Cynthia Schloss

Who? That was my first question when I came across the name - 'who is Cynthia Schloss?' Followed by 'and why haven't I heard of her before?'.

I was browsing through my iTunes library yesterday to delete little played tracks since my laptop is running out of memory , and I found 'Cha-La-La I Need You' by Cynthia Schloss on one of my Trojan box sets of reggae music. I must have heard the song before but it didn't register so, when I played it yesterday, it came as a bit of a surprise to hear this lovely voice on top of gentle reggae beats.

I did a quick Google search but didn't see anything informative about who this mysterious woman was. There were lots of misleading links to download sites and suchlike, but no real information about Cynthia. A slightly more thorough search told me that she died in 1999 at the age of 51. That's sad, that someone worked as a singer for 25 years, released her own records and had hits as well as singing with people like Peter Tosh, but there's so little information available about who she was and what made her the singer she became. She has a lovely voice and her recordings go on and bring her to new audiences today, years after her death. It's good that Cynthia is actively remembered in Jamaica with a memorial show last year.

There are two albums and various other songs available to download from iTunes so she made sufficient impact to be on there. I've downloaded one album and am happily listening to the sunny sunshine reggae vibes and her lovely voice while the snow lies on the trees and the ground outside.

There's so much music out there by undiscovered artists that I'm quite pleased to start the new year off by discovering Cynthia. Who next, I wonder?

If you know anything about Cynthia Schloss then please get in touch. I'd love to know more.