Many were glued to BET’s 106 & Park, for his appearance there, after he had won the first ever Cable & Wireless Starquest in 2003. That was of course before Facebook and other Social Media platforms became ubiquitous. Actually, Facebook, like the subject of this story, is celebrating a twenty-year milestone this year.
His name is Emrand Henry, an energetic and charismatic Gospel singer, songwriter whose predilection is for Caribbean genres of Gospel music.
Since his winning song, the Reggae tinged “What is Going On,” Henry has released numerous songs and albums and performed locally, regionally and internationally, sharing the stage with the likes of Sherwin Gardner, Monty G, Maxi Priest, Christafari, Junior Tucker, CeCe Winans, Sinach and Prodigal, to name a few.
In 2010 having moved to the United States, he gave up his day job, as they would say, to pursue music full time. That same year he was given an Award by the City of New York for “unique personal achievement in his professional endeavours”.
Emrand Henry says his mission has been simple, doing what he loves, which is to write, record and perform Gospel music and to spread the message all over the world.
“This year I have been blessed to have arrived at this juncture in my music career, where I am celebrating twenty years in the Gospel music industry,” Henry told St. Lucia Times.
“One of the highlights for me was that I had my very first concert at my church Liberty Bible Fellowship Church in Queens New York back in April and it was an amazing two-night event,” he said.
According to Henry, the event saw attendees from the West Indian diaspora including many Saint Lucians as well as New Yorkers. The full-house event featured Apostle Lester James from Saint Lucia and DJ Nicholas.
“Cornerstone” as the concert was called, coincided with an album he released by the same name.
This year also saw the Saint Lucian Gospel performer receiving numerous nominations and accolades, including a nomination at the Kingdom Choice Awards in the Gospel Reggae category. Although he did not win, Emrand Henry was voted fan favourite to perform at the event in Manhattan, something for which he expresses much gratitude to everyone who voted for him.
This year Henry was among the cast for Bexon Jazz in Saint Lucia and hosted Kingdom Night at the Saint Lucia Jazz Festival in May, having performed at the event last year.
We asked him about the challenges and obstacles he has faced over the years.
“One of the challenges that I faced when I started was the lack of support and maybe an appreciation and understanding for the type of Gospel music I was doing,” Henry said.
“There was this general notion, that what I was singing was not Gospel, like they had no idea at the time that Gospel Soca or Reggae really existed. We are a really conservative country where religious people pick and choose what they support,” he explained.
He says that after winning Starquest he went on to produce singles with the late Francis “Leebo” DeLima that ran the gamut from Power and Groovy Soca and Reggae and even sang in Calypso tents, taking his message of the Gospel to a varied audience.
“The church was not supportive and I could say that I was even blacklisted, by certain churches and denominations. So I would say that hindered me a little,” he said.
Henry says that over the years, he has persevered and many Saint Lucians have warmed up to his music and he has garnered a huge following in the Caribbean and North America.
“It took some time but after a while people were like hey, we like what he is doing, he loves God, he loves Jesus and they started to embrace me,” he said.
(Part 1 of 2)…next Emrand Henry speaks on societal ills and calls for more support for local Gospel artistes.
