The name Althea Hewitt is well known in reggae music circles. She has been around for some time and has seen it all. Yet, she continues to make important strides as she feels there is still much work to get her to where she ultimately wants to be.
She is currently marketing her latest project, the album, “Taste of Affection” and held her release party on December 31 in New York City. She has great hopes for the set and wants the public to give a critical listening ear to what might be her best work to date. There are plans for similar release parties in Jamaica, Florida and the UK. She has several music videos in the works and hopes to have them on screens pretty soon.
“I have been doing a lot of stuff showing people sides of me they never knew. So I’ve been producing, promoting, arranging and doing stuff as an engineer. I think the world will get to know more about me from this latest record”.
“Taste of Affection” is her third album. Althea’s debut compilation “Introducing Althea Hewitt” in 2008 featured chart-toppers like “Boom Boom Boom,” “Unconditional Love,” and “Lovely Life.” She took a ten-year break but made a triumphant return in 2019 with the album “Stronger” and released the EP “My Black Is Strong” in 2020. Her hit “To Sir with Love” claimed the number 1 spot on the Clinton Lindsay New York Chart and reached number 2 on the Florida Charts in 2023.
She began her musical journey as a child, inspired by her father, Stephen Hewitt, a talented guitarist and owner of the Mighty Cloud Band.
Growing up in Vineyard Town, Kingston, Jamaica, she was surrounded by music and recorded her first duet, “Sweet Love,” at a young age. “I grew up in music. But it is a tough business and so I took a hiatus for 10 years but now I’m fully invested. It is all I do. There is so much work and so little time but I make time because the work has to be done.”
During her school years, Althea’s passion for the performing arts blossomed. She captivated audiences on the Teen Star Search contest and became a vibrant member of Cathi Levy’s
Little People and the Teen Players troupe. Her talent shone through as she won the Ms. High Energy Mastermix competition, leading to the recording of her second song, “My Song
Needs a Melody.”
Althea led the award-winning group Fourth Street Sisters for many years, dominating the Jamaican cabaret scene with hits like “Long Way Home,” “Still the One,” and the number one “Play on Me.” As an actress, she joined Tribe Sankofa and produced shows such as “Intimate at Studio 38”
and “Althea Hewitt’s Merry Family Christmas Special. Her musical talents have taken her across the globe, performing and opening for Reggae
Icons like Bunny Wailer, Boris Gardiner, Israel Vibrations, and Beres Hammond. One of her proudest achievements was representing Jamaica at a cultural showcase in Brussels,
Belgium.
Has she done as well as she could have in music? Or is there a gatekeeping system in reggae that only allows a few females in at any given time?
Althea says: “Sometimes it’s not because of gender. This is a male dominated industry and women are fragile. Those who are level headed and have other options will not put up with male advances which continues to be a problem in the industry. I would say to all females that they have to be strong. Don’t jump on any bandwagon; you have to make a decision about what you want to do. Some men will stand upp outside a studio door till morning but women won’t do that. I believe things are changing for the better but history has it that most of the stars we knew growing up were males. When I worked on the North Coast I didn’t hear many female singers it was all males. It’s rough out there on females but you have to make a choice.”
As Reggae Month is being celebrated Althea thinks it doesn’t go far enough. “We should have a Reggae Year. A month of activities isn’t enough. I have lobbied for them to set up Jamaica as a reggae/dancehall centre. So many people in the world are doing reggae and they would come to Jamaica for an authentic experience.
She says Jamaicans need to appreciate reggae more. “Reggae is taken for granted in Jamaica. When we go out in the world people show us appreciation. Reggae is so big but we are the ones who are messing up the whole thing. Our legends worked hard and opened the doors so that people like me can walk through. I think we need to sit down and think this thing through because we don’t value what we have.
Althea is looking forward to even better days ahead. I have set my roots down and I am growing my team. There are a few things that I need to do to get everything sorted but I am putting in the work and in the end it will pay off.
Althea’s music is available online on all digital platforms and she can be reached at altheahewitt_@instagram…www.altheahewitt.com or 876 528 8689.