Although his film ventures have been fairly successful, Jamaican actor/movie producer Orville Matherson has decided to segue into music because he believes the two industries complement each other.

“When we were doing Jamaican Mafia we had difficulty getting the rights to use some dancehall songs that fit perfectly in the film. The thing is, these songs, by being in films, will get syndication and additional exposure for everyone involved. At this point, Elvis Griffiths (business partner) and I decided that we needed to take control of our own destiny by creating our own record label, YB Records. I contacted VP Records and acquired distribution through them and the rest is history,” he told the Jamaica Observer’s Splash.

Adonvi, Donvil Maze and Dipherence are the first artistes associated with the new label.

“Presently, we’re promoting three songs for Adonvi; A Nuh Di Hype, Flava and Toll Road and have created a music video for each,” Matherson said.

He added that the music industry has been far from smooth sailing. However, he is determined to expose local talents

“The transition hasn’t been easy, especially in regards to the promotional aspects of music. So as a result, we’ve decided to take control of that. (Yes) it is a permanent venture, we plan to work with a variety of artistes and continue to promote Jamaican music worldwide,” Matherson said.

Matherson, who hails from Tower Hill in Kingston, migrated to the United States in 1990. He attended Denvry University in Illinois, where he earned a bachelors degree. Later, after realising his passion for the arts, he went to New York Film Academy, Academy of Dramatic Arts and Michael Howard Conservatory.

For more than a decade, Matherson has worked alongside actors Paul Campbell and Mykal Fax who played Souljie and Zoo Zoo, respectively, in the 2015 film, Jamaican Mafia.

“I started film-making in about 2007 with a production house called Tower Hill Productions, based on the area I’m originally from. My first feature film A Dance for Grace (2010) was produced then. In 2012, I formed Yaad Boiiz Film Productions with Elvis Griffiths. We produced the television programme Nite Lyfe and subsequently My Business TV Show,” Matherson revealed. “Afterwards, we embarked on doing the feature film Jamaican Mafia. We just completed filming another feature film called Behind Closed Doors (2020 release), where I collaborated with two local production companies: Executive Productions and Czenzi Studios. I’m very proud of the production because it features some of Jamaica’s best young talents including Mark Anthony. It also features Tommy Lee (Sparta) who plays a villain role. We are in talks with Tommy Lee to feature his hit song Killers in the movie.”