By Tyrone Reid, Staff ReporterFROM 'TOMBOY' to promising gospel diva. She is Robinson, Nichole Robinson - the lady who stole the 2001 Jamaica Cultural Development Commission's (JCDC) crown with her signature ballad Extraordinary God.
Robinson originally hails from a district in Manchester known as Salmon Town, but now resides in a community that is a stone's throw away called Rose Hill. That move came in June after the 22-year-old songbird got married. Her new surname reads Robinson-Arkins.
'WASHBELLY'
Her parents had eight children and Nichole was the 'washbelly'. Her seven siblings are all boys no wonder she grew up being a tomboy.
Nichole, who used to teach at the Blenheim Basic School in Manchester, told The Gleaner that cricket, football, marble and 'hunting birds and just roaming the bushes' were her favourite pastimes while coming up through the primary school ranks. She revealed that in all honesty, the stuff that appealed to little girls her age just did not tickle her fancy. "To be honest with you, I wasn't into the girls' games."
Luckily for her husband, her tenure at the Bishop Gibson High School for Girls, coupled with the exodus of her older siblings, refined her rugged edges. "Everybody started to leave, going to different parishes as they got jobs outside of Manchester... the company just wasn't there anymore. High school also taught me ladylike things how to walk, talk and so on. Then that ladylike charm just began to attach itself," she said with a feminine chuckle.
TOMBOY
Still, there is residue of her 'tomboyish' nature in her. "Yes you know, (but) not in the sense of me participating but I still watch a game of cricket and football."
But her love for things associated with the male persuasion has to take a back seat to the fulfilling of her summon to sing for the Lord and her role as wife. Mrs. Robinson-Arkins in telling The Gleaner what it has been like since her marriage said: "I am enjoying it, it is very good. I am still on my honeymoon so I am having fun. I'll never be off my honeymoon."
Two years have elapsed since she copped the JCDC Gospel Song crown and she has not yet put out an album. This slow pace at releasing an album is intentional, says Nichole.
Nichole says that the album was in progress but the work was halted because she was getting married. She also wanted to hit the drawing board again.
"I wouldn't want to do it (complete the album) because the public demands it or because that is what is expected of me, but when I do one I want it to impact, change and affect lives positively."
