Patrick Lafayette had gone blind gradually. That, in a way, had prepared him for the worst by the time everything went pitch black. He had been handling it with unusual strength when suddenly one evening in his aunt's New York flat, a deep loneliness and monstrous depression crept upon him, as if in ambush.

He found himself sitting on the window ledge, high above the street, his feet dangling and the tears rolling down his cheeks. It took every ounce of his enormous will to resist the evil voice of despair as it whispered: "End it now, Patrick. Jump!"

Unknown to Lafayette, he was not alone in the apartment. His artistic cousin, Leonie Santiago, was painting in her usually quiet manner when she heard the faint sob of a man in despair. When she went to check, she saw Lafayette sitting out the window and she panicked immediately, thinking he was going to jump. But she calmly rested her hands on his shoulders and steered him back into the room.

Santiago fetched her coat, put one on Lafayette and walked him through the door into the cold New York evening to the subway station. For the next several hours, they rode the trains back and forth, transferring at the end of each line.

At about 2:00 am they returned to the apartment. She hugged him and went back to her painting. "During the entire period, neither of us spoke a single word," Lafayette recalls.

Leonie dies from AIDS

Patrick Lafayette selecting a music CD for presentation on his radio show.

The following Monday, Santiago let him accompany her to her ceramics class at Pratt University in Brooklyn, which stirred in him the need to go back to school.

The two became close and he was shattered when she contracted the deadly AIDS virus from her drug-addicted husband and died three years ago. But cousin Leonie's wisdom and compassion had given him a new lease on life. He shook off his depression and was ready to take on the world.

It was decided that Lafayette would remain in the United States to seek rehabilitation, in order to be able to exist in the world of the blind. This was 1978.

He enrolled with the Industrial Home for the Blind (IHB), now the Helen Keller Society for the Blind, which was based in Brooklyn, with workshops at Gates Avenue and in Long Island. He was assigned a counsellor, a Jewish woman named Paula Franks. About a week later, Lafayette's door bell rang.

It was an Italian man, Don Scarola, his mobility instructor and the man who would start him out on his journey to independence.
"Mobility is the first thing you have to learn. Scarola measured me up and introduced me to my cane, a one horse-power fibre-glass piece of instrument with a metal tip and a rubber socket to give it extra bounce," Lafayette recounts.

First journey in the dark

Having learnt to move around safely in the dark, Lafayette says, he became hungry for what was next. After two weeks, Scarola gave him a test. He was to find his way to the Gates Avenue workshop from his home at Hawthorne Street.

This involved taking one bus, then transferring to another, crossing one major highway and two minor roads in the process. Importantly, he would be unaccompanied. Scarola made him empty his pockets of any money he had, gave him a quarter (US25 cents) and said "Go ahead, I'll meet you at Gates Avenue".

When he got there about an hour later, his instructor was waiting with the words "Great job!" He whipped out another quarter and told Lafayette to find his way back home!

Lafayette felt good in himself. He had learnt the technique. Unknown to him, Scarola had been driving behind him the whole time.

The following Monday, he started rehabilitation at the Long Island workshop, learning to make mops and other low-end household items, for which, he stresses, the students there were paid. The staff members were all blind.

The director was Frank Romano and his wife, Rosemary, was the receptionist. There he learnt mobility; home and life skills, such as cooking, baking, cleaning and using sharp objects safely; dexterity and consistency; work exercise; machine shop entailing the handling of heavy duty materials, hand saws, chisels, hammers, nails and various safety devices; and communication, using mostly Braille.

Lafayette remembers two people there for their contribution to his development. One was 91 year-old Gus Bearman, "a brilliant, wonderful human being who taught me Braille". So enthusiastic was Lafayette that in two weeks he completed a course that normally took two months.

The other was 78 year-old Cecile Zimmerman, who taught him to type, bringing him to speeds of up to 104 words per minute. "She inspired me a lot and used to give me tapes with typing drills all the time."

