Western Bureau: Thirteen years after migrating to the United States, the Bonafide band, which originally started out with four brothers in Mount Salem, St James, in 1990, has all but conquered the world with their unique brand of reggae music.

However, the Las Vegas, Nevada-based group, which is renowned on the casino circuit in that city, as well as in other major US cities, still feels somewhat unfulfilled despite touring Europe extensively and making their mark in faraway places such as New Zealand, Australia, Tahiti, Hawaii and Fiji.

"We have been doing extremely well overseas ... there is no denying that," said bandleader and lead vocalist Donovan 'Junior Roots' Stephens. "However, we are not as well known here in Jamaica as we would have liked, so we are now looking forward to doing something about that."

The brothers - Junior Roots, Wayne 'Wayne Bass' Stephens, Robert 'Ricky Dread' Stephens and Kevin Stephens, who have since been joined by two non-family members, Mickey Gits and Kerry Ranks, are the sons of Adolph 'Jah B' Stephens, a founding member of the Rastafarian group Prince Tebah and the Sons of Thunder, a stable act on the north coast hotel circuit.

After starting their career in hotel entertainment in the 1990s as child musicians, the group quickly became well known because of their youthful energy and the musical prowess normally associated with their dad. However, before they were able to attain musical maturity in Jamaica, they migrated to the United States.

big break

After spending four years seeking to establish themselves in the US, the group got a big break in 2000 when they released their 17-track debut album, Bonafide Love, which opened the door of the Las Vegas casino circuit to them.

Since coming to mainstream attention in Las Vegas, criss-crossing the US entertainment circuit at regular intervals along with numerous tours of Europe, Bonafide has become established as an international act. However, despite performing at Reggae Sumfest (twice), Western Consciousness and Reggae Fever, Jamaica is yet to feel the full impact of Bonafide.

"When you come to Las Vegas, we have our own massive billboard with our picture. Everybody there knows about Bonafide. We regularly play to 1,200 people at the MGM Grand on a Friday night," said Junior Roots. "That is the kind of impact we would like to have here in Jamaica."

targeting jamaican market

In keeping with their desire to make their mark at home, Bonafide recently went into the studios and recorded two singles, titled, Sold Out and Leaving Come The Morning, which they are using to target the Jamaican market in the hope of gaining wider local recognition.

"Both songs are getting extremely good rotation on local radio and we are quite pleased about that," Junior Roots said. "Overseas people are saying we are the best reggae band in the world, but it would be a lot nicer to us if that type of accolade was coming out of Jamaica."

In a bid to keep their music in sharp focus, Bonafide, which has toured with and backed established reggae stars, such as Wailing Soul, Michael Rose, Sanchez, Bounty Killer and Spragga Benz, recently hired Usher's former manager, Kelly Obong, as their new manager.

"We are not leaving anything to chance as our desire is to hold on to the claim that we are now the best reggae band in the world," said Junior Roots. "However, we also want that recognition from Jamaica."