This fiery media baby / socialite / entertainment guru / performer is a bona fide Jane of All Trades, as her name suggests. It all began in Tehran, Iran in 1977 when she as born a diplomat brat to Canadian parents who moved the family swiftly back to Ottawa, Canada as the Ayatollah Revolution broke out in 1978. There she was raised behind a white, picket fence on a manicured lawn with a swing set and a poodle.
Fast forward – 1985.
The Sigurdson family moves to Kingston, Jamaica and within 2 weeks, Carrie is speaking fluent Patois and had found her niche on the globe. The same can be said for her mother, who stayed behind as Mr. Sigurdson continued his diplomatic role in the Canadian Foreign Service in places such as London, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan (the latter 2, where he was Canadian Ambassador).
Oh Canada!
After finishing up high school in Kingston, Carrie went on to study in Canada at the Ontario College of Art and Design as well as York University in Toronto majoring in Advertising Design. It was then she got caught up in the music and being a poet, tried her hand at writing raps. It worked, so she decided to take it a step further. In March 1997, she saw a flyer at a club advertising open auditions for a talent show in Scarborough. She auditioned under the alias Peach, landed a spot and after performing on stage for the first time, using backing beats made by Bounty Killer’s producer, Jazwad, she not only took home first place for the Hip-Hop category she was in, but first in the Reggae category that she did not enter. Two weeks later she boarded Air Canada/Air Jamaica Flight 984 to Kingston with nothing more than a carry-on, and never looked back.
Original like ‘Q’ – and true to my name
“Peach” landed on a management contract almost as soon as she landed at Norman Manley International Airport and her moniker was nixed. Nameless and nervous, she started appearing at small shows all across the island. One day hanging out at the very popular Mixing Lab studio, she found herself rapping a dub-plate for a sound from Texas. A bystander, L.U.S.T’s Thriller U inquired about her name and background. After gathering all the necessary info, he renamed her “Quizz” and the trod began. As a casual recording artist, Quizz has appeared on dozens of local and international shows including Sting, and on a dozen reggae singles for various artists. In1999 she guested on the biggest Reggae band out of Italy’s (Reggae National Tickets) second single off their album “La Isla”. The video for “Coce Seh Succedono” was filmed in New York and was in rotation on MTV2 for a couple of years. It doesn’t stop there….
Whaddat?
In 2001, Quizz, along with two girls from high school, created a Jamaican Entertainment website – Whaddat.com, of which Quizz was and is the webmaster, technical director and creative drive behind. For two years, the three attended parties, snapped pictures and wrote reviews, interviewed every popular recording artist in the land and solidified their site as the leader in Jamaican entertainment online.
The other two founders eventually opted out of the deal but Quizz kept the site going and kept partying for a living. One of the major parties during this time was “Liquid” and the promoter, one of Jamaica’s fast rising hopefuls – a brilliant young entrepreneur by the name of Kimani Robinson, saw something special in Quizz. Then, on her own with Whaddat?com, Quizz had to divide her time between two fast growing media houses…
R-E-T-V Baby!
Kimani paid Quizz a visit in the summer of 2002 to discuss his vision of a local Reggae entertainment television station. With his serious business knowledge, corporate connections and work plan underway coupled with her fervent creative insight, street savvy, music indutry links and enthusiasm, the two bumped heads and Reggae Entertainment Television was born. Together, they rounded up a solid crew of personalities, marketing strategists and video editors which laid the foundation for RETV today – an internationally recognized platform for Reggae Music, raw and uncut.
Quizz went where nobody had ever gone before with a video camera and took Jamaican popular culture to a whole, other level. Whether it was in the home of a notorious gangster in the inner city of Kingston, on top of the highest mountain with a popular Reggae band or mingling with the richest of rich at a cocktail party, Quizz was there to catch it and all of Jamaica's eyes were glued to the TV to see the next adventure. She single-handedly made Video Jocks and entertainment television personalities islandwide immediate celebrities when she graced the screen that summer with a new form of entertainment and continues to be the most widely recognized face on local cable. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, she is one of the most recognized faces and voices of Jamaican media worldwide having graced BBC 1Xtra’s radio show and appearing in clips for RETV on BET Jazz.
And then there was Light
In June 2003, Quizz was involved in a near fatal and career crippling car accident which left her with a nasty head injury. RETV and Quizz alike were on the top of their game and the news sent shockwaves through the country. While Kimani scrambled to keep RETV running without a hitch, Quizz struggled to keep her wits about her... literally.
In the blink of an eye, [her] whole life change changed. - Kanye West, Through the Wire '03
Recovering from brain trauma was not easy. On top of amnesia and mutli-tasking problems, Quizz was ripped out of the spotlight and left to work out a new "bigger plan". In the meantime, both RETV and Whaddat?com took the back burner. In April, 2006, Quizz had a son and her whole life changed again.
Two Thousand All Mine
Now, back to basics...
RETV expanded. It spawned a news channel (JNN), was taken over by the country's leading communications and media house, RJR and is currently watched in over a dozen countries worldwide.
Whaddat?com, on the other hand, remains in the hands of its creator and its new life is just beginning. Gone are the days of Quizz partying for a living and having a point-and-shoot digital cam attached to her fingers. That was then, and after dozens of individuals have tried to follow suit by setting up similar "party sites", nowadays she opts for an HDD Sony Handycam, recording a video blog - What time is it? - for W?atch TV on the new and improved Whaddat?com launched in November 2008. All eyes are on Quizz as she begins a new chapter.
