Junjo — dancehall volcano
The Jamaica Observer’s Entertainment Desk continues with the 26th of its biweekly feature looking at seminal moments that have helped shape Jamaica over the past 60 years.
HENRY “Junjo” Lawes epitomised the flash, the glamour and the glitz of 1980s dancehall. He was the genre’s most flamboyant figure, and that takes some doing.
June 14 marks 23 years since Lawes was murdered in a gang-related attack in Harlesden, London. Just 39 years old, he accumulated some of dancehall’s biggest hit songs for his Volcano label.
Volcano was responsible for countless hits, with a teenaged singer named Barrington Levy and Yellowman, an uber-confident Albino deejay, its flagship artistes.
Levy’s hits for Volcano include Shine Eye Girl, Looking my Love and Prison Oval Rock. Yellowman, as flashy as his boss, erupted with songs like Mr Chin, Nobody Move, and I’m Getting Married in The Morning.