Byron Lee ,
''Jamaica Gleaner'', 27 October 2008. born Byron Aloysius St. Elmo Lee (27 June 1935 – 4 November 2008), was a Jamaican musician, record producer, and entrepreneur, best known for his work as leader of

Byron Lee and the Dragonaires Byron Lee and the Dragonaires (known as Byron Lee's Dragonaires after Lee's death and now The Dragonaires) are a Jamaican ska, calypso and soca band. The band played a crucial pioneering role in bringing Caribbean music to the world. Byron ...

.Katz, David (2003), ''Solid Foundation: an Oral History of Reggae'', Bloomsbury,

Biography

Lee was born in Christiana,

Manchester Parish, Jamaica The Parish of Manchester is a parish located in west-central Jamaica, in the county of Middlesex. Its capital, Mandeville, is a major business centre. Its St. Paul of the Cross Pro-Cathedral is the episcopal see of the Latin Catholic Dioces ...

, to a Chinese-Jamaican mother, Evelyn Chung, and a Chinese father, Oscar Lee, a language teacher originally from Kowloon, Hong Kong. The family moved to the Mountain View Gardens area of Kingston when Lee was around 8 or 9 years old. He learned to play piano at a

convent school Catholic schools are pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered under the aegis or in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest religious, non-governmental school syste ...

in Mandeville, but put music on hold when he was selected to the

Jamaica national football team The Jamaica national football team, nicknamed the "Reggae Boyz", represents Jamaica in international football. The team's first match was against Haiti in 1925. The squad is under the supervising body of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), ...

. He taught himself to play bass on a homemade instrument, and around 1950, along with his friend Carl Brady, he formed the first incarnation of the Dragonaires, named after the college football team that they played for, at that time concentrating on mento.Thompson, Dave (2002), ''Reggae & Caribbean Music'', Backbeat Books, The band turned professional in 1956 and went on to become one of Jamaica's leading

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

bands, continuing since and taking in other genres such as calypso, Soca, and Mas. According to Michael E. Veal in his book ''Dub: soundscapes and shattered songs in Jamaican reggae'', Wesleyan University Press, 2007), Byron Lee is known to have introduced the electric bass guitar to Jamaica in late 1959 or 1960. However, the reason Lee began to use the electric bass as opposed to the double bass had nothing to do with sound. Rather, it was a way for Lee to avoid carrying the large and heavy double bass to the truck to move from gig to gig. The bass guitar soon gained popularity throughout the country and soon became the standard. The electric bass's louder, clearer, and more in-your-face sound soon changed the entire sound of Jamaican music entirely, especially after Skatalites bassist Lloyd Brevett took a liking to it. He and his band, The Dragonaires, are featured in the first

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

movie, Dr. No, set in and around Kingston, Jamaica in 1962. They are prominently seen, playing "Jamaica Jump Up" on the bandstand at Pussfeller's calypso bar. Lee also worked as a producer, producing many of the

singles by

The Maytals The Maytals, known from 1972 to 2020 as Toots and the Maytals, are a Jamaican musical group, one of the best known ska and rocksteady vocal groups. The Maytals were formed in the early 1960s and were key figures in popularizing reggae music. ...

, and his entrepreneurial skills led to him setting up the ''Byron Lee's Spectacular Show'' tour, which involved several Jamaican acts (including The Maytals) touring the Caribbean. He also became the head of distribution in Jamaica for

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

. Lee purchased the West Indies Records Limited (WIRL) recording studios from

Edward Seaga Edward Philip George Seaga ( or ; 28 May 1930 – 28 May 2019) was a Jamaican politician. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Jamaica, from 1980 to 1989, and the leader of the Jamaica Labour Party from 1974 to 2005.Dynamic Sounds West Indies Records Limited (WIRL) was a recording studio in Kingston, Jamaica established by future Prime Minister Edward Seaga in 1958. Seaga recruited and recorded many artists such as Higgs and Wilson, and Byron Lee and the Dragonaires. As Sea ...

, soon having a new pressing facility built on the site. It soon became one of the best-equipped studios in the Caribbean, attracting both local and international recording artists, including

Paul Simon Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and actor whose career has spanned six decades. He is one of the most acclaimed songwriters in popular music, both as a solo artist and as half of folk roc ...

and

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

, who recorded their famous song " Angie" there. Lee's productions included

Boris Gardiner Boris Gardiner (born 13 January 1943) is a Jamaican singer, songwriter and bass guitarist. He was a member of several groups during the 1960s before recording as a solo artist and having hit singles with " Elizabethan Reggae" (in 1970), " I Wann ...

's ''Reggae Happening'', Hopeton Lewis's ''Grooving Out on Life'', and

The Slickers The Slickers were a Jamaican rocksteady and reggae group in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The Slickers centred on Derrick Crooks, one of the founding members of The Pioneers along with his brother Sydney. In the mid-1960s, The Slickers consi ...

