Romeich Says He Almost Gave Up On Music Before Ding Dong, Shenseea

Dancehall sensation Shenseea may not have been such a major player today in the genre if her manager Romeich Major had followed through with his decision to give up on the music biz and sell out his studio equipment.

The Romeich Entertainment CEO shared the story of his early struggles and how he overcame them, while being interviewed on Odyssey, Untold Stories with Yendi Phillipps on YouTube which was posted today.

Major explained that his desire to manage artists began with one named Versatile, which didn’t work out because he didn’t have the financial backing or expertise at the time to be a good manager.  Without those qualities or the type of support he needed from gatekeepers, Major decided to quit music rather than risk depression and put the focus back on his clothing line, Romeich Wear.

“It never work out because it was a learning experience for me,” he revealed.  “Me never master it and at the same time me never have…financially me never good like that because music yuh haffi have money, haffi have links, you haffi have powers and you have to have respect..it just like any product, no matter how good the product is if you can’t get it to reach out there, you can’t get any sales.”

He continued, “Me and Ding Dong ah just talk one day and me tell him say me wah sell out me studio equipment and him like ‘yuh ah idiot, yuh ah sell out the studio? Me tek it over, gimme it’.”

This would be the turning point on his approach to management as he and Ding Dong started hitting the studio. “Me and Ding jus ah hold ah vibe and we just ah work and ah work until we produce some song. The song them ah just get good rotation, good forward good play. Me name ah build up because I did the music,” he said.

Even though he was at the time a successful designer he admitted that music was always his first love, which began as a youth when he used to tune into IRIE FM, to record the music so that he could make his own mixes.  He also recalled a stint as an apprentice for the Dancehall group T.O.K., where he learned some invaluable lessons about the industry while touring with the group.

Back in the studio with Ding Dong, he eventually discovered Shenseea who he once again praised for her tireless work ethic which she first displayed as a promotional girl for him.

It wasn’t until he saw a video that she uploaded to Instagram, then with just 11,000 followers, that he realized just how talented she was as an artist. He let her know what he thought about her unique voice and a partnership was born.

“Me willing fe get back inna music but me wah manage yuh…..me carry her in ah the studio, play a riddim, she say she ah go home and write ah song. She come back next day with the song, write. That alone impress me,” he added.  “Cya them have some artists they tek all one two three month fi even write something.”

Even though her first attempt wasn’t that good, she persisted and the result was her first song Jiggle Jiggle, which both Romeich and host Yendi agreed was one of the “baddest songs” from a new artist.

Major also revealed, during the pre-recorded interview, that he would soon be a dad to a little girl.  In an Instagram post today, he told his followers that his daughter had arrived.

Romeich was already father to son, Xzander who lives overseas, and is well-known as a father figure to Shenseea’s five-year-old son, Rajeiro.  “From you know me you know fatherhood is everything to me. Happy to share that I have a little girl,” he wrote in the IG post. 

He told Yendi that fatherhood has changed him, and was the main motivation behind his drive to make his many business ventures a success.

“I have Xan, and when I got him, that really turned me into a man. And den mi tell miself seh whatever I couldn’t have back then, because family did treat mi bad. So mi tell miself seh mi haffi just work hard and mek sure seh mi son can good.”

On Shenseea’s son Raj, he gushed about their unique bond that started when he babysat the five-month-old, while his mother was busy in the studio and working. “Mi even end up go buy di likkle playpen something dem because mi a seh dis boy everyday him deh pon mi table and mi hand and mi cya work good,” he said.

“Mi remember all one day wi go down a Ruption a do har [Shenseea] first photoshoot and him up deh a bawl bawl and mi gi him bottle and she a seh mi a di only person she see him tek dem something deh from. Mi and him just grow together till up to now, nobody cya tell mi seh a nuh mi son,” he recalled.

“Mi fall in love with him, and mi business wid him more than mi business bout har [Shenseea’s] work.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/CMkUYWdB41t/

Shenseea and Raj, Ding Dong, and TeeJay are now more family to him than actual family, he further explained.  “Even now mi tell her [Shenseea] seh ‘yow as much as me bring happiness to you, because you can do music and you bring an international ting to Romeich Entertainment now, him is still da factor deh.”

“We a everything. Wi a family, wi a friend, wi good inna everyway. Like, if she [Shenseea] nuh good, mi nuh good, and if mi nuh good, she nuh good.If she cry, mi cry, if she happy, wi happy.”

Major added that there are also similar bonds with other members of the team, like Ding Dong who he called his “best friend” and a cunning magician.

He wasn’t sure whether to call TeeJay a “brother” or “son” but declared him the ‘baddest’ singer in Jamaica. “Him have a vocal point deh weh..I don’t think him even know the power of him voice” he said. “We ah try see if we can show the world.”

Watch the full interview below.