Sylvia Browne leads 2026 Queens of Reggae honorees

Sylvia Browne, the 99-year-old music teacher who raised five musicians, will lead the 2026 Queens of Reggae Island Honorary Ceremony when it returns May 31 at the Karl Hendrickson Auditorium. Browne is among 40 honorees in a staging that is marking its 10th annual awards night and keeping its focus squarely on women whose work has shaped Jamaica’s music and entertainment history.

That makes Browne’s place on the bill feel bigger than a routine salute. Laurell Nurse, the founder and executive producer of Queens of Reggae Island Honorary Ceremonies, launched the event in October 2016 at Courtleigh Auditorium in New Kingston and has said she has personally conceptualized, produced and financed it since then. The ceremony has always been pitched as a recognition event for influential women in Jamaica’s entertainment sector, and its survival has not been automatic. A 2023 staging was postponed because of lack of sponsorship, a reminder that keeping this kind of cultural archive alive has taken persistence as much as programming.

Browne’s family story is the reason her name lands at the top of this year’s honor roll. She is the mother of Glen, Dalton, Noel, Cleveland and Danny Browne, the brothers widely known as the Browne Bunch, and each one left a mark on reggae-dancehall from a different angle. Glen Browne became a premier bass guitarist, touring and recording with Jimmy Cliff, Ziggy Marley and The Melody Makers, and Tarrus Riley. Dalton Browne was a leading guitarist and Freddie McGregor’s musical director for many years before his death in 2020. Cleveland Browne became one half of the production duo Steely and Clevie, while Danny Browne, also a guitarist, was a founding member of The Bloodfire Posse and later ran Main Street Records in the 1990s. Noel Browne, a keyboardist, died in 2022.

Browne has long refused to take full credit for what her sons became. In a 2016 interview, she said, “I taught them to play the piano and organ, how to sing and harmonise, but they developed by themselves over the years.” That line still captures the shape of her legacy: a mother who gave the first lessons, then watched those lessons spread through sound systems, studios and stages across Jamaican popular music. With Sylvia Browne now leading a list that also includes Myrna Hague, J C Lodge, Etana, Tanya Stephens, Dr Carolyn Cooper, Sherieta Grizzle, Janet Silvera, Marcia Simpson and Simone Gordon, QORIHC is turning a family story into public record at exactly the right moment.