Myrna Hague
Artist. Reggae
- Active
- 1965-present
- Also known as
- Jamaica's First Lady of Jazz, Myrna Hague-Bradshaw, Dr. Myrna Hague-Bradshaw
Myrna Hague, Dr. Myrna Hague-Bradshaw, is a jazz singer, actress and educator, often called Jamaica's first lady of jazz, whose one reggae album, Melody Life, made for Studio One in 1972, has found a new audience decades later.
Her career began in the mid-1960s. She grew up in Britain and, back in Jamaica, came to reggae through a family connection to Coxsone Dodd, who brought her the songs; Jackie Mittoo, "a jazz man" in her words, was her musical director for the album, which included her version of "The First Cut Is the Deepest," recorded in a single day with the other tracks. She has said she always concentrated on concept performances, jazz and cabaret, and she has never sung "First Cut" in Jamaica.
With her husband, the bandleader Sonny Bradshaw, she founded the Ocho Rios Jazz Festival. She taught at the Jamaica School of Music, won the Caribbean Broadcasting Union song festival in 1990, and in 2015 received the Silver Musgrave Medal and a doctorate in cultural studies from the University of the West Indies.
Last updated October 21, 2026
Connections
- Sonny Bradshaw (husband)
- Coxsone Dodd (producer)
- Jackie Mittoo (arranger)
- Studio One (label)
Notes
- "Myrna Hague," Wikipedia, accessed October 21, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myrna_Hague. Mel Cooke, "Story of the Song: First Cut at Reggae for Myrna Hague," Jamaica Gleaner, May 26, 2017, https://past.jamaica-gleaner.com/article/entertainment/20170528/story-song-first-cut-reggae-myrna-hague, which notes the album's "resurgence in the UK over the past eight years or so."
- Cooke, "Story of the Song."
- Cooke, "Story of the Song," quoting her: "I have always concentrated more on the concept performances, jazz performances, cabaret."
- "Myrna Hague."