Talking books

With his new-found skills, Lafayette became substantially independent. He could sit down and type a letter or read a letter if it was typed, using an instrument called an optican. Then he discovered talking books and the Library of Congress which stores every book that is published in the US and to which blind people have special access.

From the library, he ordered talking books, a vinyl player and a cassette player, noting that the first book he read on vinyl was titled The Cry and the Covenant, an autobiography set in 19th Century Budapest. "I read voraciously.

I was averaging 50 books a month. I just couldn't get enough," recounts Lafayette. "I read everything from pornography to religion; all the old classics like Treasure Island and David Copperfield; Sports Ilustrated and so on."

Having lapped up all he could learn at the IHB, Lafayette was offered an unofficial teaching position. After about a year, Paula Franks asked him what he wanted to do.

This was towards the end of 1979. He said he wanted to go to college. In the meantime, his aunt, Elfreda Lafayette, with whom he lived in New York, had filed for her brother and his family. For Patrick's sake, and that of his brother Cornel, who had accompanied him, his parents uprooted and migrated to the US in 1980.

His brother Christopher and sister Marissa followed in 1982. Patrick decided he wanted to go to Syracuse University, New York, and set out on a journey that would lead to fame in his homeland.

Three blind mice

In the spring of 1980, he did a pre-college course as a sort of trial run and was accepted at Syracuse to do Criminology. His roommate was the visually impaired African-American JB Stone, one of the people he describes as his best friend to this day.

Stone moved closer to New York City, to Marist College in Poughkeepsie. After a semester, he called Lafayette and encouraged him to transfer to Marist, saying it would be better for him. He took the advice and transferred, deciding at the same time to pursue a bachelor in Communication Arts.

The two became friends with a third visually impaired man, Calvin Roberts, who later changed his name to Heru Alkebulan. "The three of us were like the three blind mice," Lafayette jokes.
In communication arts, Lafayette chose to specialise in broadcasting and was introduced to radio.

The course brought back memories of the times he 'terrorised' Fae Ellington on JBC's Bamboo Lounge and Marie Garth on RJR, winning up all their give-aways until they banned him. In time, he got a stint on college radio WMCR.

He remembers his influential professor, Raphael Marks advising him never to say he was blind on radio but to allow people to find out for themselves. The lesson helped when he got to Radio Jamaica some years later, he says.

By the summer of 1983, Lafayette had begun to develop a keen interest in Jamaican radio. At the time there were only JBC-AM and FM (Radio Two) and RJR-AM and FM (Capital Stereo), which he observed whenever he came home for vacation time he describes as "cultural inoculation".

Lester Spaulding responds

He started looking ahead. In the final year of his degree programme, there was the internship. Although Marist College had never before sent a student overseas to do internship, he planned to seek its approval.

But to do that, he would first need to get a Jamaican station agreeing to take him. He wrote to JBC and RJR and the RJR managing director Lester Spaulding himself responded, inviting him to an interview.

He arrived for the interview on the arms of his girlfriend, Christine Chin who deftly seated him and moved him around in such a way that nobody there knew Lafayette was blind. Spaulding was agreeable and called the Capital Stereo programme manager, Dorothy "Dotty Dean" LaCroix.

She in turn took him to studio one for an audition with Hol Plummer who had the hottest Saturday night disco show, Disco Mania. At the end of the audition, RJR said 'yes' to the internship.

Back in New York, Lafayette persuaded the college to let him do his internship at Radio Jamaica. At the beginning of 1984, he was back in Jamaica. At RJR, Dotty Dean had moved to the AM radio and the new FM programme manager was Don Topping.

By now, people knew Lafayette was blind. Topping was straightforward, saying this was a new situation for him and the station. He decided he'd start Lafayette on the graveyard shift between midnight and 5:00 am. He would overlap with Narda Manderson whose show ended at 1:00 am.

"It was agreed that I needed someone in studio with me, to be my eyes, so to speak," Lafayette recalls. He got his friend, Barrington Mattis who had a day job driving for Navy Island. Manderson was very special to him, patiently teaching him to operate the station's archaic console.

