Bounty Killer Makes Donation To Junior Byles, Calls On Jamaicans To Do More For Struggling Artistes
Dancehall veteran Bounty Killer (Rodney Basil Price) came good on his promise to help legendary Rockers singer Junior Byles to try and get back on his feet. Byles was recently featured in a video where he seemed to be begging for money and looked like he was living a tough life. Following the video, it was revealed that he is suffering from mental disease and prostate cancer.
Killer stopped by the popular Jamaican show Onstage, which is hosted by Winford Williams to donate JMD $150,000 and a $100,000 pharmaceutical gift certificate to Byles, who was also on the show. Watch it below.
“As you know the Bounty foundation Sharing for Caring campaign continues. This is a small presentation we are here to make today,” he said.
“This one is very special to me because this is for one of our fellow artistes, one of our legendary pioneer, veteran entertainer who has helped to develop the face of Reggae, I would think” he continued.
He also shared about how much Byles music meant to him growing up and that it’s part of the reason that he became a humanitarian. He also revealed that the words “he who sit up on vanity and have no love for humanity,” had become like a mantra to him, driving him to keep helping Jamaica.
He lamented the fact that no other artiste from Jamaica’s music industry or in Jamaican society had reached out to help the iconic singer.
“This is our own. This is not somebody from overseas who fall and stumble in Jamaica and him have no family, no friend and no associates. We all know Junior, we all enjoy his music.”
His daughter Christine Byles and a woman only identified as Jessica who, traveled from Africa and Claude “Big Stone” Sinclair were also a part of the presentation.
Killer said that Jamaicans have to step up to the plate and help out those who are less fortunate in the society. He added that in not doing so they were presenting themselves as selfish and greedy people.
He also called on Jamaican artistes to not wait on the government for assistance or for helping others.
“We as artistes, we need to form some artiste to artiste union. We cannot wait on the government. We have to pool our money together and get this on. Junior won’t be the first and he won’t be the last. Somebody will always fall and will have to get up again because not all of us get back up at the same time and not all of us catch back our balance when we get up.”
He said that when musicians don’t help each other they look like “crab in ah barrel.” He made an impassioned plea to all Jamaicans to come together to help out each other in spite of economic challenges. He also called on Rastafarians to step up to the plate and help their fellow brethren.
Jessica also shared why Byles was important to her.
“The great legend Junior Byles has inspired the freedom fighters in South Africa,” she said. She added that it was Byles’ music that spurred her on to continue to the tradition of fighting for freedom and also how saddened she was now to see Byles’ situation, knowing that he had been such an inspiration to so many people. She also shared that she helped to raise funds for Byles last year and that should have been the beginning of the outreach to help him. She thanked Killer for helping her to break down the borders and reaching out to her in Africa.
Big Stone said that Byles had helped him to become the man that he was and he would be eternally thankful to him for his song Fade Away that help form part of his belief system.
His daughter Christine said she wished that her father could express himself about his current situation. She became emotional as she delivered a verse of Fade Away as she pleaded for Jamaicans to help. She explained that the money raised from a benefit concert last year had been used to help Byles with his medical bills. She thanked Killer for his generosity and said even though the recent videos do not reflect his reality, they have helped to put his situation in perspective.
Christine also revealed that she is working on setting up a Junior Byles Global Foundation, which will assist people with mental illness and a website for the legendary entertainer. Killer announced that he would be working with her to host another benefit concert. He also said that this was just a minor donation and that he intends to do a lot more.