Nadine Sutherland

About

Nadine Simone Theresa Sutherland OD (born 15 March 1968) is a Jamaican reggae singer whose early career was nurtured by Bob Marley. She went on to become a successful dancehall artist in the 1990s.

Sutherland was born in Kingston, Jamaica and raised in Above Rocks in Saint Catherine Parish. She began performing in 1979, winning the Tastee Talent Contest that year (beating Paul Blake and Yellowman), with her parents managing her career while she studied at St Andrew High School. She combined her musical career with studies in business administration, and was the first artist signed by Bob Marley to his Tuff Gong label, recording “Starvation on the Land” while aged eleven. In addition to that, she also recorded a few more Christian reggae singles, such as “Hands and Heart”, “A Young One Like Me” and “Work and Pray” when she was associated by her old friends, Anthony “Sangie” Davis and Rita Marley. None of her early reggae singles from the early 1980s reached the Billboard Hot 100. After Marley’s death, Sutherland performed at memorial concerts outside Jamaica, along with Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers, the I Threes, and the Wailers.
She struggled to break through as…