Had he been alive, reggae icon Dennis Emmanuel Brown would have celebrated his 58th birthday on Sunday, February 1. To mark the momentous occasion, there will be double celebrations this year.

According to Junior Lincoln, finance director of the Jamaica Reggae Industry Association (JaRIA), celebrations this year will occupy two dates.

“The 2015 Dennis Brown celebrations will be two-tiered this year,” he disclosed.

“In addition to the big concert set for February 22,” a smaller celebration was held on his actual birthday on Sunday.

Lincoln told The Gleaner, the decision was made to ensure the area where the late musician grew up, would still be a part of his birthday celebrations.

“The annual Dennis Brown concert use to be held on Orange Street, where Dennis grew up, but the celebrations got so big that it outgrew the venue and we had to switch to the Waterfront to accommodate the crowd,” Lincoln explained. “However, this year, we still wanted to have something in the area on his actual birthday,” so last Sunday’s event (on Orange Street), was expected to be a more intimate celebration.

The second day of celebrations will be February 22 on Kingston’s waterfront, downtown Kingston. The concert, which will be marking its sixth year, is expected to generate a massive turnout as part of the Reggae Month celebrations. Last year, the event overcame tremendous sponsorship problems to become one of the most memorable concerts to date. This year, Lincoln is expecting things to be even better.

“We are still having some sponsorship problems, but that won’t stop the concert from going on as scheduled,” he expressed.

“We are really looking forward to this year’s concert and we expect it to be just as big as previous years.”

Brown was known for hits such as Revolution, Here I Come andShould I, among others. He died July 1999 at the age of 42.

– By Shereita Grizzle