FAME princes and flowers

By the end of March, three months into the internship, RJR began to receive many calls 'complaining' about Lafayette. "Some businesses were saying their staff were coming in late for work or falling asleep on the job because they were staying up late to listen Patrick Lafayette's show."

Topping, himself a formidable disc jock styled El Numero Uno, was excited. He had been planning the re-launch of the FM station for April. One day he called in Lafayette and Mattis and threw out some names to get their reaction. The one they preferred was FAME, meaning Fraternity of Amazing Musical Expressions and Topping went with it.

Lafayette's listenership grew phenomenally and Topping, exhibiting great confidence in the young man, promoted him to daytime - between 3:00 pm and 6:00 pm.

Unbelievably, The Three to Six Mastermix, sandwiched between Jean Hastings and Joan Johnson, would go head to head with the undisputed king of afternoon radio, Barrington 'Barry G, the Boogieman' Gordon and his Two to Six Supermix. Fame Prince Patrick Lafayette was burning up the airwaves.

"Under Topping's creative leadership, FAME was kicking butts," Lafayette remembers. Other Fame princes were Hol Plummer and Alwyn Scott and the 'Fame flowers' were Norma Brown-Bell, Rosamond Brown and Lornette Samuda. His relationship with Rosamond Brown would outlast RJR.

Lafayette describes his stint from January to August 1984 as a whirlwind. "I will always have great respect and admiration for Don Topping. He was a brilliant programme manager, innovative and dynamic. I have taken many pages out of his book. He created stars out of his staff, making public emcees out of them." Then it was time to go back to school.

Francois St Juste arrives

Topping was exceedingly sorry to lose his young blind phenomenon. Before he left, he asked him to listen to some possible replacements on tape and give him a feedback. Lafayette and Mattis liked Francois St Juste with whom, in future, the blind wonder would have a rocky relationship.

He went back to school, completed his degree and came back to Jamaica in 1985, to pick up where he had left off, as host of the Three to Six Mastermix. Derek Wilks was chosen to be his studio eyes. Lafayette was a disc jock like no other.

RJR staff would leave their desks to watch him at work in studio. Every tour of the radio station had him as their highlight. In the streets they clamoured for him to appear. He emceed many of the biggest shows featuring top international stars, starting with The Manhattans and Regina Belle. Then the requests for him to voice commercials started coming thick and fast.

At the height of his popularity, Topping came into studio excitedly one day to congratulate him for being the first DJ on Jamaican radio to have every hour of his show sponsored for the entire week.

"The crowning moment for me was when I was asked to co-emcee 'Sunsplash' with John Wakeling, one of the greatest radio disc jocks I have ever known," Lafayette says.

"I also developed great respect for people like Uriel Aldridge and Adrian Robinson. I emulated them locally. I also cherish Lester Spaulding. He always said he could spot a winner and he did."

Lafayette said there were other people outside who were helping him to nurture his career, including Neville Lee and his son from Sonic Sounds, Dynamic's Junior Lee, son of Byron Lee, and Delroy Morrison.

Serving the blind

As he enjoyed immense popularity, Lafayette remembered his struggles as a blind man and offered his services to the disabled community, volunteering to teach at the Jamaica Society for the Blind. During that time, he met and formed a lasting friendship with Sidney Thorpe, the blind keyboard genius who plays for top road band, Fab Five.

He introduced to all and sundry the new fancy equipment for the blind that he had acquired in the US, such as a talking watch and the amazing Job Access With Speech (JAWS) technology that allows blind people to use computers. He taught it to Wilbert Williams, the blind physiotherapist and founder of Abilities Foundation where he also volunteered to serve, and to the blind senator, Floyd Morris.

Besides his radio life, Lafayette also partnered with Kevin Blakey to produce records. In 1987, they wrote, sang and produced one called Nice with Betty Wright of No Pain No Gain fame on background vocals. They called the group Nebula, featuring Patrick Lafayette.

