Chronixx Wins British Ivors Academy’s Novello Awards
Reggae/Dancehall superstar Chronixx has added another international accolade his repertoire, this time the Ivors Academy’s Novello Awards for his contribution to the 11 album by British funk band SAULT.
The Ivors Academy announced Chronixx (Jamar McNaughton) and his SAULT co-writers Dean “Inflo” Josiah Cover, Cleopatra Nikolic and Jack Peñate, as winners of this year’s Ivor Novello Awards with Amazon Music’s Best Album prize, at Grosvenor House, London, on Thursday, May 18.
The Spanish Town native was among 30 songwriters and composers, who received Ivor Novello Awards across 14 categories in recognition of “outstanding achievements in songwriting and composing” in what is the organization’s 68th year of existence.
“Drawing from Afrobeat and blues influences, 11 was one of five critically acclaimed albums released for free simultaneously by SAULT in November 2022. Dean “Inflo” Josiah Cover’s win marks the significant achievement of his fourth Ivor Novello Award,” the Ivor Academy noted on its website.
On November 1 last year, SAULT had released 11 along with four other albums which it offered for free, the others being Today & Tomorrow, AIIR, Earth, and Untitled (God).
The 11 production was the SAULT’s seventh studio album and was only available for download for five days via a password-encrypted link, and along with the others, was described as “an offering to God.”
Chronixx was featured on four of the album’s 11 tracks: Fear No One, Morning Sun, Glory and River.
The Ivor Academy describes its awards as “the biggest and most prestigious music awards for songwriters and composers”.
According to the organisation, it celebrates the craft and achievements of songwriters and composers by awarding Ivor Novellos at The Ivors with Amazon Music and The Ivors Composer Awards, which it has been presenting to these awardees “for their craft and achievements since 1956”.
The organization says the bodies of work are judged by acclaimed music creators from the Academy, and, akin to the American Music Academy’s Grammy Awards, are the only awards for songwriters and composers judged by their peers.
“The Ivors celebrates creative excellence in British and Irish songwriting and screen composition. Winners include our foremost songwriters including Adele, Stormzy, Cathy Dennis, Little Simz, Annie Lennox, Amy Winehouse, Dave, Paul McCartney, John Lennon and Joan Armatrading,” the organisation notes.
“The Ivors Composer Awards celebrates creative excellence in UK classical, jazz and sound arts. They have recognised the achievements of the UK’s most talented contemporary composers including Harrison Birtwistle, Tansy Davies, George Benjamin, John Tavener, Yazz Ahmed, Cassie Kinoshi, Jonny Greenwood, Sally Beamish, Anna Meredith, Errollyn Wallen, Roderick Williams and Jason Yarde,” it added.
Venerating The Ivors with Amazon Music songwriters and screen composers, as one of the most loved and respected music awards, the organisation pointed out that British singer Sting, who is a close friend of Dancehall megastar Shaggy (with whom he jointly won the 2019 Best Reggae album Grammy for 44/876), was this year’s recipient of the Fellowship of the Academy and Amazon Music.
“A Fellowship is the highest honour that the Academy bestows, recognising excellence in the art and craft of music creation. Joining a roster of songwriting greats, we are delighted to present the Academy Fellowship to Sting,” the Ivor Academy noted on Instagram.
In November last year, dazeddigital.com, in describing SAULT as an enigma, noted that it was almost impossible to compare the ensemble to any contemporary act, as for one “their discography ranges from classical to soul, post-punk to R&B, sometimes shifting stylistically over the course of one song”.
Additionally, the publication noted that the vagueness in their mode of operation, not only applies to their music, but that the collective is “covered by a blanket of anonymity”, never giving interviews and, “despite releasing 11 albums in three years, no one knows who they are”.
“SAULT’s online presence is limited, appearing only occasionally to share new music. Since they first came onto the scene in 2019, Sault have preferred to operate on a word-of-mouth basis, as opposed to relying on an extensive marketing campaign,” the publication explained.
“They don’t do interviews, release music videos, or play live. That’s a small part of what makes the band so interesting, they rely wholly on the quality of music they produce and a strong fanbase to gain traction, only appearing online to inform fans of a new release,” it added.