Byron Lee passed away yesterday!!

By Stanford Conway
Editor-in-Chief-SKNVibes.com

The late pioneer of Soca, Byron Aloysius St. Elmo Lee (courtesy of JIS)

According to the Jamaica Information Service, Jamaicans are mourning the loss of their music icon and the Minister of Information, Culture, Youth and Sports with responsibility for Entertainment, Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange, said she is deeply saddened by the passing of the bandleader extraordinaire.

The Minister said that undoubtedly Jamaica has lost another of its “great sons of our music and culture”. She also noted that Lee and his band had played the lead role in taking Jamaican music from the grassroots to the middle and upper echelons of Jamaican society and then to the rest of the world.

Pointing to Byron Lee’s versatility in the music industry, Minister Grange said, “He’s a musician, bandleader, producer, music studio operator, promoter and the man responsible for Trinidad-style Carnival taking hold in the Jamaican cultural and entertainment landscape.”

In expressing condolences to his family, friends and associates, Grange said the nation would be eternally grateful for the seminal contribution Byron Lee made to the development and promotion of Jamaican music.

Byron Lee was born on June 27, 1935 in Christiana, Manchester, Jamaica and his musical career started at a tender age when he learned to play the piano. However, because of his love for football at that time, he abandoned music for a while to become a member of the Jamaica national football team.

It is also said that Lee taught himself to play bass on a home-made instrument and around 1950 he and his friend, Carl Brady, formed the Dragonaires, which was named after the St. George’s College football team…a team for which they both played. ~~Adz:Right~~

Byron Lee and the Dragonaires was Jamaica’s leading band in the promotion of Ska and other genres, including Calypso, Soca and Mas. He was also known for mainly producing cover albums, but later produced many of his own hits, with the more popular being ‘Jamaican Ska’, ‘Give Soca’ and “Tiney Winey’. Lee also produced many singles in the works of Toots and the Maytals.

On the international scene, Byron Lee and the Dragonaires appeared in the 1962 James Bond film, Dr. No, which was partly shot in Jamaica.

Byron Aloysius St. Elmo Lee is survived by his wife Sheila, sons Byron and Edward John, daughters Deanna, Judith, Julianne and Danielle, and grandchildren Amelia, Alexander, Jessica, Victoria, Amanda, Jaden and Dylan.