to a major label, Warner Music Canada. After 1985 they based themselves in Toronto. In 1988 they appeared in the film Cocktail and contributed to its soundtrack, and they were also on the Milk and Honey soundtrack. They toured across North America and Jamaica for more than 16 years and won the Juno Award for Best Reggae Recording in 1989. In 1990 they joined Dance Appeal for the single Can’t Repress the Cause, a plea for more hip hop in Canada.

Messenjah has not released a new album since the late 1990s and is generally considered to have disbanded around that time. The band was started by Errol Blackwood (vocals, bass) who left in 1986, and Rupert “Ojiji” Harvey (vocals, guitar, sax), who became the band’s leader. Other original members included Eric Walsh (guitar), Raymond Ruddock (drums), Hal Duggan (keyboard), and Tony King (percussion). Four new members joined in 1987—Roy Garrick (drums), Crash Morgan (drums), Charles Sinclair (bass), and Haile Yeates (percussion). In 1990 Donovan Black (drums) replaced Crash Morgan. The band reunited in February 2014 for a Bob Marley tribute concert in Toronto. The current lineup includes Rupert Harvey (lead vocals, guitar; founding member), Haile Yates (percussion), Robert Stephenson (drums), Carl Harvey (lead guitar), Charles Sinclair (bass), and Orville Malcomb (keyboards).

Messenjah has played at many notable events and venues, including Reggae Sun Splash in Jamaica, the World Youth Festival in Kingston, the Bob Marley Memorial in Long Beach, Lahaina Civic in Maui, Vermont Reggae Music Festival, the Canadian National Exhibition, Ontario Place Forum, Maple Leaf Gardens, and the Omni Theatre in Oakland. They also performed with Nelson Mandela at the Toronto SkyDome in 1998. Their song Jam Session was used for many years as the intro for KCMU (now KEXP-FM)’s reggae show Positive Vibrations.