Oct. 26, 2005 — St. Croix will be the site of one of the launch concerts of MTV's newest channel, Tempo, which features everything Caribbean.
The concert will take place on Thursday at the Ann E. Abramson cruise ship pier beginning at 6 p.m. Thousands of free tickets have been given away in the past weeks to Virgin Islands residents.
Tempo will emerge on the television scene with a series of concerts filmed on Barbados, Jamaica, St. Maarten, Nevis, Trinidad & Tobago and St. Croix.
The concert series will feature performances by Caribbean-born entertainers such as Elephant Man (Jamaica) and Rihanna (Barbados) as well as U.S.-based artists with Caribbean heritage, including the Game and Mario (Jamaica). Other performers include Bounty Killa and Lady Saw (Jamaica), Musiq Soulchild (Jamaica), Angie Stone (Nevis) and Wyclef Jean (Nevis).
St. Croix's contribution to the line-up will be Stanley and the 10 Sleepless Nights, the World Famous Xpress Band, Ebenezer Methodist Steel Pan, Ricardo Richards Steel Pan, St. Croix road march winners the Extaushaun band, Machel Montano, the Midnight band and Youth Wave. The new cable television channel will debut on Nov. 21.
The brainchild behind the new channel is St. Croix native Frederick Morton. Morton was born and raised in St. Croix. His parents are from Nevis.
According to releases from Tempo, Morton is the senior vice president, business and legal affairs deputy general counsel for MTV Networks. His vision was to produce a cable television network that focused on the Caribbean lifestyle and music.
Tempo will air a mix of original and acquired programming, including series, specials, movies, documentaries and sporting events. The channel’s shows will include offerings from MTV Network’s long-form programming libraries as well as series from local Caribbean networks, according to a recent release.
"Tempo is the answer to a longstanding need and opportunity in the cable landscape," Jennifer Matarangas-King, president and general manager of Innovative Cable TV said in a release. "It is a real pleasure to bring our customers a channel we know they want, and are sure they will enjoy."
Innovative Cable is one of the sponsors of the event.
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