Afterwards Wright and her husband, Noel Williams, aka King Sporty, offered them a contract to produce records.
In 1988, Lafayette decided to do something else with his life. He wanted to do a Masters degree and his girlfriend Christine had got a job in The Bahamas.

RJR gave him a grand send-off marked by copious tears and he moved to Miami with a plan to attend Barry University. In Florida his life changed. His roommate at Barry was Gary Barrow, who would become head of Cable and Wireless Jamaica.

The two also became friends with Paul Smith who now works for the tourist board in Dominica. The three met regularly to play dominoes. "We were partners in crime," he confesses.

Computer junkie

But the relationship with Barrow would prove life-changing. Barrow was a computer whiz and he got Lafayette interested. When he learnt about a piece of technology called speech synthesizer, Lafayette discovered a whole new world.

In conjunction with a special software, the synthesizer could produce speech from text on a screen. That represented a quantum leap. "I taught myself with assistance from Gary. I became consumed with the computer, hardly stopping to eat. I became a computer junkie," he admits. "It got even crazier when I found I could hook up the computer to a telephone line."

He recalls that when Hurricane Gilbert hit Jamaica in September 1988, they were starved for news and at Barrow's suggestion they straightened out large numbers of clothes hangers to make a long antennae to pick up JBC news.

During that turbulent year, he and Christine agreed to end their relationship which had been breaking under much strain.
Barrow graduated and left for Jamaica in 1989. With his departure, Lafayette realised that he had lost his interest in radio and now decided he wanted to do his Masters in Computer Science. He wished he had had these skills during the time he did his first degree, a time he describes as "pretty tough".

He came home for three weeks, prior to going to Barry. As he awaited his flight to Miami at the Norman Manley Airport, his quiet introspection was suddenly shattered by someone paging him on the airport's intercom. It was Vivalyn Lindsay. She invited him to join a new radio station which was starting in Mandeville. The station was KLAS-FM - Keeping Listeners Aware in Style - owned by a group headed by Delroy Lindsay and Neville James. Wilmot 'Mutty' Perkins would also be one of the big draws.

Things went bad at KLAS-FM

He was no longer interested in radio, but the salary offer was hard to refuse. They promised to provide him transportation and housing, too. Lafayette cancelled his flight and turned around. Before long, things went bad at KLAS-FM.

The housing and transportation were nothing like they had discussed, and soon he was not getting his full salary, on account, he says, of financial problems. "It was very hard on me, a blind person," he says.

After just under 10 months, he said his goodbyes to Mutty, Tomlin Ellis, Vivalyn Lindsay, Monica Johnson, Michael Anthony Cuffe and Diane Ashton-Smith. This time he boarded the plane and enrolled at Baroque University in Manhattan, New York.

Late one night he came close to being mugged at a subway station and decided he'd prefer being in Jamaica. Eighteen months into his Masters, he dropped everything and returned home, deciding to go back into radio.

When he phoned up FAME, Norma Brown-Bell was in charge and told him they had no vacancy at the time. Erica Allen suggested he speak with Mike Jarrett of Mike Jarrett Communications and he landed a job there as a copywriter, working alongside people like the late Serene Tomlinson of Royal Palm fame, Stephen King and Rosamond Brown.

He started producing ads, very creative ads, and three months later when Serene left, Jarrett promoted him to advertising director.

Launching Double Blank

He spent two-and-a-half years at Mike Jarrett Communications. Feeling confident, he launched out on his own business, teaming up with Sidney Thorpe. The two called their advertising outfit "Double Blank". Lafayette's then girlfriend, Sherene Mahabeer, handled sales.

When his good friend, Johnny Chuck, asked him to help him out with Chuckles, a new hotel he was opening in Negril, Westmoreland, he said 'yes' without hesitating. "This is a man I cannot say no to. Johnny and his son, Jon Pierre, would do the same for me," Lafayette explains. He computerised the entire hotel operation.

