BRITISH singer Joss Stone, whose throaty style has won her a huge following among neo-soul fans, is Billboard magazine’s Reggae Artist Of The Year.Stone’s Water For Your Soul is also the respected publication’s Reggae Album Of The Year.
Finishing second was Bob Marley and the Wailers for Easy Skanking in Boston ‘78, a live album.
Stone, who won a Grammy Award in 2005 for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance with the song You Had Me, said she was encouraged to record Water For Your Soul by Damian ‘Junior Gong’ Marley.
The album did not impress Billboard magazine writer Steven Horowitz who described Stone’s ‘reggae experiment’ as “unconvincing”.
He added: “For more than a decade, Joss Stone has been a serial genre-hopper. Switching from R&B to blues, funk to rock, the 28-year-old Brit has powered six albums with soulful vocals beyond her years. The songs are technically impressive, as expected from Stone, but unconvincing.”According to sales monitor, Soundscan, Water For Your Soul has sold 27,473 copies since its release in July.
Several of the albums on the Billboard end-of-year list are by American bands. The Jamaican acts in the top 10 are Jah Cure (The Cure) at seven, Morgan Heritage (Strictly Roots) at eight, Ky-Mani Marley (Maestro) at nine with gospel singer Carlene Davis’ Dripping Blood completing the table.
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