Junior Sinclair pays homage to heroes
GOING back to his years at Holmwood Technical in Manchester, Junior Sinclair says he was fascinated by the achievements of Jamaica’s national heroes. He is concerned, however, that not many of his younger countrymen feel the same way.
Sinclair, 62, pays homage to the country’s seven national heroes on his debut album of the same. It was released in September by VP Records.
“I’ve been in the music business for over 40 years and nobody has done anything on these memorable people. We’ve heard songs about Marcus Garvey but nothing about the intricacies of our heroes,” Sinclair said.
Garvey, a giant of the pan-African movement, was the focus of roots singer Burning Spear’s epic 1975 album, Marcus Garvey. That set helped revive interest in the St Ann-born thinker, who was also a pillar of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s.
The songs on National Heroes tells the story of each figure whose achievements were recognised by the Government with Jamaica’s highest honour.
Sinclair believes not enough is known about them.
“That’s what we tried to achieve with this album. A lot of people didn’t know that Nanny was not born in Jamaica,” he noted.
Nanny, a Maroon leader, is Jamaica’s lone female national hero. The others being Garvey; Sir Alexander Bustamante, Jamaica’s first prime minister; premier Norman Manley; anti-colonial fighters Sam Sharpe, George William Gordon and Paul Bogle.
A businessman, Sinclair is the son of former People’s National Party member of parliament and businessman Owen ‘Hurry Hurry’ Sinclair. He got his start in the music business in the early 1970s with the Young Generation Band which performed throughout Jamaica during that decade.
He migrated to Canada in 1980 and maintained his ties to music. After living there for 21 years he returned to Jamaica and has forged a successful career as manager of the Sinclair’s Bargain Centre stores.
Sinclair began recording National Heroes last year. The sessions were done at Mixing Lab Studio in Kingston with top musicians such as drummer Sly Dunbar, guitarist Winston ‘Bo Pee’ Bowen, saxophonist Dean Fraser, trombonist Nambo Robinson, and keyboardist Robbie Lyn.
He says completing the project has been gratifying.
“These people paved the way. I am a beneficiary of their work.”
— Howard Campbell
