Sadeke Brooks, Staff Reporter

Sameer and Leila Younis open the dance floor at another successful staging of the the Civic Affairs Committee of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce's annual Grand Charity Ball, under theme 'Some Enchanted Evening - All We Need Is Love', held at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel, New Kingston, on Saturday November 8. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer

Cabaret singers Dwight Richards and Keisha Patterson brought high energy to the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce's (JCC) Grand Charity Ball, held at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel, New Kingston, on Saturday evening.

While the patrons enjoyed cocktails, Floyd Folkes provided the appropriate, relaxing background music. Sameer Younis, chairman of the JCC Civic Affairs Committee, gave the vote of thanks, the segue, it seemed, for couples to start the night off with ballroom dancing.

Happy feet

The number of happy feet on the dance floor increased gradually until Fab 5 started to play soca music. In no time, the dance floor was packed.

Lovindeer also gave a short performance, which included his seminal hit, Wild Gilbert. There was also a performance by Frankie and Bagadito, who sang several songs made popular by Blues Busters, among them Behold.

Crowd-pleaser

After dinner, Keisha Patterson entered the ballroom singing Shirley Bassey's Big Spender. Looking like a classical oldies singer, her voice was crisp and clear as she delivered Cole Porter's Night And Day and Ella Fitzgerald's Misty. When she sang At Last by Etta James and Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive, Patterson struck a chord with the audience who responded with immediate applause.

The energetic Dwight Richards came prepared to thrill the audience. He started with UB40's Here I Am Baby, before switching genres to deliver Tarrus Riley's She's Royal. Richards also delivered several gospel songs and dedicated part of his set to the deceased 'rock steady king', Alton Ellis, with Girl I've Got A Date and I'm Still In Love. He also paid homage to United States' President-elect Barack Obama when he sang Sam Cooke's A Change Is Gonna Come.

But Younis wanted a change of his own as he begged Richards to perform his favourite song, My Way, by Elvis Presley. Richards and Patterson sang the song and invited Younis to join them on the ballroom floor, where he also sang along.

After the cabaret performances, the ballroom came alive again with dancing feet as guests partied to the soca music of Fab 5.