Dominican opera singer marie-claire caps a week of appearances and performances in Jamaica at the EME (Excellence in Music and Entertainment) Awards on Thursday February 4th where she will sing the Jamaican national anthem.  

She arrived in Jamaica in mid-January to record three singles for her album the evolution continues. When not recording with producer Garsha Blacks at Cell Block studios, marie-claire made several appearances at Mustard Seed- a home for pre-teen and teenage girls who she gave vocal coaching as well as words of encouragement and a listening ear. She appeared on TVJ’s Smile Jamaica, as a model for friend Mamayashi who’s designs she wears in many of her performances.  The recording sessions ended just in time for marie-claire to perform at the 2010 Jazz and Blues Festival in Trelawny, where she was courted by local and international media. The following day she attended the Dennis Brown tribute concert in Kingston and hung out backstage with the likes of Beres Hammond and John Holt.  marie-claire even stopped at Edna Manley College of Performing arts to absorb the wealth of musical knowledge from Mr. Ibo Cooper who is not only one of the leading professors at that institution, but a former member of Third World. marie-claire was accompanied to all these events by fellow Dominican, now Jamaican implant Nelly Stharre, who hosted the artist and contributed her songwriting skills to marie-claire’s upcoming album.

Thursday’s EME awards performance at the Jamaica Pegasus will be her last performance before jetting off to Antigua where she will shoot the video for her single “Care For You.”  The video will be directed by Lawson Lewis.