While all eyes are on Barbadian-born superstar Rihanna, another young Caribbean singer is making waves in the Unites States.
Two years ago Shermain Jeremy won the Miss Antigua and Barbuda World competition and went to the International Miss World Competition. There she beat out all other contenders to win “Most Talented” woman in the world title for that year.
Now the beautiful 24 year old has won another talent award - claiming the award for the “Most Talented Female Singer” at the Fourth Annual Underground Music Awards in New York City. This comes after burning up the Caribbean charts in that city with the debut single, I Came to Show You.
A “reggae pop” single, the song features Jamaican singer Vybz Kartel and has now started to receive major airplay on Caribbean radio and across Europe. The buzz built on the single after it received 8000 hits on her myspace.com home page.
In an exclusive phone interview Jeremy told Islandevents that she was not sure she was going to win the award, “There are so many people in the city and as a Caribbean person you have to work harder to get some recognition from the mainstream. However, winning the award gave me the assurance that I am heading in the right direction.”
After deciding that she wanted to move on from modeling and pageants and focus squarely on her work as a musical artiste Shermain won an interview with major recording label Atlantic Records after competing against 15 other performers in New York.
However she chose take her musical career into her own hands, and put together a team of close family and friends with experience in the entertainment industry to create the newly independent Antiguan/Caribbean Record label, TropicGem Records.
In an earlier interview Shermain had told Antiguan newspaper Antigua Sun said, “I decided not to sign on to a major label, since I would have to give up artistic control. I want to be seen as a Caribbean artist and I feel obligated to share my music with my people.”
Now she says to Islandevents that the support of her family - sister Sumita is CEO of the TropicGem - has been “invaluable in keeping me grounded and positive in this fast paced time.”
Shermain added that her album “My Way, My Style” will be released in early 2007.
