Ally Bless celebrates ‘Queen Jamaica’

Festival song finalist Ally Bless believes that she is one of the favourites to take home the top prize in this year's Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) Festival Song competition.

"I am one of the fan favourites, just judging by the reaction of the crowd at the stage shows all over the island, and I have a great chance to win," said the spunky 24-year-old singer.

Ally Bless' entry is called Queen Jamaica, a song that personifies Jamaica as a queen among nations.

"Jamaica is referred to as a woman in many songs, so I thought to myself, if Jamaica is a woman, then she must be a queen. So this song is a song to empower females, because sometimes we focus on the negatives. What about the great stuff about Jamaica? This song shows the good things in our country. We are a great people," said Ally Bless, whose given name is Alero Perrier.

She grew up in the Olympic Way area of St Andrew, where she attended Seaward Primary and Junior High before heading to Vauxhall High School to complete her secondary education.

Her mother, Charmaine Dennis, a professional singer, and her father, Bishop Maurice Perrier, through his church band, both helped to fuel her love for music.

At an early age, she fell in love with the drums and became quite proficient with them, and then later, the keyboard.

She joined the Vauxhall High School choir which entered the popular TVJ's 'All Together Sing' contest, winning in 2007, and then placing fourth in 2011.

It was while competing that she formed a great friendship with the Vauxhall High school choir director, Michael Reynolds, who would later write Queen Jamaica.

"Being in All Together Sing changed my life. Performing so often, on Jazz and Blues and at Jamaica House, it helped get rid of the shyness, and I got bold. I also sang at church, and that made me overcome my natural fear of the stage. Right now, mi well seasoned inna the ting, my confidence is at an all-time high," she said.

The Jamaica Festival Song Finals will be held on Saturday, July 27, at the Ranny Williams Entertainment Centre in Kingston.