Naomi Cowan accepts the award for Reggae Recording of the Year for Welcome to Paradise<\/p>\n
Singer Naomi Cowan\u2019s 12-track debut album\u00a0Welcome to Paradise\u00a0is the winner of the 2026 JUNO Award for Reggae Recording of the Year.<\/p>\n
The award was presented to Cowan Saturday night at the 50th\u00a0staging of the awards, which was held in Hamilton, Ontario at the TD Coliseum.<\/p>\n
Deh Ya by Kirk Diamond; Dagga Riddim Cypher by Jojo, You Made That, Yung 2Ruff, Erin B, Topman Meeko, One Don and Enzooo; Ready For You by Exco Levi and Kheilstone and More Reggae (Funk it Up) by Samora and Ammoye, were the other nominees in the category.<\/p>\n
In accepting the award, Cowan thanked a number of individuals, including Toddla T, the producer of the album, her parents Tommy Cowan and Carlene Davis as well as her management team.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been the honour of my life to be a reggae artiste. Reggae is a genre that has healed thousands of people around the world and has transcended many boundaries. So, this award is for the genre of reggae music. To my mom and dad, thank you so much for choosing each other over and over, for unconditionally loving me, because you inspired this album. To God, my ultimate creative director, thank you,\u201d said Cowan.<\/p>\n
She continued, \u201cI also have to thank the Government of Canada, my producing partners, my team, Rob, Jeff, Nate the Great and everyone who played a part. Big up Jamaica.\u201d<\/p>\n
Canadian R&B singer Jully Black whose parents are Jamaican immigrants, and rapper\/producer Saukrates, who earlier won the award for Rap Single of the Year, for their collaboration with Tobi, were seen standing and applauding Cowan during her acceptance speech.<\/p>\n
This is the 10th\u00a0time that a female has won the Reggae Recording of the Year category, which was formerly known as Best Reggae\/Calypso Recording and Best Reggae Recording.<\/p>\n
Canadian singer Liberty Silver won in 1985 for\u00a0Heaven Must Have Sent You\u00a0which featured Otis Gayle, while Jamaican born dub poet and singer Lillian Allen won in 1986 with\u00a0Revolutionary Tea Party\u00a0and again in 1989 with\u00a0Conditions Critical.<\/p>\n
Kingston-born Carla Marshall was the winner in 1995 with Class and Credential, while Linstead born Nana McLean took home the trophy in 1997 for her self-titled album.<\/p>\n
Barbados born Sonia Collymore\u2019s\u00a0You Won\u2019t See Me Cry\u00a0won 2003. She also won in 2005 for\u00a0What You See is What You Get.<\/p>\n
Likkle Bit But Mi Tallawah\u00a0by Bahrain born Elaine \u2018Lil Bit\u2019 Shepherd secured the win in 2011, and Montreal born Tome won in 2021 for\u00a0I Pay, a collaboration with Sean Kingston.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Naomi Cowan accepts the award for Reggae Recording of the Year for Welcome to Paradise Singer Naomi Cowan\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":354441,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[156,157,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-354440","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-music","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=354440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/354441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}