THE biggest dream of Selvin Howell, popularly known as DJ Burns, is to travel the world playing music, and he is not far from achieving his dream.

Howell’s journey to becoming a TikTok personality, entertaining thousands of people around the world daily with his music selections, was filled with thorns and thistles.

On numerous occasions Howell found himself in circumstances that could have cost him his life, but these incidents only motivated him to put his trust in God.

“Everything I have, it is because of God,” Howell said during an early morning interview with the Jamaica Observer at Fairfield Inn by Marriott in Queens, New York.

Howell hails from Mullett Hall district in Chapleton, Clarendon. He moved to the Corporate Area when he was about 10 years old.

As a youngster, he had two passions — football and music.

He was even in the national youth football programme as a goalkeeper, but that mission was thwarted due to violence.

“I was a goalkeeper for the national Under-15 and Under-17 [teams]. Community war caused me to drop out of school and the national programme. I went to Excelsior High School and I had to pass communities that were in war with my community, and they used to get the kids involved. They would go to schools and look for people. One time, men burned my friend and pulled out his finger nails,” he shared.

“I had to find a different route to go to school. I used to have to walk through an area called Backbush. My mother didn’t have the money to give me every morning so I used to take off my uniform shirt and walk to school and walk back home. How I stopped going to school now was one evening, a student from my school, who came from an enemy community, told the men what I was doing,” said Howell.

“One day I was coming down the road and God made me see the men before they saw me. As I saw them, I pulled into a corner, jumped over a wall and went into a yard and said they are going to kill me. A lady locked me inside her house and called down by Jacques Road and the men down there came and rescued me.

“They told me to come out. I was still going to the national football camp but then another youth from the enemy community told them that I was not going to school,” Howell related, pointing out that the leaders of the national youth football programme told him that he couldn’t participate any longer if he wasn’t attending school.

The dismissal from the programme left him heartbroken and Howell said he went home and cried to his mother, Dawn Allison.

He said he was so taken by football that he went back to the camp to try and find his way back in, but it didn’t work out.

“The coaches asked me why I came back. I told them that it was one of my dreams because my father was a goalkeeper. The first time I saw my father, I saw him keeping goal. That was how I loved football and wanted to be a goalkeeper,” shared Howell.

Howell said after being cut from the national football programme he started to channel his energy into music, a field that got his attention and which he had started to dabble in as a teenager due to his father’s influence.

“The music thing came about because I saw my father on a picture with a microphone. My mother used to have a vinyl player and she used to ask me to flip the vinyl. My mother gave me the name DJ Burns. Music kept me distracted from the whole violence thing.

“At around age 13 I used to play on a little sound system called Fire Red. My father told me that music was in my blood. He used to play music and he would always encourage me when I spoke to him, and that caused me to have a different passion for the music,” said Howell.

“Jacques Road was where my journey really started off with music, with elders in the community like ‘Brandish’ and ‘Chiney Man’. When my mom gave me the name DJ Burns, I started to write it on CDs. People like Brandish, Glen and my cousin ‘OT’ believed in me. OT was my biggest fan. Brandish taught me how to mix and introduce the music. There was also Benz and Prince Data. I cannot forget those people,” Howell said.

He recalled that in 2017 he went to play at a party in Westmoreland where he didn’t know anyone. After the event, the bus he was to take back to Kingston left him. The female promoter for the party owned a bar and suggested he could sleep there overnight. That was where his talent really began to shine. Although he faced great danger and disrespect, another guardian angel came to his rescue.

According to Howell, the bar operator told him that someone wanted to book him for a party. He ended up staying in Westmoreland for one week initially, playing at different events for which he was booked.

Howell said that he received little to no pay for his work, but his passion took him through.

“At one particular party they didn’t want to pay me and ended up beating me and taking away my laptop. A man by the name of DJ Cool called me and said he heard what happened and that he was going to make things right. He told me I was not going to go back to Kingston and that he would sign me because he had a big business where he would book artistes and selectors. The beating led to success in Westmoreland. The same man dem weh box me up had to see me and show respect,” he told the Sunday Observer.

“DJ Cool started to take me on the road and told the promoters to put me on their parties. I got a lot of fight. This man put his life on the line for me. His brand is called Eye for an Eye. All he said he needed from me was loyalty,” Howell said, adding that DJ Cool bought him a music console for $350,000 and ensured that he got paid each time he played at an event.

Fast-forward to 2023, Howell said he started playing music on TikTok after being inspired by Jazzy Vybz from the music system Stone Love who was already making a name for himself on the platform.

“When I just got on TikTok, I would be on for five to six hours with three to four people watching, maximum 10. This lady called Libra Queen, she came around and started to tell people to ‘Go and watch DJ Burns because him bad’, and that was how a few people started coming around.

“I built my page up to 35,000 followers and then I had to start another page, which reached 50,000 followers. It’s a battlefield. It’s never easy, but once you are passionate, nothing can stop you,” said Howell, the father of two daughters.

He explained that he loves God so much that whenever he plays gospel music on Sundays he turns off the gifting function on TikTok where he is known as Djburns_876.

“My belief is that the word of God is free,” he explained.

Howell’s Road Manager Tara Pryce is absolutely proud of him. She has a day job as a manager at a post office but quickly hurries home after work to help manage the page to ensure that DJ Burns and the Fire Family continue to be a powerful brand. Pryce manages DJ Burns along with Sarah Hill and Sherr Organic.

“His type of entertainment is different. His selection of music just makes you feel nice from Sunday to Sunday. DJ Burns is very humble and straightforward. He helps a lot of people in need,” said Pryce.

Selvin ‘DJ Burns,’ Howell performing at an event.