KINGSTON, Jamaica — Follow your dreams, use your talent and follow your heart. That’s the message author and award-winning filmmaker Judith Falloon-Reid wants to resonate with kids across Jamaica through her latest children’s book, “Sing Oral Sing”.

“Sing Oral Sing” is Falloon-Reid’s heartwarming tribute to late gospel artiste, Oral Reid, popularly known as “NexChange”, who died on May 19, 2023 after a battle with lymphoma. He was 40.

“The book came about, first of all, as a way for me to honour him (Oral) because he was like a son to me. When he passed away, I am also (his daughter) Anaiah’s godmother, so when he passed away, he left a void obviously, not just in our hearts, but financially, and so the thinking was ‘how can I find a way to contribute not just to his legacy but to contribute in a tangible way to Anaiah’s well-being, and I am a writer so writing became the obvious choice,” Falloon-Reid told Observer Online.

According to Falloon-Reid, the story follows a little boy named “Oral” who loved to sing and was called to follow his passion in heaven.

Sing Oral Sing Book Cover

“So it is about Oral as a little boy, loving to sing, and everywhere he went he would sing and eventually he started singing in Church, he would sing at concerts, he would sing for his family and one day a producer heard him sing and decided ‘wow, let me help him to make a song so he made his own song’, and one day God was just hanging around listening to Earth and heard this little boy singing and said ‘bwoy, what a boy can sing’ which is kind of a tagline in ‘Sing Oral Sing,” she explained.

“He chose him to come and sing for the angels and, of course, at first, he was sad because he would have to leave his family. His mom was sad but she realised that it was an honour for him to go and sing for the angels and to sing for God so she put aside her own sadness and she accepted it, and he put aside his own sadness and said ‘okay, I’m ready, let’s go and sing for the angels,” the 61-year-old author continued.

The story is, of course, a spin on the heartbreak Oral’s family and friends would have experienced with his passing a year ago. And with his death anniversary approaching, the book serves as a memorial.

“I’m in total disbelief still that it’s been a year and it will be a year when this book actually comes out and people actually receive it. It is being printed now so it should be in my hand soon. I feel I’m still in disbelief that he is gone but very happy that I had him and that he was a part of my life at all.

“I miss him terribly. His phone number is still in my phone, his WhatsApp messages are still in my phone, I don’t know if I will ever be able to delete them. His funeral programme is still on my table but I’m grateful. He left one huge legacy, he left a lot of great music and he touched a whole heap of lives, all over the world. He was not one of the big star names but it is so amazing that you don’t need to be that to touch hundreds of lives. For me he was a star,” Falloon-Reid, who now resides in Panama, told Observer Online.

Reminiscing on Oral’s relationship with his only child, Anaiah, she remembered him as a proud father.

Late gospel artiste Oral ‘NexChange’ Reid

“He was an amazing father. Anaiah was his whole world. No matter what else was going on in his world, Anaiah was his constant. He took her on weekends, he took her to school, he used to love to tell me ‘oh I’m going to go bring Anaiah fruits’ and I have to have fruits for her every day…He was proud to be a dad, happy to be a dad,” Falloon-Reid said.

“Sing Oral Sing” is for all children audiences and with it the author hopes to encourage boys and girls to follow their dreams no matter what that may be.

“Follow your dreams, use your talent and follow that talent and follow your heart. Using your talent to the fullest because that is what he did, he took his talent and he followed it and he used every opportunity he could get. He was like that, as a person…It wasn’t about money for him, it was about using your talent and making an impact. He did many trips to the states with us… and he ministered, if he got something, he got something and if he didn’t, he didn’t but it was never about that, it was about using that talent and building on that talent and I think that is my takeaway for any child with whatever talent it is. Don’t let anybody stop you because it is a talent you’ve been given so use it and do everything you can with it, and follow it,” she said.

The book will be released May 16 and can be purchased on Amazon or through Falloon-Reid’s website, https://www.jfalloon-reid.com/judi-s-books.

Physical copies will be available in the coming weeks in local bookstores. Copies will also be available for sale through Jamaica Youths for Christ.

All proceeds from “Sing Oral Sing” will go towards an education fund for Oral’s daughter, Anaiah.

An official launch ceremony is being held at Bookophilia in Kingston on Wednesday, May 29 at 6:00pm.

Falloon-Reid has published several novels, self-help books and children’s books. Her first children’s series is called “Smelly Seals in La Jolla (The Sleepy Adventures of Philomena Feinman Series)”.

She is currently working on a novel dedicated to her mother.

Falloon-Reid is also an award-winning filmmaker. Her awards include Most Inspirational, Best Music Score in the Florida Christian Film Festival 2015 for “Just Another Friday”; Best Female Director at the Florida Movie Festival 2017 for “The Gift Everlasting”; and Most Inspirational Film at the CaribbeanLens International Film and Art Festival.