Ayana John

‘I want to pioneer a new movement in music, globally.’ – Ayana John.

Feloshade Ife Ayana John, born March 10th,1986, now lives by a code: in order to innovate you must release oneself from accepting the ordinary and do the extra-ordinary. The 21-year old artiste is paving the way for the new artform ‘Reggae-Soul’ to be recognized as a musical entity, in her country Barbados, and beyond.

According to the young writer and performer, “Reggae – Soul is a mixture of the staccato word formations of Reggae music combined with the smooth melodic syncopation of melodies in Soul music. I have made the two artforms successfully combine because there is a core message of consciousness, which attracts me to each genre. I’m not one to sit down and conceptualise how I will create the next big party tune. I am at heart a person who studies emotions, deeply, so my ability to empathize with people, spiritually, is always expressed in my music.

This young and talented beauty was first discovered singing the Stevie Wonder classic ‘Overjoyed’ at a launch for a new magazine – ‘Limelight’ hosted at the Olympus Movie Theatres in late 2004, with good friend and colleague, at the time, Leanne Odle. The duo was immediately offered, by Toni ‘DJ Hurricane’ Hinkson and producer Ricardo ‘Slick’ Hinkson, from 3rd Dimension Sounds to work on their singing and performing, personally. Soon the introduction of ‘Bruce’ – rapper extraordinaire came and the group ‘Karma’ was born. Within 3 months time, the group was offered a gig to perform on Friday nights at popular night-spot, Cafe Jungles, St. Lawrence Gap.

Amicably, the group split, not too long after, as each group member, a talent in their own right, looked forward to pursuing a solo career, separately.

Ayana John, at the age of 18 years, entered a regional singing competition called “The Digicel Rising Stars Competition” hosted by Digicel, a major cellular phone distribution agent in the region; she placed in the top ten, after being the wild card entry of Barbados’ most controversial radio personality, and judge at the time – ‘The Admiral’. During her stint in the competition, she also won the highly prestigious local pageant, Miss Barbados Bikini 2005.

She’d released 3 raggasoca tracks on Barbadian radio in 2005. At the time, she centred her releases around the period of the Crop Over festival, being a ‘Pure Maths Major’ at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, her time only allowed for her to be fully, musically creative around that summer – time period.

The singles, ‘Suits Me Fine’ and ‘Everyone Falls’ was released summer of 2005, the former can be found on the album ‘Mastermind – The Album’ and the latter can be found on the ‘Lal-Mirchi’ album released by Lethal Studios. She was also featured on the chorus of the single ‘Charismatic’, written and performed by the immensely popular Vincy soca artiste, ‘Skinny Fabulous’ featured on the same album which boasts popular regional artistes like Tony Matterhorn, Kimberley Inniss, Red Rat and Mr. Deejay.

Following a successful Crop Over season where she was featured as an opening act for both Machel Montano at Jean’s Fete and Destra Garcia at Glow Fete, Barbadians began to realize that the brand ‘Ayana John’ could survive, in all aspects of entertainment, including and outside of the musical arena.

After successfully competing in the ‘Ms. Caribbean Int’l Bikini Pageant’ held in October of 2005, placing second-runner – up, as Ms. Barbados, Ayana John played a principal part as the mistress of a wealthy businessman in the movie directed and produced by Barbados’ first Hollywood movie star, Earl Maynard (The Deep). The movie , ‘Flight of the Mongoose’ held its first screening at the Bridgetown Film Festival and the actress was named the ‘star of the film festival’ according to well – known journalist for the Nation newspaper, Ricardo Jordan. Her neo-soul track, ‘Bleed’ was also featured on the soundtrack for the movie. The track was produced by Fabian ‘Minim’ Worrell of Worrell Bros. Studio.

However, through C.E.O. of Circuit magazine, Ron Johnson, the dawning of a new era in Ayana’s musical career would arise. After hearing the single, ‘Everyone Falls’ which features a chanted chorus with a sound much like the Jamaican female dub/dancehall reggae greats like Lady Saw and Tanya Stephens, to name a few, Ron spoke to KB Sharp, Barbados’ first major Hip-Hop/Rap producer and Cornerstone Award Recipient 2005 Barbados Music Awards for valued contribution to Hip-Hop/Rap about using the raggasoca artiste in his competition called ‘The 16-shot’. The 16-shot features artistes of any genre flowing over 16-bars of music and through a process of voting the winner is eventually chosen. Billy Kincaid, Barbados’ premier rap artiste won the 2005 leg of the competition but being the only female in the competition was in itself an achievement, for Ayana.

