Byron lee c’bean Music Icon passes

Egbert Gaye

For 53 years, Byron Aloysious St. Elmo Lee helped the world to love calypso music.
Every year, following the Trinidad carnival, music lovers around the world looked forward to Byron Lee and the Dragonaires, for the iconic Jamaican musician’s interpretation of the year’s best calypso and soca songs.
On Tuesday, November 4, at 12:30 PM, Bryon Lee died of cancer. He was 73-years-old.
Lee, who was diagnosed with bladder cancer two years ago, was being treated for the disease in Miami, Florida.
However, he spent his last days at the University Hospital in Kingston, where on Sunday, November 2, at a special ceremony attended by Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding and other dignitaries and close friends and relatives, Lee was conferred with the Order of Jamaica for a lifetime of outstanding service to the music industry.
It was the last of more than 150 awards the extraordinary businessman/musician received for his contributions and the indelible mark he made on the music scene in Jamaica, the Caribbean and the world.
From the time he started the band in 1956 with a group of his high school friends, Lee maintained a blistering level of professionalism that kept Byron Lee and the Dragoniares at the top echelon of music bands in the world.
From ska to calypso, soca and a sprinkling of reggae, Byron Lee and the Dragonaires thrilled audiences by the millions around the world.
In the more than half a century of making sweet music, Lee and his band put together a slew of hits unmatched by few in the business.
Along the way he also made his mark in business by owning one of the region best known record labels, the West Indies Records Limited (WIRL) which he renamed Dynamic Sounds in 1968.
Several international stars, including Sammy Davis, Roberta Flack and even Bob Marley and the Wailers, worked with the organization.
Then in 1989, Lee started the Jamaica carnival, which has grown to one of the country’s top cultural events.
He was quoted as saying that “This is a dream I have nurtured for years and the right time is now. I wouldn’t be a Jamaican if I didn’t try to bring to my country some of that happiness I see Carnival brings to other people.”
Byron Lee leaves to mourn his wife and his six children.