Busy Christmas schedule for Chris Martin

Leighton Levy, Gleaner Writer

Chris Martin is a busy man this festive season. The diminutive singer with the big song - Cheater's Prayer - is riding a wave of popularity and demand that has seen him performing in Africa, and in The Bahamas and Guyana right through until the New Year.

The singer just last weekend released the video for his hit song Cheater's Prayer that seems to be gaining in popularity with each passing day.

Martin, accompanied by CeCile and his manager, Kingy Lettman, departed the island on Thursday, destined for The Bahamas, where Martin will perform on three shows, the first of which took place on the same night in Nassau. The second took place yesterday in Exhuma, and he performs in Abaco tonight.

Before he left, Martin had said he was looking forward to the three-show stint.

"I plan to mix it up and ensure that the energy is very high," he had said. "I performed previously in Freeport and a video was posted on YouTube, so you know I have to keep it fresh."

song counteraction

CeCile, who will also be performing in her own right as an entertainer in the Bahamas, said the trip with Martin gives her a chance to give fans there what they have been longing for.

"I'm very happy to be touring with Chris and getting the chance to perform my counteraction to Cheater's Prayer," she said. She explained that Martin's song is extremely popular there and as a result, her counteraction is gaining in popularity as well. Fans, she said, are eager to hear her perform her song while on stage with him.

Martin will be back in Jamaica on Boxing Day for a performance in Montego Bay.

"I have not performed in MoBay for a while, so I am looking forward to that," he said.

guyana return

He then jets off to Guyana on December 28 for two shows before he returns home on New Year's Day.

His busy schedule comes just a week after he returned from a sudden trip to Kenya to replace Mavado who was billed to perform at the Pulse eighth anniversary celebrations.

Martin said he was not surprised to be called upon by Kenyan promoters in Nairobi because of his huge fan base there. Martin was making his second trip to Kenya after a trip in March.

This time he performed before a much smaller crowd of perhaps three or four thousand patrons that Martin said included fans that did not get the chance to see him perform earlier this year.

"It was a much smaller venue and a lot more intimate," he said. "They know what I am capable of so it was a great experience."