KINGSTON, Jamaica — Aston Barrett Jr, son of famous musician, Aston ‘Family Man’ Barrett, has claimed that the GoFundMe page set up to help deal with medical expenses for the musician is not sanctioned by the family.

“Daddy is not hospitalised, I did a live on Instagram yesterday, that is fraud,” Aston Barrett Jr told OBSERVER ONLINE in response to rumours that his musician father was gravely ill.

“She (Aiesha) made the GoFundMe but who she ah give the money to? Cause she diss the whole family, and me and my brother are the Power of Attorney for my father. We didn’t give her any authority to do anything, she went ahead and did it on her own. Everybody called me and I let them talk to Daddy, he is not hospitalised. She hasn’t seen daddy (Family Man) in like five months.”

When OBSERVER ONLINE contacted Aiesha Barrett-Walker, who established the GoFundMe account, she said she created it out of a sense of “desperation”.

“My father is in need of physical therapy, and speech therapy. He’s been bed-bound for two years and hasn’t received the proper care. I took it upon myself to ask for help. I received help and paid for his treatment and they refused to take him to the doctor. We share the same father. I was never raised with them,” she told OBSERVER ONLINE.

Barrett-Walker explained that she once worked for the Wailers as their publicist, merchandiser and “moral support”. She said she was excommunicated from the family’s inner circle five months ago.

“I was at my breaking point which is why I took it to the public. I never mentioned he was hospitalised, I stated he needed better care. Please do not feed into their lies and unintelligent responses. He went on live yesterday and showed the world what my father looks like. A man in need of medical care,” she responded.

However, Barrett Jr, who is planning an upcoming Wailers tour which begins this week, said he is upset at the attempt to smear his father’s legacy.

“I have to preserve my father’s name and image, so she putting an image out there when Daddy came out of the hospital three years ago when he was dehydrated and needed an IV…that’s fraud. That picture was from when he just came out of the hospital three years ago, daddy have belly now,” Aston Barrett Jr said, laughing.

“So to put an image like that out there and say you love him, yet you haven’t seen him in five months, I don’t know about that, I don’t want to tell the world our business, but is our father, we have to preserve his image and his name.”

The Barrett family has disavowed any involvement with the GoFundMe page, which has amassed a total of US$2,000 plus so far. The page was allegedly set up by Aiesha Barrett-Walker.

“The Barrett family is not involved, so don’t come to us for any refund. She diss the family so we block her, we’re not accepting any money from her. GoFundMe is a serious thing, you can’t do that and don’t have the Power of Attorney,” he said.

However, Barrett-Walker insists that this isn’t a “family feud”.

“These privileged demons can’t erase my legacy, they can only make up a false narrative to protect the Wailers. But can you erase a daughter from her father’s life? I’m way older than Aston, different mothers. I joined Wailers to help my dad out, who they retired shortly after. This isn’t a family feud, it’s about doing what’s right for my father and that’s me stepping up, breaking my silence and begging for help to assist the bills they can’t pay to give him proper medical attention: physical therapy, massage therapy, speech therapy and wellness,” she said.

‘Family Man’ Barrett, who reportedly fathered 52 children, was highly regarded by music insiders as the author of the bass line which gave Bob Marley’s late-1970s hits their distinctive rhythm. He appears to have fallen on hard times as he has aged.

“He suffers from dementia and often loses his memories,” Barrett-Walker wrote on her GoFundMe page.

Born in Kingston, the famous bassist played with Bob Marley & the Wailers, The Hippy Boys, and Lee Perry’s The Upsetters. He was the bandleader of Marley’s backing band, and organized the overall song arrangements. Aston’s brother Carlton, a drummer in the Wailers band, was murdered in 1987.

Family Man was the mixing engineer on albums such as Bob Marley and the Wailers Confrontation in 1983, the iconic Bob Marley and the Wailers Exodus in 1977,and Judy Mowatt’s Black Woman in 1980.

In 2012 he received a Lifetime Achievement award from Bass Player Magazine.

In 2020 he was selected as number-one by the staff of Bass Player Magazine, in their ranking of ”20 legendary players who shaped the sound of electric bass.”

In 2021 he was honoured in the National Honours and Awards on Jamaica’s 59th Anniversary of Independence.