Junior Byles, "Fade Away"

KOSMO's VINYL of the Week:
This week we are in Channel One Studios, Maxfield Ave, West Kingston, Jamaica, some time in 1975 for Junior Byles' "Fade Away", produced by Joe Hoo Kim and first released (I think) on the Well Charge label...

"Kerrie Byles Jr. was born in Kingston in 1948 and formed a vocal group, The Versatiles, in 1967, while working as a firefighter. They were soon discovered by Lee "Scratch" Perry and although they split up in 1970, Junior would continue to record for Perry until some time in the mid-1970s.

"Fade Away" was recorded at the Famous Channel One Studios and was an enormous hit in JA in 1975 and popular in London the following year. I never owned a copy until it was released as part of the soundtrack to the reggae film "Rockers" in 1978. Since then, Byles has suffered increasingly from Mental Health issues, sometimes living as a homeless person - a great talent who has been dealt a bad hand." - KV
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