A year later, he returned to Kingston and his first love, radio. Again he phoned up RJR. This time, Francois St Juste was in charge of FAME and again he heard there was no vacancy on day time. He liked Francois, but somehow they never seemed to hit it off.

Eventually St Juste offered Lafayette a spot on his old graveyard shift, midnight to 5:00 am on Sundays. It was better than nothing and he called the show SOS, the Sound of Seduction. His assistant was Yolande Bramwell.

He was also assisted by Dania Bogle. During this stint, he reached out to many young people, offering them training or giving them tips. These included Grace Alexander who was recommended by Grub Cooper of Fab Five, Norman Martin, Paula Ann Porter, Tricia 'D Wildchild' Spence and Danae Ramgolam, among others.

Indi McLymont was all woman

One telephone call among others would bring the light into Lafayette's life like nothing else. His dear friend Melicia Gunning called to ask him to help expose a friend of hers to studio work.

The person was doing Mass Communications at Carimac, University of the West Indies. When she turned up for his Sunday night stint, it was no less than Indi McLymont, a bright, soft-spoken woman who would eventually become the co-ordinator of the Jamaica Observer's all woman magazine.

Even if he could not see her physically, he sensed her beauty immediately. "She was a real innocent, of sweet disposition, bright and organised. She had nice hands and we talked spiritual things.

She was clearly a gift from God." In other words, Lafayette was madly in love. He liked to offer her a piece of his roast beef sandwich and some fever grass tea. At first, she refused politely.

But in time she would ask "You didn't bring any sandwich tonight?", when it was not forthcoming. They married in 2000.
McLymont bore him two children, a daughter, Leila, named after his mother, and a son, Djvan. Lafayette loves to boast about how he delivered Leila at the now defunct Labour of Love maternity outfit at Barbican Road in St Andrew.

"I helped to cut the umbilical cord. When she was coming out, she slipped from my hands but I used my elbows and knees to catch her. And I was also present at the birth of our son, but he came too quickly, before I could do anything," he laughs.

KOOL-FM starts to kick

Lafayette stuck to radio, and when Tony Scott left his Sunday Morning Solid Gold show, he was given the slot from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm, based on the popularity of his night show. Not long after that, Rosamond Brown fell out with FAME and left to commercialise Kool-FM, a division of Aerotel which operates under the auspices of the Civil Aviation Authority.

Kool-FM had started out broadcasting travel information, but had acquired a commercial licence. Brown, now the station manager, offered Lafayette the job as operations co-ordinator and the man chiefly responsible for the sound that is Kool-FM. This was 2001. The station soon pulled Michael Thompson, Heather Cummings and Dave Toomer from FAME.

They added Peter Phillips of Peter Phillips Disco and his partner, Robert Blake; Mikey Barnett of MKB; Seymour 'Stokey Love' Mundy; Craig Ross, 'the young lion'; Drew Lawrence; Ivor Smith; Clordine Lloyd, Lafayette's assistant; Wayne White and Shelly Ann Hill of Fourth Street Sister. In May 2004, Rosamond Brown left Kool-FM to become a consultant and Lafayette was promoted to acting station manager.

He is amused by recent overtures to buy the radio station, likening it to "the new girl on the block". "Everybody wants to check her out. We've been like the mouse that roared," he says. But his attitude betrays pride because he knows it's because the station is kicking. His own contribution to that enviable position includes hosting the 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm slot that is sheer listening pleasure.

Lafayette is thankful for the great many blessings he has received as a blind man. He can read, write, browse the Net, ride a bike, go horse-back riding, jet ski, parasail and a host of other physical activities most blind people can only dream about.

He remembers an old vodka-drinking blind man from Barbados, Cuthbert Barker, who met him in New York and taught him to appreciate his blindness. The old man died, but as in The Gambler, Kenny Roger's classic song, Lafayette had found an ace he could keep from the old man's final words: "What God takes from you, He will give you back something far more special."

Next week: Christine Bell - Confident and woman, the face of modern public relations practice

Send comments on this interview to desal@cwjamaica.com

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