The year, 2006, showed an even more versatile Ayana John. She played a principal part in the D.L. Smith theatrical production , ‘Once On This Island’, as the Haitian Earth God of folklore, Asaka. Theatre allowed her to rekindle her love of dancing being a trained dancer since 11 years of age in the Indian art form Khatak. She also won the Ms. Caribbean Fiesta 2006 pageant in the island of Canoaun (The Grenadines), being the second Barbadian in a row to win the prestigious carnival pageant.

In 2006, Crop Over saw the release of the single ‘Nostalgic’, linking Ayana John, once again with Lethal Studios; the track reached No. 3 on the Top 40 - Crop Over Chart on popular radio station 98.1 The One. She also continued working with Worrell Bros. Studio, where she worked with Damian Marvay, known as Barbados’ John Legend on a raggasoca track called, ‘Cravin’’.

With 5 radio releases, 2 beauty pageant titles, 1 feature film and 1 theatre production under her belt in less than a year, one would think that a rest would be in order for this young lady. However, in the wake of the Crop Over season, Ayana John began working with KB Sharp, once more, this time with 2006 Barbados Music Award – Reggae Artiste of the Year, ‘Buggy’ on a track that would set her on a new path to career success. The single ‘Bajan Story’ written by Ryan ‘Buggy’ Chase and conceptualised and produced by KB Sharp, was a Bajan version of the Jamaican song ‘Ghetto Story’ written and performed by acclaimed Jamaican chanter Baby Cham. Ayana John, the brand, was reintroduced to the Barbadian public as a chantress and no more, exclusively, a raggasoca artiste. She along with Buggy was nominated for Best Reggae/Dancehall Single of 2006 at the Barbados Music Awards, for the song which played a record 6 times in one hour on the day it was released on 98.1 The One.

That year, she was first-runner-up in the Ms. Barbados Universe Pageant and performed along with Buggy at the Gyptian/Chuck Fenda Concert held at the Sir Garfield Sobers Gymnasium in celebration of the 1st anniversary of 98.1 The One, only the first of a string of performances of the song at many Reggae/ Dancehall shows across the island.

The year, 2007, will always be marked in the life of Ayana John as the year of ‘Guns and Roses’. A lyrical masterpiece in the eyes of many, the song was set to overshadow any other writing efforts of the young artiste for the year. ‘Guns and Roses’ , a Reggae/Soul piece, produced by KB Sharp, was first performed by Ayana John at the biggest Reggae show in Barbados, ‘Reggae on the Hill’, where the artiste was featured as one of the opening acts for famous Reggae headliners – Richie Spice, Buju Banton, Beres Hammond and Sizzla. The show pulled 14,000 strong to the Farley Hill National Park on April 30th, 2007.

The song has been performed at many events since then, one of the highlighted shows, being the Jah Cure - Freedom Tour in Barbados, held at arguably Barbados’ biggest venue, the National Stadium. A music video for the song was released in June 2007 and was nominated for Best Music Video at The Barbados Music Awards 2007 . However, the song’s legacy cements Ayana John as Barbados’ premier Reggae/Soul artiste. Another highlight of the year 2007, was seeing Ayana John win the ‘16-shot’ competition being the very first female to win the competition.

Crop Over 2007, also saw Ayana John release, the rude raggasoca ‘Jelly’ , (popularly played on Mix 96.9 FM) and ‘Tonite’ with Digicel Rising Stars 2006, 4th place winner Gregory Ayuen ,from MonstaPiece Studios. Her other Crop Over solo efforts for 2007 were ‘One Blood’ out of Worrell Bros. Studio which showcases the artiste’s singing, chanting and rapping ability and ‘Don’t Rush’ out of Undaground Studio which was produced by Darron Grant who was the producer of the international hit,’Tempted to Touch’ by Barbados’ Atlantic Recording Artiste - Rupee.

With a series of successful performances at popular Crop Over events like Collison and Insomnia, to name just a few, Ayana John was further developing as an avid performer with an indominatable stage presence and an ability to shine onstage, effortlessly. She was also asked to come on board as a featured artiste on the remix to ‘All Rise’ performed by internationally signed Jamaican group, J-Status, which is signed also to SRP, the same production team who discovered and developed Barbadian international superstar, Rihanna. The year 2007, also marked the end of pageantry for Ayana John, the beauty queen. After winning Best Swimwear and Best Talent in the Ms. Barbados World pageant, Ayana John is moving full steam ahead in a musical direction.

Now a signed artiste with the Barbadian production label HitIsland, and under the management of SouthCentral, as of 2007, the steps towards international success is inevitable – the new movement has begun.

‘I will show the world that ‘Ayana John’ is more than nominations and awards, she is an international brand that will live on, years after she, herself, is gone.’ – Ayana John.