IN the 1990s a number of Jamaican dancehall acts were signed to major international record labels and a common thread in a number of these crossover successes was the work of music industry insider and marketer Karen Mason.
The Jamaican-born Mason succumbed to breast cancer on Tuesday, 11 years after she was first diagnosed.
One of the artistes who reaped success as a result of Mason’s tenacity as a marketer was singer Nadine Sutherland, who became aware of Mason’s marketing strengths when she was signed to Elektra Records.
“I was at the Tamika Reggae Music Awards in the US. At the time, I was making some noise locally and internationally with the song Wicked and Wild. I was doing my rehearsal and remember being told by Clinton Lindsay that Karen Mason of Elektra Records was in the house. She watched my rehearsal and then we were introduced. She would go on to advocate for me to be signed to the label, and then there was Action with Terror Fabulous who was also signed to Elektra,” Sutherland recalled.
Their working relationship would continue even after Sutherland was no longer part of the Elektra stable. She maintained contact with Mason whose advice and counsel she always sought and valued.
For Sutherland, Mason understood her craft and studied it like a science, always able to find that common thread to link the music and artistes from her native Jamaica to the wider markets of the United States and beyond.
“Since I got word of her passing I went back to watch Pass The Mic, which was just aired on BET and featured a Jamaican cast. Karen Mason was so present in a number of the songs and the artistes who performed. Informer [by Snow], Action, Hotstepper [Ini Kamoze]… then there was what she did with Super Cat when he was signed with Columbia. Karen Mason made an indelible mark on dancehall music and the international profile it had during that era,” she said.
“Having been born here but studied in the US, she fully understood the nuances of both cultures and markets and was skilled at being able to pick up on that little thing, that thread of local music and culture which could resonate with an international audience. She was passionate about what she did and the music coming out of Jamaica. She kept abreast with street and contemporary culture on both sides so she could easily adapt her marketing strategies and identify the common ground. That was and will always be one of her defining qualities,” Sutherland continued.
She also shared that Mason’s marketing abilities were not limited to only Jamaican dancehall acts. She developed strategies for the likes of En Vogue, Kris Kross, Adina Howard, and other such acts.
Sutherland admitted to shedding a tear when word broke on Tuesday that Mason had made her transition.
“I knew she was ill and was fully aware of her journey. Sometime ago I was in Atlanta and went to see her. I knew how much she fought, and in true Jamaican tradition she wanted to see her only child, Kenya, ‘pass the worst’. Kenya recently posted on her mother’s Instagram page how much her mother wanted no sadness at her passing and for it to be a celebration of life. You can see Karen’s influence on Kenya being a strong black woman but I must say I was overcome and did shed a tear,” Sutherland told the Jamaica Observer.
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