KINGSTON, Jamaica – The Nineties was, arguably dancehall music’s most flamboyant period. Sibling dancers Carlene “Dancehall Queen Carlene” Smith and her sister Doreen “Pinky” Prendergast have been among the many standouts.
Pinky died final July in New York from most cancers at age 59. On March 22, she was given a posthumous award on the Queens Of Reggae Island Honorary Ceremony in Kingston.
Carlene, youthful by seven years, accepted the plaque in her honor.
Dancehall Queen Carlene Smith accepting a particular award in honor of her sister and fellow dancer Pinky from Laurell Nurse, founding father of Queens Of Reggae Island Honorary Ceremony on the Pegasus resort in Kingston, Jamaica on March twenty second. Pinky died in July 2023.
“It was a bittersweet second for me. I didn’t suppose I couldn’t deal with it, however I don’t bear in mind what I stated after I collected the award. I do know I began to cry,” she stated.
Pinky was recognized with breast most cancers in 2018. Her sickness worsened final yr, and it was Carlene who drove her to the airport in Kingston as she sought medical therapy in the USA.
They stored in common contact by video till Pinky’s situation deteriorated and he or she handed away two months after leaving Jamaica.
She and Carlene made their names in the course of the Nineties when dancehall music was being embraced by the American hop hop group. Their outrageous costumes and dance strikes to match earned them spots in music movies by high acts corresponding to Tiger and Chaka Demus and Pliers, and main company occasions.
Carlene stated she launched Pinky to revealing outfits. Her sibling in flip took her to dances in a few of Kingston’s hardest areas.
Even when she was shot within the face by gunmen throughout an incident at a nightclub in St. Catherine parish 22 years in the past, Pinky was nonetheless a fixture at dances.
“Most individuals wouldn’t have gone again to a dancehall area however that couldn’t cease her. Dancehall was her place,” stated Carlene.
Pinky was the fourth-youngest of 12 kids for his or her mom. Carlene is the second youngest.
One other sister, Kerry-Ann Smith, is the mom of singer Jo Mersa Marley who died in Florida in December, 2022.
Thirty-one ladies, together with singers Sharon Marley and Tanya Stephens and company govt Jacqueline Knight, have been honored at this yr’s Queens Of Reggae Island Honorary Ceremony.