' "Johnny Too Bad". Dynamic also acts as one of Jamaica's leading record distributors. In 1990, Lee inaugurated what became an annual event, ''Jamaica Carnival'', held on Constant Spring Road, and attended by hundreds of thousands of people that united the "uptown" and "downtown" residents of Kingston, an event that Lee called "the happiest moment in my life".O'Brien Chang, Kevin, & Chen, Wayne (1998), ''Reggae Routes'', Jamaica: Ian Randle Publishers, Ellington, Barbara (2007)
The Dragon dances for God
, '' Jamaica Gleaner'', 24 June 2007. Lee had performed with the Dragonaires at carnivals around the Caribbean since the mid-1970s, and chose the location for the carnival to attract revellers from all of Jamaica's classes, stating: "The biggest problem was that most Jamaicans said it wouldn't work, that it isn't a carnival country, but I persisted 'cause I believed in it. I wanted carnival to go to the public. You always had other carnivals that were held mostly indoor, where persons had to pay to get in. I went to the people and choose Half-Way Tree where uptown and downtown meet. That is where the route will remain".Henry, Krista (2008)
Carnival has its day in the sun
, ''Jamaica Gleaner'', 30 March 2008. In the early days of ska, Lee was credited in taking it from the ghettos and giving it appeal among Jamaica's "uptown" middle and upper classes. He has also been credited with taking soca in the opposite direction, popularising a genre that had previously only been enjoyed in Jamaica among the upper classes, with the island's working class. Lee missed the Jamaica Carnival in 2007 as he was receiving treatment for

bladder cancer Bladder cancer is any of several types of cancer arising from the tissues of the urinary bladder. Symptoms include blood in the urine, pain with urination, and low back pain. It is caused when epithelial cells that line the bladder become mali ...

after having surgery in Florida, and no longer appeared on stage with the Dragonaires, although he was still involved in the band's management, and was involved with the festival again in 2008.Edwards, Michael A. (2007)
Byron 'the Dragon' Lee's new fire
", ''

Jamaica Observer ''Jamaica Observer'' is a daily newspaper published in Kingston, Jamaica. The publication is owned by Butch Stewart, who chartered the paper in January 1993 as a competitor to Jamaica's oldest daily paper, ''The Gleaner''. Its founding editor i ...

'', 22 June 2007 A concert was held in his honour on 30 June 2007, to celebrate his 50 years in the music industry, with artists performing including fellow cancer survivors

Myrna Hague Dr. Myrna Hague-Bradshaw, better known as Myrna Hague, known as "Jamaica's First Lady of Jazz", is a Jamaican lovers rock and jazz singer and actress, who recorded for Coxsone Dodd's Studio One. Biography Hague's career began in the mid-1960 ...

and

Pluto Shervington Pluto Shervington, also known as Pluto (born Leighton Shervington; 13 August 1950 in Kingston, Jamaica), is a reggae musician, singer, engineer and producer. Career Shervington began his career in the early 1970s as a member of the showband Tom ...

. Proceeds went to the Jamaica Cancer Society. Lee was awarded the

Order of Distinction The Order of Distinction is a national order in the Jamaican honours system. It is the sixth in order of precedence of the Orders of Societies of Honour, which were instituted by an Act of Parliament (''The National Honours and Awards Act'') i ...

in 1982, upgraded to Commander level on 15 October 2007, in recognition of his "contribution in the fields of Music and Entertainment both locally and internationally".

Death

In October 2008, after receiving treatment for several weeks in Florida, Lee returned to spend his final days in Jamaica. In a ceremony at the University Hospital of the West Indies on 26 October 2008, he was awarded the Order of Jamaica (OJ). Lee died from

in Kingston on 4 November 2008, aged 73. In a statement on the day of Lee's death, the Prime Minister of Jamaica,

Bruce Golding Orette Bruce Golding (born 5 December 1947) is a former Jamaican politician who served as eighth Prime Minister of Jamaica from 11 September 2007 to 23 October 2011. He is a member of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), which he led from 2005 to h ...

, said: "Jamaica, and indeed the world, has lost another great music pioneer with the passing this morning of Byron Lee, one of the greatest band leaders ever to grace the entertainment stages of the world".Jamaica Has Lost Another Great Music Pioneer With the Passing of Byron Lee... Says PM Golding
", Office of the Prime Minister, 4 November 2008.

References

External links

Band web page
*Eder, Bruce " Byron Lee Biography, ''Allmusic'', Macrovision Corporation *
Byron Lee at Roots Archives
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Byron 1935 births 2008 deaths People from Manchester Parish Deaths from bladder cancer Deaths from cancer in Jamaica Jamaican people of Chinese descent Jamaican record producers Jamaican reggae musicians Members of the Order of Jamaica Commanders of the Order of Distinction