Jahvante Campbell: Solid As A Rock Part 4

Life at Lawrence Tavern.

Jahvante Campbell has no regrets about spending sleepless nights in recording studios.

“When I came to Lawrence Tavern, St. Andrew, I met an artiste called Splicer. He was the first one who tried to get me on a riddim. The engineer did not slice his comments when he heard my lyrics.”

“He made it clear that I had to improve my lyrics and delivery if I wanted to get the support from any soundman.”

“As a country youth coming to town, I was determined to make the best out of music. I wanted my folks back home to hear my name and my song blasting the airways. So, I was prepared for anything, good and bad.”

“This meant a lot of sacrifices, like sleeping in the studio. There were others too that had to rough it out.”

“I used to listen to Tenor Saw who had this popular song about ‘life being one big road.’ I fell in love with this song because it helps to tell some of the stories I was going through.”

“I loved that song so much that it became a part of my life. It was the same song that led me moving from a deejay into singing.”

“I started to build my vocals for the studio and Anchor Recording Studio was one which gave me that opportunity. It was situated over in East Kingston, along Windward Road area.”

“Some of the artistes I met included Mr. Lexx and Merciless. He (Merciless )said I was a bad little deejay (meaning sounding good). I was then about eighteen years.”

“I recorded about three songs while at Lawrence Tavern. These were cover versions of artistes, including Dennis Brown.

Next: Jahvante Campbell meets King Jammy. Only on the Reggae-Vibes site.

(Photo by Delroy Ledgister)