Gladys Knight, Beres Hammond Join St Kitts Music Festival

The Caribbean’s hottest music festival has added more big names to its 2020 agenda. 

The St Kitts Music Festival, now in its 24th year, has added Gladys Knight, Beres Hammond and Anthony B to the slate of performers for the June 25-27 event. 

“We are excited to have secured such an outstanding group of artists to perform in this year’s St. Kitts Music Festival,” said St Kitts Tourism Minister Lindsay Grant. “”Our strategy is to grow the festival every year in a way that will appeal to both local and international audiences, therefore creating the right mix of performers is critical to our success. This particular selection of veteran and emerging talent is certain to draw music lovers from from all of our key source markets as well as from our Federation, thereby providing direct benefit to our citizens and economy.”

The festival has become a major driver of tourism traffic to the island, particularly in the summer months, according to Racquel Brown, CEO of the St Kitts Tourism Authority. 

“For the past two years in a row, we have broken air passenger arrivals records for the month of June and hotels have been sold out for the dates surrounding music festival,” Brown said in a statement. “To keep this momentum going, we have developed comprehensive integrated marketing programs to specifically target those individuals who are most likely to attend this event, which has become a key driver of tourism in early summer.”

The group includes performers like Chronixx, Jimmy Cliff and the new reggae star Koffee, who took home this year’s Best Reggae Album Grammy. 

“With such a wide range of talent and musical styles represented on stage again this year, we want to be a model for other music festivals throughout the region,” said Damion Hobson, Chairman of the St. Kitts Music Festival. “Our festival is one of the longest-established music festivals in the Caribbean and we aim to keep it as a premier choice for music-loving travelers and locals alike.”

For more, visit the St Kitts Music Festival.