Born in the beautiful parish of St. Ann, Charmaine Limonius began singing at an early age. Her teachers and family soon discovered her talent and regularly singled her out to perform.
When she was a teenager, her family migrated to New York. Overwhelmed by her new surroundings, she found solace in music, spending hours with her ear pressed to the radio and filling notebooks with the lyrics to hundreds of songs, learning scores of them by heart.
For her 15th birthday, her parents granted her wish to have a guitar and she learned the basics in order to accompany herself as she sang, writing a few songs in the process. Thereafter, Charmaine began to receive requests to sing at a variety of events – private and public - and she also became involved in her church, where she led the folk group.
Jamaica having never left her heart, after graduating from university, Charmaine returned home to teach Spanish at Manning’s High School in Sav-La-Mar, Westmoreland. She teamed up with fellow teachers in the Chalk & Duster band, which, in addition to performing at school concerts, organized a road show to raise funds for the Scout movement. She also sang with the Westmoreland Singers, under the musical direction of the late Bob Austin.
Back in the USA, Charmaine began to work at the United Nations and sought an outlet for her musical talent in the “Big Apple”. She joined a small choir and continued to sing at social events. She became a voice student of Hungarian former Metropolitan Opera singer, Lily Eszterag, until her work took her away from New York again.
While on study leave in Germany, in the 80s, Charmaine was invited to be a vocalist with a rock band and performed in a successful run of the musical, “Die Grasoper”, in German.
Upon returning to New York, Charmaine joined the United Nations Singers, then under the direction of acclaimed conductor, Dr. John L. Motley; and became a soloist. She also joined the classical choir, The Greenwich Village Singers, directed by Mark Mangini.
Charmaine again returned to New York and sang under the baton of Maestro Motley, this time, with the City College Community Choir. She was also a guest artiste with the New York-based Panamanian Salsa band, Love, Warmth and Affection.
In 2000, Charmaine fulfilled her dream to return to Jamaica to live. While working full time as a UN Editor, she recorded a CD of Caribbean folk songs (“Sweet Jamaica”). In 2004, she became a member of the Jamaica Association of Vintage Artistes & Affiliates (JAVAA) and now serves on the Executive. In Kingston, Charmaine performs on the JAVAA stage, at the Grog Shoppe, and is a guest artiste on various shows around town. She sings at private events and on the hotel circuit. She occasionally performs abroad, most recently, in the USA, Cuba and Antigua.
Having taken the decision to make music her new career, Charmaine is no longer a UN staffer, although her ties with the Organization remain strong. She is overjoyed to be back in her “Sweet Jamaica” and has no wish to leave its shores.
