A full cast is scheduled to perform at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel on Saturday for the Remembering Cynthia show, which commemorates the 10th anniversary of singer Cynthia Schloss' death.

Winston Blake, Schloss' widower, says the event will be more than just a concert.

"It's important for persons connected with artistes to make a special effort to keep their music alive. If they don't, the music will die," Blake told The Gleaner.

Schloss died in February 1999 at age 51.

For nearly 25 years she was one of Jamaica's leading balladeers for various producers including Harold Butler, Willie Lindo and Blake himself.

Blake produced Schloss' first chart entry, 1974's Words Are Impossible, a cover of American soul singer Margie Joseph's hit. That year, she followed up with Love Me Forever, which was written and produced by Butler.

Why Am I Chained To A Memory and Surround Me With Love were two of Schloss' popular hits of the 1980s.

A former operator at Jamaica Telephone Company, Schloss was a product of the Merritone Amateur Talent Contest which Blake ran from 1971 to 1974. She recorded four studio albums, the retrospective Cynthia Schloss: Ready And Waiting In Memory was released by VP Records in 2002.

Singers Ken Boothe, Boris Gardiner, Prilly Hamilton, Nadine Sutherland, Charmaine Limonius and Ken Bob will perform on Saturday. Saxophonist Dean Fraser and guitarist Dwight Pinkney are also on the card.

The Remembering Cynthia show is one of several pre-reunion events for the Blake family's annual Family Reunion which officially starts October 14 at the Alibi venue (Baron Plaza) and ends five days later at The Deck in St Andrew.

- Howard Campbell