Miss Jamaica Coronation Song
published: Thursday | April 8, 2004

THE EDITOR, Sir:

I was surprised to read, in The Gleaner of April 5 under the excellent column 'This Day in our Past', the statement that the late Lou Sparkes was the composer of the Miss Jamaica song "Vision of Loveliness". This statement is inaccurate, as I am the composer of that song.

To trace its origins - some time in the late sixties, a competition was held to create a suitable Miss Jamaica coronation song. I understand that the entries received in the competition were so poor that the organisers, headed by Mr Ronnie Nasralla, contacted me and commissioned me to write an acceptable song. The result was "Vision of Loveliness, for which I wrote the words, and the music, in collaboration with Mr Keith Gordon, then Bandmaster of the First Battalion, the Jamaica Regiment. This can easily be verified by Mr Mickey Haughton-James of the Miss Jamaica World organisation, and the Fabulous Five band.

Thanks for publishing this clarification.

I am, etc.,

VIN KELLY

skyhawk008@yahoo.com

Kingston 6