A DOCUMENTARY on the life of controversial singer/actress/model Grace Jones is currently in production, The Independent newspaper in Britain reported last week.

The untitled project is being produced by British filmmaker Sophie Fiennes, sister of actors Ralph and Joseph Fiennes.

The documentary comes at a time when the 60-year-old Jones is enjoying a career revival. In November, she released Hurricane, her first album in 20 years, and there are plans for a British tour, starting in January.

Jones also told The Independent that she has written a screenplay, based on her life, titled Jamaica Jones. She did not say when production on a possible film will begin.

Jones was born in Spanish Town but grew up in New York. In the 1970s, she was a successful model in Europe, followed by fruitful careers as a singer and actress.

The reggae-tinged Warm Leatherette and Nightclubbing, produced by Sly and Robbie, are two of her best albums.

Stacyann Chin

STACEYANN Chin, another Jamaican woman who has known her share of controversy, will launch her memoirs early next year. The Other Side of Paradise is the name of the book.

The openly gay Chin wrote about the book on her website. She said her growth as a poet and artist was strongly influenced by her early years in Montego Bay where she was born.

Chin, 35, is regarded as a cutting-edge advocate of gay rights in the United States. She has a strong following on the college circuit in that country, performing at major universities such as Harvard, Boston and Cornell.

Chin has been featured on programmes such as 60 Minutes and is a regular on cable programmes Black Entertainment Television's Def Poetry Jam. She has also appeared on Oprah, where she tearfully told host Oprah Winfrey about the hostility toward gays in Jamaica.

Despite strong anti-gay presence in her homeland, Staceyann Chin performed at the 2005 Calabash International Festival in St Elizabeth.

Prezident Brown

ONE of reggae's best-kept secrets is roots singjay Prezident Brown. He was one of several acts who emerged during the Rasta renaissance of the early 1990s.

Brown (real name Fitz Cotterell) has made a name as a touring act, mainly in Europe and the United States West Coast. It is there that his latest jaunt - in support of his latest album, Showcase Volume 4: Health and Strength - takes him. It was scheduled to start last Friday at the Red Fox Inn in Eureka, California.

The dates close on Friday and Saturday with two shows at the Caspar Inn in Caspar, also in California.

THE Marley brothers, Ziggy and Stephen, are two of the acts billed for the annual Rotura Raggamuffin Festival in New Zealand on February 7.

A statement from the promoters said the Marleys will share headline spot with Grammy-winning deejay Shaggy. Veteran band Inner Circle is also scheduled to perform, so too American Rhythm and Blues group Arrested Development.

Organisers of the event said this year's show drew over 30,000 fans.