With the weight of gold bearing down on our Jamaican athletes, songstress Tessanne Chin plans to add to the Jamaican spirit by performing in Beijing at the Puma Jamaica Olympics 2008 team closing party.

When the STAR spoke with the young singer yesterday, she was preparing to leave the island for Beijing where she would be on a promotional run, which includes radio interviews before performing at the party on Saturday, August 23 in China. Tessanne said that as far as she knew, she would be the only performer at the party. “I feel honoured to be able to go over there not only to perform, but to represent our country … this is a big accomplishment for every artiste in Jamaica and I want to open a market for Jamaican entertainers there,” she said.

This performance comes on the heels of the outstanding world record-breaking performance of Usain Bolt, who joined the PUMA athletic team in 2002. Usain wore the complete Theseus II – the PUMA performance track and field shoe and a sleeveless outfit from the complete running collection during his race on Saturday. Shelly-Ann Fraser, Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart also gave amazing performances as well as Shericka Williams who won a silver medal in the 400-metre run.

Watching keenly

The invitation to perform came from the Chinese government through the Jamaican a mbassador to China and has quietly been in the works for around a year. Tessanne told the STAR that she has been watching keenly Jamaica’s progress in the Olympic Games.

“I am proud of everybody who has the guts to follow their dreams and get there and to get their bodies trained. The fact that they are winning is an added bonus,” she said.

Tessanne plans to add something special to her performance not only vocally, but in her dress as well. She told the STAR that she was going to ‘hot it up’ for her Olympic outfit. “I just want to go out and give my best and show Jamaican people in the best light,” she said.

The singer broke on the scene with the hit song Hideaway, and her song Messenger has been doing well. She also has a new song Broken Melody on Kurt Riley’s new rhythm, Golden Gate.While she is in no rush to put out an album, Tessanne is ready to go into the studio as producer of her work. “It’s something I wanted to try, to experiment in producing,” she said.

Source: JamaicaStar