Jay Douglas is a Canadian musician, based in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

. He is a long-time member of the Toronto music scene.

Early life

Douglas was born in Jamaica. Douglas spent his childhood in

Montego Bay, Jamaica Montego Bay is the capital of the parish of St. James in Jamaica. The city is the fourth-largest urban area in the country by population, after Kingston, Spanish Town, and Portmore, all of which form the Greater Kingston Metropolitan Area, h ...

, where he first performed. He moved to

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

to join his mother in 1963 when he was a teenager.

Career

According to a 2012 profile in ''

Now Now most commonly refers to the present time. Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to: Organizations * Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization * National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization * Now ...

'' magazine, Douglas' first Canadian performances were at Toronto's

Central Technical School Central Technical School (CTS or Central Tech) is a Canadian composite high school in Toronto, Ontario. The school is run by the Toronto District School Board (TDSB); before 1998, it was run by the Toronto Board of Education (TBE). Central Tech ...

, when he was a student there. His first professional group was The Cougars, a

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

band. Since then, Douglas has performed steadily at clubs and festivals all over Ontario. He has performed at Toronto's

Massey Hall Massey Hall is a performing arts theatre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Opened in 1894, it is known for its outstanding acoustics and was the long-time hall of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. An intimate theatre, it was originally designed to seat ...

, Roy Thompson Hall, and the

Glenn Gould Studio The Canadian Broadcasting Centre, also known as the CBC Toronto Broadcast Centre, is an office and studio complex located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It serves as the main broadcast and master control point for the Canadian Broadcasting Corpora ...

. In 2012 his album ''Lovers' Paradise'' was one of that year's five Juno nominees for best reggae album."Bleaching Shop scores for Exco Levi"
. ''Jamaica Observer'', BY HOWARD CAMPBELL, March 04, 2012 ''Now'' described Douglas as a "treasure trove of Toronto-Jamaican musical history". In 2012,

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

-based

Light in the Attic Records Light in the Attic Records is an independent record label that was established in 2002 in Seattle, Washington by Matt Sullivan. The label is known for its roster of reissue projects and for its distribution catalog. Light in the Attic has re-rel ...

produced a retrospective on the arrival of reggae to North America that relied heavily on Douglas's performances, knowledge, and contacts.

Matt Sullivan Matt Ignatius Sullivan (November 3, 1857 – August 6, 1937) was the 16th Chief Justice of California. Appointed by Governor Hiram Johnson, Sullivan served from August 22, 1914, to January 4, 1915.Johnson, J. Edward (1966). "Matt I. Sullivan" ...

, a producer with Light in the Attic, called Douglas "one of the finest soul-reggae singers in North America". Errol Nazareth, writing in the ''

Toronto Sun The ''Toronto Sun'' is an English-language tabloid format, tabloid newspaper published daily in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The newspaper is one of several ''Sun'' tabloids published by Postmedia Network. The newspaper's offices is located at Pos ...

'' called it ironic that it required producers from Seattle to fully recognize the significance of Douglas's musical contributions. On September 19, 2015, Douglas debuted a song entitled "Reggae Lane" at a concert to celebrate the completion of a mural celebrating the history of reggae at the recently renamed Reggae Lane. Douglas was shortlisted for the 2020

Juno Awards The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...

, for Reggae Recording of the Year, for ''"Jah Children"''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Douglas, Jay Black Canadian musicians Canadian reggae musicians Jamaican emigrants to Canada Musicians from Toronto