Meet the Hardweares
COME November 21, the television landscape will see the addition of new reality show — The Hardweares.
The show is centred around the lives of recording artiste Singing Melody (given name Everton Hardweare) and his wife Ruby Robinson.
The couple is assuring viewers that The Hardweares will be nothing like the “cheesy, raunchy” reality TV shows.
“I will not be following him to women’s houses; there will be no fighting and hair-pulling,” Robinson told the Sunday Observer.
She explained the show is built around three central pillars — a dream house in construction, Singing Melody’s career, and the relationship they share.
“We are building our dream house on the north coast. It is a project that we are in way over our heads… it is just so much and the audience gets to see us going through the trials of construction. Another aspect of the show is Melody’s career, so we get to see him on the road and on tour as he goes about doing what he does. Finally, there is our relationship. We have been together for 10 years and we believe we have an interesting relationship that we are comfortable sharing with an audience,” said Robinson.
“It’s home and garden meets entertainment meets family,” Singing Melody chimed in. “So you will see who we are as individuals and how we do what we do,” he added.
The Hardweares said they were first approached to undertake the project back in 2011, but were hesitant.
“I am very private and quiet about what I do, except for music. My wife basically lives an even more private life, but when we looked at it we realised that opening up our lives could help so many people from a wide section of society to see what it takes to hold a family together and keep that balance,” said Singing Melody.
Singing Melody, a solo artiste, is also a quarter of the vocal group LUST, which features Lukie D, Thriller U and Tony Curtis.
Primarily funded by the Hardweares, the show will air on CVM TV on Saturday’s at 10:30 pm. Through a partnership with CEEN TV, the programme will be taken to markets in the wider Caribbean, United States and Canada. MAS2 TV — a global video on demand service — is also on board.
The couple has also enlisted the talents of Emmy award-winning producer Angela Thame, whose credits include The Oprah Winfrey show for the project. Thame is supported by Sonya Stewart and Dorian Clarke, the series’ editor.
“The show will highlight what can be achieved by persons from humble beginnings like ourselves. I hope it will inspire young people, make them feel they can achieve anything, whether it is through music like Melody, or by going back to school and work in the corporate world like I do. We also want the show to appeal to those Jamaicans overseas who have written off Jamaica. We want to show them that it is still a great place to invest and, by using our example, show how to build a house in Jamaica,” said Robinson.