By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., July 14, 2023 – Hearing about the death of Vanessa Rolle-Clarke hit me like a proverbial ton of bricks. Vanessa was one of the very gifted and talented young journalists that I had the pleasure of working with when I was Editor of The Guardian from 1998 to 2022.
She was an excellent journalist, but her remarkable career as a journalist throughout her career often took a “back seat” to her extraordinary talent as a gospel singer. After she released a new single, “Like The Dew”, in May of 2018, we published a feature on her in BAHAMAS CHRONICLE on May 23, 2018.that exemplifies her love for gospel music:
VANESSA CLARKE RELEASES NEW SINGLE: “LIKE THE DEW
FREEPORT, Grand Bahama — Sometimes in life, you just have to start over. That’s exactly what multi-award-winning Bahamian gospel singer, author and journalist Vanessa Clarke had to do to launch the immensely beautiful “Like the Dew” Project.
Her sojourn to this point was heart-breaking, however, and there were times when she just wanted to give up.
“The only reason I did not give up was the fact that I knew the Lord gave me this project to do. All of the songs were inspired by Him and that is why I pushed so hard… I don’t care how good you are in this
business, if you could not give me your best – even in your attitude, I had no problem starting over. And I did that in some cases without any regrets,” commented the ZNS radio personality, who is fondly known in the Grand Bahama community as Divine Lady.
“There is a spiritual component at work. I needed my producers to treat this project like anything that belonged to God. So, I could not settle for mediocrity. This was a special mandate given to me by God to remind believers that He is always around… that they are never alone in battle – whatever the perplexities of life that seek to uproot and make them weary – He will make His presence known. He is there to give them strength and to make His presence felt in their situations,” Vanessa passionately shared.
“This song is about welcoming the presence of the Lord into your space to fight your battles in the supernatural realm, and thwart all of the enemy’s intentions regarding you. This is good news that should bring comfort to every believer. Daddy, is still in the fight and if He is still fighting, you can’t give up! I was ready to give up on this entire project but this song ministered to me and I knew I had to keep going. Now it’s done,” she beamed.
Vanessa explained that the song “Like the Dew” was not planned to be the first release from this project but it was God’s will, and she had to change producers and the song and take the project to Nassau.
“I sat on a plane… not knowing the producers at all. I had never met them. I had never been in their studio before. We were utter strangers. I had no reason to trust them,” she paused. “But I trusted God.”
“I got off from work one day, bought a ticket to Nassau at 1:45 p.m. and was on the plane the same day to Nassau. I said God, this is on You. I am here. I am on the plane. Whatever happens from here is on You.”
“Like the Dew” was produced by Junior Scott and Freddie Seymour, whom she said completed the work in approximately two months since being engaged.
“I could not believe it. That’s what I needed. They were who I needed,” Vanessa beamed!
On New Year’s Day, she launched the music single “Like the Dew”, which has already gained much acclaim and positive reviews from local and international radio DJs, as well as members of the public.
The project will include a women’s devotional bearing the same name and a full-length CD with about 10 songs. Like the Dew, the devotional, will be her second book, as Vanessa released her first book, Ready for Repositioning in the summer of 2014 on Amazon.com. She recently released the Like the Dew music video on ZNS, but a global launch is also in the works.
Vanessa has dedicated the music project to the memory of her best friend and singing companion of over 20 years, Dedrie Hanna, who passed away in January, 2018. The Women’s devotional will be dedicated to her two beautiful and talented daughters, V’ajha and V’lori.
Like the Dew can be found on iTunes, Amazon.com, CD Baby, Spotify and all of the popular download sites.
Vanessa Clarke is celebrating her 20th year in the field of journalism – having worked in print and broadcast journalism. She has served as Lifestyles editor of The Nassau Guardian, Tribune News reporter, Grand Bahama correspondent for JCN News, Dove 103.7 radio personality and is also a freelance writer for the Bahamasair inflight magazine – Up and Away! She is currently the host of the very popular Morning Glory Show on the Light 810 am/ ZNS 3 in Grand Bahama.
Vanessa is also a very accomplished singer. She made history in The Bahamas as the winner of the Best Female Vocalist Award at the Bahamas Gospel Music Marlin Awards in 1996. She is a 4-time Caribbean Gospel Music Award winner and won the Cacique Award in 2005 with her musical colleagues from Da Fam. She was recently honoured at the Image Awards in Nassau for her 28 years in gospel music ministry.
NOTE:Vanessa Clarke Rolle posted this video on Facebook on March 6 with the following narrative:
This is one of my favourite moments of ministry in church before I got sick. It’s probably one of the last times I sang in church in 2018. I don’t care how sick I get, I will never stop praising the Lord. Even if my voice is gone, my heart will sing be blessed
EDITOR’S NOTE: She was a woman of deep faith. On April 14, 2023, she posted a video with the following narrative: “Didn’t I tell y’all that miracles happen every day? Here I am, without the ventilator, and without my talking valve, and I’m talking. Don’t ask me how it happened; I have no idea; but I will tell you this: for the past year, whenever I took out that talking valve and ventilator, everyone would have to read my lips…but there is a God somewhere, watching over me.”
