Wednesday’s fire in Bull Bay, St Andrew which gutted the home of Mystic Revealers frontman Billy Mystic, took more than just items which he and his family had sentimental and emotional attachment.

The blaze also destroyed two-and-a-half years of music which had been recorded for a new album.

The singer, who many have come to know as an actor through his longstanding role as CC on the television series, Royal Palm Estate, was upbeat and positive despite the dire situation.

“I am a Rastaman and for me, once there is life, there is strength and things can be good again,” he told the Jamaica Observer’s Splash.

“As the hours roll by since the fire, my mind goes to some of the items lost and that’s when I truly recall all the things that were there. Personally, I was working on new music for an album for the past two-and-a-half years and it is only just coming to me that all that material, the hard drives and everything is gone. But, I can assure you that like the phoenix we will rise from these ashes,” he continued.

The five-bedroom house originally belonged to his parents, veteran journalists Fred and Cynthia Wilmot. The Canadian couple made Jamaica there home since the 1950s and the majority of items lost represented their work over the decades. The loss — which was started by Wilmot’s seven-year-old grandson, who was playing with fire — is estimated at over $40 million. No one was injured in the blaze.

The building was also home to Jamnesia Surf Camp, the birthplace of surfing in Jamaica.

“The house was not insured, so everything is a loss. Most of what was lost is my parents’ work. For my parents, this was their home… it was their dream home and one of the things I am happy about is that they did not live to see this happen to their dream. The emotional attachment to these items is the biggest loss. To stand downstairs and look up at an empty shell is heartbreaking,” said Wilmot. “Upstairs had hardwood floors. My father brought these in specially for his house. All my mother’s journalism work from the 1950s are gone. My father’s love letter to her while he was away at war… the Musgrave Medal, Order of Distinction she received; all the valuable documents and letters from people like Norman Manley were in this house.”

Then he remembers the priceless art which his parents collected.

“They had some great pieces from Jamaican artistes like Karl Parboosingh, Barry Watson, Seya Parboosingh and there was a piece by Ras Daniel Hartman. This was oil on canvas, not the charcoal that he is known for. One of his few oil on canvas works. The name of that piece was generations foretold. This is so heart-wrenching,” he said.

A crowd-funding campaign has been launched to assist the Wilmots. This GoFund Me initiative was launched by Billy Mystic’s niece Nicole Wilmot, who lives in Canada, with the aim of raising CDN$300,000. Up to press time, just over CDN$5,000 had been pledged.

Mystic Revealers was formed in the late 1970s in Bull Bay. The band’s four founding members are still its core: Wilmot, drummer Nicholas “Drummie” Henry, bass guitarist Leroy “Lion” Edwards and guitarist and vocalist Steve Davis.

Among the band’s better known songs are Religion, Got To Be A Better Way and Remember Romeo.