This is the 10th and final in a series looking at Jamaicans excelling on the South Florida entertainment/lifestyle scene.

WHEN Raphael Bloise first got involved in the music business 25 years ago, he said he wanted to make a difference with his JovOne Records.

But though he has produced songs by several artistes including Sluggy Ranks, Ronnie Thwaites and Junior Reid, he felt there was no mileage for his music.

“Yuh jus’ don’t feel yuh getting the justice dat yuh deserve as a producer, so the Almighty sey, jus’ do yuh own thing,” said Fort Lauderdale-based Bloise, who is known as singer Skilly Bango.

The recently released album, Such is Life, is 51-year-old Bango’s first major effort as a performer. It contains the title song and Mama Seh.

Skilly Bango moved JovOne’s operations from New York City to South Florida three years ago. A former excercise jockey at Caymanas Park, the St Ann native got into music after a stint as an owner in the racing industry.

Moving to the Big Apple 1989, he started JovOne Records which produced songs by Sluggy Ranks (Cool Nuh, I Can See Clearly Now) and Ronnie Thwaites (Mama).

In 2005, the tragic events that played out in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, inspired Skilly Bango to write and record The Stone the Builder Refuse, his first song.

He said making the transition from producer to vocalist has not been difficult.

“No man, the key thing is yuh have to know what yuh want an’ go wid the flow.”

Laid-back South Florida, Skilly Bango points out, is worlds apart from the hustle and bustle of New York.

“Florida slow, what it need is more live show. More people would come out an’ si the artistes an’ give the music more exposure,” he said.