Burning Spear

Winston Rodney OD (born 1 March 1945), better known by the stage name Burning Spear, is a Jamaican roots reggae singer-songwriter, vocalist, and musician. Burning Spear is a Rastafarian and one of the most influential and long-standing roots artists to emerge from the 1970s.

Early life Winston Rodney was born in Saint Ann's Bay, Saint Ann, Jamaica. He is married to Sonia Rodney. As a young man he listened to the R&B, soul and jazz music transmitted by the US radio stations whose broadcasts reached Jamaica. Curtis Mayfield is cited by Rodney as a major US musical influence along with James Brown. Rodney was deeply influenced as a young man by the views of the political activist Marcus Garvey, especially with regard to the exploration of the themes of Pan-Africanism and self-determination.

Career Burning Spear was originally Rodney's group, named after a military award given by Jomo Kenyatta, the first President of an independent Kenya, They were then joined by tenor Delroy Hinds. The trio recorded several more singles for Dodd, and two albums, before leaving Studio One in 1974. Their first recording with Ruby, "Marcus Garvey", was intended as an exclusive track for Hi-Power, but was released as a single, giving them an immediate hit, and was followed by "Slavery Days". leading Rodney to set up his own Burning Music label for future releases where he would have full control, although further releases followed on Island including Garvey's Ghost, a dub version of the Marcus Garvey album, and Man in the Hills. which he signed to EMI,

His 1999 album, Calling Rastafari brought his first Grammy Award in 2000, a feat which he repeated with Jah Is Real in 2009. In 2000 Home to My Roots Tour he performed in Cape Town, South Africa, alongside another reggae musician Joseph Hill with Culture. In 2002 he and his wife, Sonia Rodney who has produced a number of his albums, restarted Burning Music Records, giving him a greater degree of artistic control. Since the mid-1990s, he has been based in Queens in New York City. Burning Spear was awarded the Order of Distinction in the rank of Officer on 15 October 2007. Since establishing their own label, Winston and Sonia Rodney have released nearly 40 singles, CDs, DVDs and vinyl albums on the Burning Music imprint. Many of these albums have been deluxe editions of albums previously available on other labels and often include bonus tracks and DVD footage.

In 2016 Rodney announced his retirement, but in 2022 it was announced that he would perform at the Rototom Sunsplash festival in Spain, and on the 'Welcome to Jamrock' cruise in December.

Rodney announced three shows in California in July 2022: San Francisco on 22 July, San Diego on 23 July and Los Angeles on 24 July. He also announced a show at the Levitt Pavilion, Denver, Colorado on 30 July 2022. These shows were followed by dates at Forum Birmingham on 13 August and the O2 Academy, Brixton, London on 14 August. On 14 August 2023 he performed a show in the Barby Club live music venue in Tel Aviv, Israel and on 15 August 2023 in Megiddo, Israel where he appeared together with Ehud Banai.

Discography

Awards

Burning Spear has won two Grammy Awards for Best Reggae Album; one at the 42nd Grammy Awards in 2000 for Calling Rastafari, and one for 2009's Jah Is Real. He has been nominated for a total of 12 Grammy Awards.

Nominations for Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album: 1986 Resistance 1988 People of the World 1990 Live in Paris Zenith '88 1991 Mek We Dweet 1994 The World Should Know 1996 Rasta Business 1998 Appointment with His Majesty 2000 Calling Rastafari (winner) 2004 Free Man 2006 Our Music 2008 The Burning Spear Experience 2009 Jah Is Real (winner) 2024 No Destroyer