Junior Byles
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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- "When Lee Perry's association with Bob Marley came to an end, he sought a singer-songwriter to work with who would fill the void, and Byles fitted the bill. With Perry, Byles had a minor hit with "What's The World Coming To", released under the name King Chubby, and over the next five years the partnership would result in some of Perry's most highly-regarded work, with Byles' Rastafarian beliefs clearly evident, including "Beat Down Babylon", "King of Babylon", and the plea for repatriation, "Place Called Africa". At the end of 1972, Byles had his biggest hit to date, with a cover version of Peggy Lee's "Fever", with a dubby rhythm produced by Perry." --Sholem Stein
Kenneth Byles (known as "Junior Byles", "Chubby", or "King Chubby" ) is a reggae singer, born 1948 in Kingston, Jamaica.
Originally working as a firefighter, Byles formed the vocal trio The Versatiles in 1967. Generally considered Junior's best recordings is his work as a solo artist with Lee Perry and for the JA Man record label in the early and mid 1970s.
Byles's songs epitomised the "sufferers" style of lyrics and delivery - the outsider struggling to maintain his Rastafarian and African integrity within "Babylon"; exemplified in titles such as the "Long Way" for Lee Perry and "Fade Away" (featured on the soundtrack for the film Rockers) for the Hookim brothers at Channel One. For the wider listening public, the songs can invoke a spiritual bulwark against life's adversities.
His other notable songs include "A Place Called Africa", "Beat Down Babylon" and "Curly Locks", some of the finest of 1970s roots reggae.
Byles' recording output diminished in the 1980s and 1990s as he battled with severe mental health problems. A well-reviewed return to a 2004 live performance in Jamaica led to an ill-advised short tour of the United Kingdom, where his distress was all apparent on stage.
