Dancing icon Keiva Di Diva and reggae crooner Richie Stephens have supported each and every other in their professions and bonded about shared ordeals for the previous 25 yrs. It is a friendship that Keiva Di Diva, born Keiva Hibbert, describes as “motivating”, recognizing that at any specified time, she can count on truthful, optimistic and beneficial information from the singer.
“From the pretty initial dialogue with Richie, he has been pushing me in the suitable direction. He has been a friend, a brother and a father determine in my life who I am at ease talking to about anything at all,” Keiva Di Diva said all through a current telephone interview with The Gleaner.
The two achieved at the starting of Keiva Di Diva’s dance journey, she said. Right after practically not finding admitted into Portmore’s popular Cactus Nightclub, which grew to become a hotspot for dancers islandwide, she finished up putting her all into a efficiency which at some point aired on Winford Williams’ ‘Vibes’ Television set show.
“I don’t try to remember how long after, but a single working day, I listened to the residence mobile phone ringing and picked it up, only to listen to a deep voice inquiring to communicate to Keiva for the reason that he was impressed after seeing me on Television set. I questioned who was on the mobile phone, and he then said, ‘It’s Richie Stephens’,” she shared. “Of program, I questioned which Richie Stephens, to which he said, ‘How several do you know?’ I rapidly informed him to keep on so I could get Keiva (even however it was me who answered the mobile phone), for the reason that I was literally in shock. When I returned to the mobile phone, I changed up my voice a little and informed him, ‘Good Morning’.”
Minor did she know that telephone simply call would direct to quite a few possibilities to not only share her expertise with Stephens, but meet up with other stars inside of the reggae and dancehall business. At the age of seventeen, Keiva Di Diva was just a tenderfoot, but Stephens asked for that she be section of the audio video clip for Bicycle, a music finished by then boy or girl star and his son, Coppa Cat, who is now deceased.
Keiva Di Diva said, “Naturally, I had to get my parents’ permission, as I was nonetheless living underneath their roof. I did, we achieved for the video clip shoot, and it turned out well. It was brilliant, truly.”
The future time she would operate with the Color of Appreciate singer-songwriter was for his stage show, Unity Splash, a staple function held on a yearly basis in Savanna-la-Mar in the course of the 2000s. The dancer praises Stephens for getting an unmatched degree of professionalism and is forever grateful to him for being the initial recording artiste to put $ten,000 in her fingers.
Reminiscing on the celebration, she said, “Richie has taken very good care of me and everybody all around him. It was my initial major show it was huge, [so] a bus was supplied for everybody who was carrying out, which me and other dancers, as well as artistes, achieved in 50 %-Way Tree. He even had booked rooms for us and all the things.”
She remembered the experience primarily for the “good introduction” Stephens gave her and strolling out on stage to screaming patrons.
Keiva Di Diva stated, “I had butterflies, but it finished up feeling so very good. The future early morning, he would meet up with us in the lobby, simply call each and every human being by identify and hand us a brown envelope. I was not even targeted on finding paid, for the reason that dollars or not, I just loved being in a position to dance. The way it hardly ever mattered, [it] is when I reach dwelling, I opened the envelope and begin rely to myself ‘one, two, three …wait deh, four, five’ and begin jump up and throw the dollars in the air.”
The dancer purchased a ingredient established with that dollars and nonetheless not without having a little support from Stephens once more, when the salesman informed her it would value a several thousand pounds much more, she said.
“I had gone to Jewellery Collection to make the buy, but it turned out that I hardly ever had enough dollars, but I got brave, known as Richie to convey to him I wanted a ‘mek up’, and he did not let me down. We have been close at any time since,” she said. “I know his mom, sisters, spouse and we are all like family members. Even when we both equally got hectic, at times dropping keep track of of each and every other … when I grew to become a mom and had other obligations that saved me out of the parties, we had been normally a mobile phone simply call away. And now with Future (her daughter), the enjoy has been handed on to her.”
Keiva Di Diva has been section of the star-studded forged for several of Stephens’ audio videos. A person of the most current is To God Be The Glory, that includes Randy Abundant and produced previous calendar year, the place Future also shows off her dancing abilities.
“He taught me to fend for my possess. As I say, he is the initial to put $ten,000 in my hand, but with it came lessons. Often be on time – he is a person of punctuality – when he states ten o’clock, it suggests you will have to reach nine:59. If you can not make it to a dedication, don’t say indeed, and then you don’t reach,” she shared. “Richie is the friend that reminds me, ‘Keiva, you have a daughter.’ It suggests there is no require to squander electricity on some issues. You are larger than that and have much more significant issues to emphasis on, and normally established example. He doesn’t rejoice if I do erroneous, specifically in the social media place. Which is the variety of human being I want all around my boy or girl. He is normally there for me, and I will normally be there for him.”
Signing up for the interview by way of convention simply call, Stephens shared when he saw the dancer on the Television set, “she was this skinny, little youthful girl with big talent”.
“I am and normally has been captivated to very good expertise. I known as up Winford right away after seeing her efficiency and expressed to him that I would enjoy to get in make contact with with her and contain dancing in what I was doing at the time,” he informed The Gleaner.
The interaction between the two entertainers was filled with laughter, natural and organic and, most importantly, unrehearsed. Like birds of a feather, Keiva Di Diva and Stephens have humbly viewed each and every other distribute their wings as ambassadors for Jamaica’s audio and dance culture.
He practically introduced his friend to tears when he said, “I want to say how very pleased I am of you, and enjoy you and your daughter genuinely a hundred and fifty for every cent,” to her, introducing that, “Bonded by our small children, my previous son and her daughter heading to the very same school, I can not support but enjoy this lady all about once more.”
Keiva Di Diva’s voice could be listened to breaking when she interjected, “I see you want me to cry nowadays, but I am heading to keep it,” to which Stephens responded, “Yuh too bawly, bawly person.”
Equally from identical backgrounds, the singer said he recognised the dancer’s ambition, and it impressed him to maintain in touch about the yrs.
“I normally danced for entertaining, but I felt very good recognizing Keiva was blessed with expertise, and however from an internal-metropolis local community like myself, her benchmarks had been established pretty substantial, and it was not for the very same causes or issues other men and women wished. She has grown into a completely … not various human being, as I normally saw all those qualities in her, but she has achieved a stage of motherhood and development that tends to make me salute her all the time,” he said.
“Sometimes I’d see Keiva in the school’s parking good deal, and I say howdy, and she can hardly response back – she is pretty included in the school’s programme – I simply call her the supermom. And my son is pretty a great deal into actual physical exercise as her daughter, however he’s a couple yrs more mature, they have us doing identical issues, which I just enjoy,” he ongoing.
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