LEE... has been vigorously fighting cancer for the past two years

Musician Byron Lee who has been battling cancer returned to the island on Saturday, where he has been receiving treatment.

A comment from a family member sent via text message to this writer read, "Byron has been vigorously fighting cancer for the past two years and continues to fight. He will be coming home later today and will remain under the care of his Jamaican physicians. He is very grateful for the love and concern expressed by all Jamaicans and is looking forward to spending time with his children and grandchildren."

Lee, who learned to play the piano at a young age, had put music on hold to become a member of the Jamaican national football team. He taught himself to play bass on a home-made instrument, and around 1950, along with his friend Carl Brady, he formed the first incarnation of the Dragonaires, named after the college football team for which they played. By 1956, the outfit had become one of Jamaica's leading ska bands and would later take on other genres, including calypso, soca and mas.

Lee and his group appeared in the 1962 James Bond film, Dr No, which was shot partly in Jamaica. Lee would later on work as a producer and is credited for many ska singles including works by The Maytals. He purchased the West Indies Records Ltd (WIRL) from Edward Seaga after a fire had ravaged the site, and renamed it Dynamic Sounds. It later became one of best equipped studios in the Caribbean, attracting both local and international stars, including Paul Simon, Eric Clapton, Johnny Nash, the Rolling Stones and porn-star-turned-pop-singer, Andrea True. Her 1974 disco hit, More More More, was recorded at the studio.

Byron Lee's Jamaica Carnival which got rolling in 1990 still continues to hold its own today. Lee has been credited with taking the soca genre to the masses, a genre that had previously only been enjoyed in Jamaica among the upper class.

Lee missed the Jamaica Carnival in 2007 as he was receiving treatment for bladder cancer after having surgery in Florida. A concert was held in his honour in June of 2007 to celebrate his 50 years in the music industry. He was awarded the Order of Distinction, Commander level in Octobezr 2007 in recognition of his contribution in the fields of music and entertainment both locally and internationally.

Lee's early chart-topping ska hits include Dumplings (released on the Bluebeat label); Jamaican Ska and Soul Ska. His later hits include Soca Tatie, Soca Butterfly, What a Feeling, Wine Down and Soca Bogle, all of which went to number one on various charts in Jamaica in the 1990s.

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