- File
Junior Byles at Rebel Salute 2004, held in January at Port Kaiser in St. Elizabeth.
Germaine Smith, Staff Reporter
KENNETH BYLES Jr., the man known to the world as Junior Byles, made a spectacular re-entry on to the reggae stage this January at Rebel Salute 2004 in St Elizabeth. It was not the first time that Byles, a recovering mental patient, had returned to performing after several years off the stage.
With the support of family and close friends, the man renowned for the reggae anthems Fade Away, Beat Down Babylon and Curly Locks has made several tries at regaining a presence in the music business. In this latest round however, his management team is asking the support of the public in helping him maintain the place he has earned in the country's musical history with over three decades of involvement.
These efforts, they argue, are being hampered by money hungry music industry personnel who seem more interested in making as much money as they can off the singer, rather then being genuinely concerned about his well-being.
Byles was not available for an interview, but Herbert 'Sprinter' Morrison, Byles' manager, told The Sunday Gleaner that show promoters have booked Byles for shows in Jamaica and overseas without adequately compensating him (Morrison), even though he is the manager of Byles and they are both listed as partners in a music production company.
Morrison showed The Sunday Gleaner documents which list himself and Byles as partners in the company, plus other paperwork showing their involvement in different musical projects.
"Byles is represented by One In Three Music Productions company, but he is being booked by people who did not come through the company," Morrison told The Sunday Gleaner, though declining to name anyone. "We formed this company from way back in 1991 and we are members of the Jamaican Performing Rights Society. We have produced tunes with him and a couple of them were big sellers," he continued.
Aside from the legal issues, Morrison's concern about Byles is hinged on the speculation that those who have taken him to perform at overseas shows may not take as much care of him as his proper management team would. Morrison told The Sunday Gleaner that he is extremely worried about the effect that the shows are having on Byles' health. This, plus the tendency of vendors to offer the singer marijuana to smoke while he is on the road, causes Morrison to worry about Byles.
GANJA-SMOKING HABIT
This particular concern has surfaced from Morrison before. In an interview published in THE STAR on February 9, 1999, Morrison stated that Byles' habit of smoking marijuana hampered the effectiveness of the drugs which were being used to improve his mental condition. Now, he added, he fears the situation may be repeating itself.
"I am appealing to the public or anyone coming in contact with him to stop helping the drug habit. He is around us some of the time, but other times he is with other people. The drugs he is taking are affected by the weed, so he doesn't need to be smoking it," Morrison said.
Since his musical resurrection in January, Byles made a brief appearance on the Stars R Us concert at the Mas Camp Village in April. Although his performance nose-dived, Morrison said he had recovered well enough for him to finally implement plans he has made for Byles a long time ago. He plans to implement a few measures to ensure that show bookings for Byles comes through his company and is gearing up for new releases.
"He has made a lot of improvement since last year. I have tablets giving him, but they are not good when they are combined with the ganja. If he holds up his health we plan to do some singles to release soon, plus an album to do late this year or early next year," he said.
"We want to concentrate mostly on the cultural and love songs, but the distractions are interfering. Hopefully we can kick off some things early this summer," he said.
