IT has been four long months since talented back-up singer for Tarrus Riley, Connie Campbell, has been languishing in a coma in a Maryland hospital. And with each passing day, the situation just seems to get more complex.

“It is just unreal… frightening,” saxophonist Dean Fraser told us early September last year when we saw him at Irie Jamboree in New York. The incident had unfolded a few weeks earlier and Fraser, still shell-shocked, didn’t want any media attention. As he related it then, the group had been on a tour stop in Maryland and while at rehearsals, the decision was taken, in the interest of time, not to go back to the hotel, but instead to freshen up on spot and wait for showtime.

“Connie went into the bathroom and shortly after another member of the group followed her. Then I heard a scream and when we ran to the bathroom, we realised that Connie had fainted. She soon revived and said she was feeling all right. However, I insisted that she go to the hospital, although in my head, she passed out because she probably wasn’t eating right. And, on tour, we always tease each other about that kind of thing,” Fraser recalled.

Fraser, Riley and the others performed without Connie and, right after the show, Fraser headed to the hospital to pick up the back-up singer.

“I was a bit surprised that she wasn’t calling me every minute to come and get her, and I was prepared for a little tracing from her when I reached,” Fraser said with a wry smile.

However, the sight that greeted him at the hospital made his knees buckle and his heart almost stop beating.

A semi-conscious Connie was lying in a hospital bed, hooked up with tubes to a machine. She was having what Fraser described as violent body spasms every 10 seconds.

“I couldn’t believe my eyes. I started to tremble and everything all at once. The doctors say they didn’t know what was causing shake like that so viciously and such

quick succession. They couldn’t tell me what was wrong with Connie…it was just unreal… totally frightening,” Fraser said.

He was then faced with the daunting task of reporting this mystery illness to the other members of the group and to Connie’s immediate family, all of whom wanted answers that Fraser was in no position to give.

Fraser said that one of the hardest decisions the group had to make was to leave Connie at the hospital in Maryland and continue the tour, performing every night as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. At the end of the tour, they all returned to Maryland to look for Connie, but, unfortunately there was hardly any change. By this time, the doctors were reporting that Connie had suffered multiple strokes, leaving her with damage to the brain stem. And she was still comatose.

Subsequent visits by her musical and immediate family left them confused, but with just enough hope and inspiration.

“Connie is a strong girl with a lot of willpower,” her significant other, George, told us late September, before he went off on tour. “We were just getting ready to put together some songs for an album and she was excited about it. Although she is supposedly in a coma, when I visit her I remind her of these things and I just talk about everyday things. I keep telling myself that this is just a temporary setback and that Connie will soon be well again,” he said, doing his best to keep his composure.

George added that he had taken their young daughter to visit and she, too, did her best to talk to her mother as if she could hear. George was hoping for that miracle while he was on tour.

Not having heard anything from George since his return, last Tuesday night at the launch of Rebel Salute, we again asked Fraser about Connie. Immediately, his whole demeanour changed. He shook his head, looked as if tears were just seconds away and said softly, “No change. She is still in the coma, not recognising anybody. Her sister and daughter are there visiting her now, but nothing has changed.”

“Don’t you think it’s time the entertainment fraternity knew about this?” we queried.

He agreed.

Ideally, they would like to bring Connie back home where family and friends can have easy access to visiting her in hospital. The Kingston Public Hospital is willing, but, “the ventilator is the problem. Nobody wants to take the risk of having her travel so far”, it was explained.

Bounty apologises for homophobic diatribe at Shaggy & Friends

Bounty Killer, clearly anticipating a backlash after his very startling and very “cross, angry and miserable” anti-gay tirade at the Shaggy & Friends concert at Jamaica House on Saturday night, has issued the following apology.

“After nearly 20 years at the top of the Jamaican music industry I have been involved in many battles — sometimes with fellow artists, sometimes with outside forces and sometimes with the state and its politicians. I’ve learnt to choose my battles wisely and the grounds upon which to fight them.

“I’ve also learnt when to admit I didn’t choose my ground wisely and Saturday night’s Shaggy & Friends’ show was one of those occasions.

“With so many politicians and members of the upper echelons of corporate Jamaica present, an audience I rarely get the ears of, I got caught up in the moment while expressing myself. I now realise it was inappropriate and extend my apologies to Shaggy, his sponsors, benefactors and all in attendance who were offended by my performance.

“Alliance made a pledge to donate $250,000 to the cause, and we will follow through on that promise and continue to support Shaggy and answer his call whenever he

reaches out.”