Massive line up for Raggamuffin Festival

PRESS RELEASE, THURSDAY, AUGUST 4

Massive line up for Raggamuffin Festival

Rotorua International Stadium, January 27 & 28

Tickets on sale to Raggamuffin “friends” Wednesday, August 10.

Sign up today to grab cheapest tickets ever!

www.raggamuffin.co.nz

McMANUS ENTERTAINMENT is delighted to announce that joining ALI CAMPBELL’S UB40 at RAGGAMUFFIN 2012 -- New Zealand’s premier reggae music festival are -- Grammy Award Winning artist BILLY OCEAN, son of reggae legend and now star in his own right MARVIN PRIEST, US reggae group BIG MOUNTAIN, The Wailers’ JUNIOR MARVIN and Lucky Dube’s daughter NKULEE DUBE.

Joining our hot line-up of international artists on the main stage are Kiwi groups KORA and THREE HOUSES DOWN. And because fans have asked us for more Kiwi artists, we’ll be giving them just that. House of Shem, Cornerstone Roots, Sons of Zion, Sweet & Irie, Tomorrow People, SOLJAH, NRG Rising and Foundation will all be part of our 5th anniversary event as will DJs Sir-Vere, Poroufessor and Beau Zee.

2012 will be our greatest event yet, delivering festival-goers over 12 hours of great reggae, dancehall and funk with a dash of RnB and hip hop. Two stages and twice as many artists than ever before.

Tickets to Raggamuffin 2012 will go on sale to our “friends” next Wednesday, August 10. These will be the cheapest tickets ever at $85 plus booking fee. These will only be available to those who sign up at www.Raggamuffin.co.nz and will be limited so we urge you to act fast. Once they’re gone, prices will jump to the Early Bird rate of $109.

Our 5th birthday party will begin on Friday night at 7pm with the Mai FM Party on the Second Stage, Field 2. It will be a mix of bands and DJs plus the night market. Tickets $40pp or you can include your Mai FM Party ticket with your Earlybird festival pass for $139.

Plus: More artists will be announced in late October including TWO more major international acts and more NZ acts.

Having sold over 30 million records worldwide and topping the charts across America, Europe and Australia, Grammy-winning BILLY OCEAN is without a doubt the biggest black recording act Britain has ever produced. Having achieved extraordinary success as both an artist and a songwriter, Ocean has collected a pile of Gold and Platinum records across the world and hit the number one spot numerous times over. Born in Trinidad, Billy settled in London’s East End when he was seven years old. The calypso crazy kid soon got turned on to soul singers like Otis Redding and Sam Cooke, as well as the big pop groups at the time like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. These diverse range of influences helped create a distinct and unique sound which saw Billy release massive hits like “Love Really Hurts Without You”, “Carribean Queen”, “When The Going Gets Tough” and one of the biggest hits of the 80’s, “Get Out Of My Dreams; Get Into My Car”.

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MARVIN PRIEST’S debut single “Own This Club” has undoubtedly been one of the biggest radio hits of 2011. The son of reggae superstar Maxi Priest, Marvin spent his childhood touring the world and soaking up all the international music world had to offer, long before he was even old enough to start high school. However, its only recently that Marvin decided he would take on the family business fulltime, when three years ago, the South London-bred singer started a regular gig as a back-up vocalist in his Dad’s touring band. His natural talents were quickly noticed and he was soon asked out on tour by UB40. A trip to Australia with his father to perform at Raggamuffin in 2008 saw him fall in love with the country. After numerous trips, he was signed to Island Records Australia and release his debut smash “Own This Club”. US chart topper Wynter Gordon has collaborated with Priest on his follow up single “Take Me Away”, which is at radio now.

Much like UB40, reggae band BIG MOUNTAIN helped catapult Jamaican music to the mainstream when their cover of Peter Frampton’s “Baby I Love Your Way” reached the Top Ten across the world in 1994. Formed in San Diego in the mid-80’s, the group toured the world and sold over a million copies of their album “Unity” featuring the smash hits “Sweet Sensual Love” and “Baby I Love Your Way”. The band’s accomplishments led to them headlining Jamaica’s Reggae Sunsplash festival twice.

Born in Jamaica, JUNIOR MARVIN moved to London as a child, where his love of both acting and music was nurtured. After honing his musical skills playing with artist such as Ike & Tina Turner, and T-Bone Walker, and forming his own band Hanson, Junior was invited by both Bob Marley and Stevie Wonder to join their bands. Junior went with Bob Marley due to his Jamaican heritage and first appeared with him on Marley’s legendary album “Exodus”, which was voted Best Album of the 20th Century by Time Magazine. He has appeared on all Bob Marley and The Wailers albums since then. His latest solo album “Wailin For Love” is out now.

NKULEE DUBE is the daughter of arguably South Africa's most successful reggae superstar and icon, Lucky Dube. Her style of music however is a little different from daddy; it is more like a fuse between ethno-soul ragga (a term that refers to Raggamuffin music, a sub-genre of dancehall and reggae music), with Afro-soul. As a guest artist and backing vocalist, Nkulee has been part of her late father’s performing band “One People” and has performing in major music festivals around the world, and shared the stage with Jamaican reggae/ragga artist Sizla throughout Africa. Her debut solo album will be released shortly.

Tickets on sale to Raggamuffin “friends” Wednesday, August 10.

Tickets on public sale via Ticketmaster 9am Wednesday, August 17

Sign up today to grab cheapest tickets ever!

www.raggamuffin.co.nz

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