Winston Irie To Bring Reggae To Southampton Arts Center

Winston Irie is no new face to the East End music scene, having played everywhere from the Montauk Music Festival to the Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett.

Mr. Irie moved to New York City from Guyana in 1979 with his mother and started playing reggae music nearly right away.

His great-aunt and mother encouraged him to pursue music from a young age, as he was passionate about singing and dancing. “They encouraged me to do what I like, and I’d be good at it … I was also encouraged by a few other people, mostly women,” he said with a laugh.

He played with a band called Black Gold Connections in the 1980s when he began, only 16 years old at the time.

In 1993 he started to play concerts in the Hamptons and formed his band, Selective Security. Mr. Irie said he liked the East End better than he did the Big Apple. “I’m a country boy … I fell in love with it, it’s more like home to me.”

Mr. Irie still lives in New York during the off-season, but he always looks forward to coming to the Hamptons to perform during the summer.

He writes his own music and performs many of those songs at his concerts, though he does covers of popular reggae songs as well. Mr. Irie credits reggae icon Bob Marley and, surprisingly, country music singer-songwriter Jim Reeves as big influences on his music. “As a child I loved country music and gospel,” he said, though he has stuck to performing reggae.

Many of Mr. Irie’s originals are written on issues he cares about, such as education for children and gun culture in America.

Mr. Irie does many of his summer concerts for free, wanting to bring his music to as many people as possible. He is also passionate about donating money he raises from performances to causes that matter to him, for example performing in Amagansett to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project. He also raises money with his concerts for a program to eradicate malaria in Ethiopia.

He is currently working on a new album, not yet titled, and will be performing new music in addition to fan favorites at his concerts this season.

Winston Irie and the Selective Security Band will play at the Southampton Arts Center, 25 Jobs Lane, Southampton Village, on Saturday, June 30, at 7 p.m. The concert is free, and Mr. Irie invites people of all ages to come enjoy his music. Visit southamptonartscenter.org or call 631-283-0967 for more information.