Tanice Morrison, Bats for Empowerment

Talented singer, songwriter and music teacher, Tanice Morrison, can be as quiet as the proverbial church mouse, but when she has something to say, she articulates loudly, clearly and passionately. As a female in the male-dominated world of reggae music, and also as a class-room teacher, one of Tanice’s burning concerns is empowerment, or rather the lack of it.

Therefore, with her microphone in one hand (and a stick of chalk in the other), Tanice has started an inspiring musical journey of upliftment. Among her current singles is one whose title is self-explanatory, Rather Be Me. The chorus gets straight to the point as it cries out, “Love me or leave me/ I’d rather be me.” “We live in a world where the youth especially are trying to find themselves and everybody wants to be like the other person.

Unfortunately, in the quest for self-knowledge they somehow end up losing their values, their sense of morals and, ultimately their souls. We need to learn to love ourselves, place value on who we are, set goals and then aim to achieve them. In the video for the single, we tried to make this message as impactful as possible, especially for young people who are having issues about their looks and who are trying to fit into society,” Tanice explained.

For the song and music video, she teamed up with the choir from Vauxhall High School, an institution at which she taught, and Tanice noted that the youngsters made such a huge impression on her that she will definitely be doing more work at that level with children. 

With regard to women in the business stepping to the fore and making definitive statements, musically and otherwise, Tanice was quick to point out that a lot more needs to be done. “As females making this journey together, we need to unite and make our voices ring out loud. We need to give each other strength because it is by nurturing each other that we will be able to stand alone and stand firm Without this kind of unity and empowerment, female artistes will always be lower paid than their male counterparts and the imbalance will always exist,” declared Tanice, whose mother, Keturah Duffus was a Studio One artiste. 

Tanice, who recalls being surrounded by a lot of music at an early age, entered several competitions including the Red Label Wine Song Competition (1997), where she advanced to the finals as the sole female contestant. While in college, she was introduced to highly respected musician, Jon Williams, for whom she recorded some radio jingles, one of which was Red Stripe Light’s first radio advert. In 2002, another opportunity came for her to audition for Sir ‘Coxsone’ Dodd at Studio One Records and this translate into her recording her first original song, Old Hurt, which was officially released on the Studio One label in 2003. 

Arriving at a crossroads in her professional life, Tanice reluctantly retired from the classroom in order to focus exclusively on making music for the world to appreciate. Over the last couple of years, she has matured vocally and lyrically and she is wasting no time in proclaiming the message in her music. In 2010, she released an album, No Limitations, which, as the title suggests, is a full course meal which explores the totality of this vibrant and multi-talented singer christened Tanice Morrison.