Morgan family celebrates gold certification ‘Sunshine Girl’

The year 2026 certainly started with a bang for the Morgan family, as not even two weeks into the new year, J Boog's hit Sunshine Girl made gold status by the RIAA, becoming the first reggae song to be so certified this year. Now on every major playlist, the song featuring Peetah Morgan, produced by Gramps Morgan, has exceeded 500,000 sales and streaming units in the United States.

THE STAR caught up with Gramps, who shared his thoughts on the song's popularity since its release. "Well, it's a very accomplished feeling as there has never been a gold record in the Morgan Heritage family before. Of course, my father has achieved success with his record back in 1981 called I'll Do Anything For You but it's the first time anyone from Morgan Heritage has ever been on a record that was produced and gone gold. I want to thank everyone who was a part of the sessions, the engineers, my publicist Sean 'Contractor' Edwards, and the musicians, especially, plus everyone who thought I was crazy when I was working with J Boog, as not many saw my vision."

The inspiration behind the song was simple: promoting the beauty of an island woman. "My brother Peetah and I wrote the lyrics after an award show in New York, where I won a few awards, including Best Male Artiste of the Year. One of the owners of the record label, Jonas Teel, asked me to go to the studio, and I had a few tracks left over from the session, so I called Peetah and said come with me to the studio. The concept I had was to celebrate a woman from the islands, not necessarily the Polynesian island or Jamaica, but just celebrating a beautiful woman from any island."

The collaboration between J Boog and Peetah, he said, was seamless and smooth. "I was working on the album with J Boog, and I told my brother I wanted him to come on board as I was producing a few songs and needed him to be a part of the songwriting process, as he is an incredible songwriter. I told Peetah about going to the studio that night in New York City after the awards show, and by the time we left from Brooklyn, driving over the Williamsburg Bridge, and pulled into the parking lot, the song was complete. We only had to share the lyrics and teach J Boog the song. We recorded it that night. The musicals are already recorded at Bobby Digital studio in Kingston, Jamaica, about two months prior for Wash House Records."

So what is next in terms of music for Gramps? "I'm working on three albums right now at the same time, including some projects with some of my musical friends, so stay tuned. Plus, I'm excited for the world to hear my son Jemere Morgan's album produced by Damian Marley."

Other new projects on the horizon for 2026 include more touring as a solo artiste, as well as doing another European tour starting in May with Morgan Heritage. "We'll be on and off with the family band as well as working on some projects in the Philippines and in the Caribbean. I will be working with Wash House Record Label with Jonas Teel and his new artiste Taye Louise, he said.