Junior Byles’ ‘Ni-Night’ Service Set For Friday, May 23

There will be a ni-night ceremony on Friday, May 23 to mark the passing of Jamaican roots reggae artist Kenneth Byles a.k.a ‘Junior Byles, who is best known for the timeless classic, ‘Fade Away’.

The event will be held at 20 Delamere Avenue, off Waltham Park, and notables such as Jerry Mathias, the only surviving member of the Maytals, as well as other entertainers will be present.

Byles, despite the hit songs he penned, battled with depression and experienced mental health problems for the past 50 years. The Fade Away singer’s numerous battles with depression and his inner demons led to periods of homelessness and vagrancy that damaged his musical legacy in the minds of some Jamaicans.

“I met Junior Byles 12 years ago, and I saw what people saying in the press that he was a mad man eating out of garbage. But when I met him, I found him to be a great human being and a powerful artiste,” music producer Claude Sinclair, better known as ‘Big Stone’, said.

Byles passed away on May 15, 2025. He was 77.

“It doesn’t matter what was his mental condition, we should honour and cherish this man, put him on pedestal and that is why I went looking for him and in 2019, I gave him a Lifetime Achievement Award and $100,000. I was also instrumental with the government giving a Reggae Legend award in February 28th this year,” Sinclair said.

Byles was among those given the Reggae Gold Award at the Reggae Gold Awards Ceremony held during Reggae Month this year.

Sinclair singled out a few individuals who have consistently assisted Byles over the years.

“I would love to big up Earl ‘Chinna’ Smith, Mutabaruka and Niney the Observer, and music producer-businessman George Phang who have played instrumental roles in helping Junior Byles over the years,” Sinclair said.

According to Sinclair, “the government is also providing assistance with the funeral arrangements”.

Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, Olivia Grange has said that the music of Junior Byles, one of Jamaica’s great roots reggae artistes, stood out because of his powerful voice and thought-provoking lyrics and that his death has left a huge void in the industry.

“I extend my deepest sympathy to the family, relatives, friends, and colleagues and to the music fraternity,” Grange said in release.

Byles’ legacy of recordings from the 1970s have made an indelible mark on the local music industry, and strengthened his status as one of roots reggae’s leading talents.

“I would only hope that he be given the order of distinction posthumously,” Sinclair mused.

Music producer-business George Phang added that he respected Byles’ contribution to the development of roots reggae music.

“I have always admired and supported Junior Byles because of the incredible legacy he created in the 1970s,” Phang said.

A special ‘three-night’ event was also held on the 18th at 20 Delamere Avenue, off Waltham Park, which was attended by Byles’ peers and friends such as Niney the Observer, Copeland Forbes and hosted by Tommy Cowan and Carlene Davis.

Byles was born Kenneth Byles Jr in Kingston. He was a fireman when he started his recording career as a member of The Versatiles in the late 1960s.

During the early 1970s, Byles went solo and struck up a partnership with producer Lee Scratch Perry where his Rastafarian beliefs produced critically acclaimed hits like “Beat Down Babylon”, “King of Babylon”, and the plea for repatriation, “Place Called Africa”. He released his debut album, Beat Down Babylon in November 1972, which along with a series of singles that followed such as the classic Perry-produced ‘Curly Locks’, established Byles as a major force in Jamaica and wowed audiences in the United Kingdom.

Then, Junior Byles hit the motherlode of success with the Discomix “Fade Away” which was recorded in 1975 for producer Joseph Hoo Kim. The timeless classic was a massive hit in Jamaica and was also a huge success in the UK. The song was covered five years later by Adrian Sherwood’s New Age Steppers group. It also featured on the soundtrack for the film Rockers.

However, by 1975, Byles’ health had begun to decline, as he was swallowed by a black wave of depression triggered by the death of Haile Selassie. Byles was unable to reconcile the Ethiopian monarch’s death with his belief in Selassie’s divinity, and attempted suicide. He was admitted to Bellevue Hospital, after which his health continued to decline.

During the ensuing years, he would be rocked by personal tragedies such as the death of his mother and the torching of his house. Depression continued to haunt him as his wife emigrated to live overseas. He released projects sparingly and without success until 1982 where he fell off the map.

Byles would release nothing until 1986’s Rasta No Pickpocket album but it failed to re-energise his career, and by the following year, he was living on the street, scavenging for food in dumpsters and begging from members of the public.

After years in the wilderness, Byles returned to live performance in 2004 in Jamaica, receiving positive reviews, and he did a few gigs in the United Kingdom. In the late 2010s, Byles was diagnosed with prostate cancer, and in early 2019, a benefit and celebratory concert took place, followed by a large cash donation to Byles. Dancehall star Bounty Killer donated a sum of money from his charity foundation to also assist Byles.

He will forever be immortalised in the words of his famous Fade Away hit: He who seeks of only vanity and no love for humanity shall fade away/he who checks for only wealth and not for his spiritual health shall fade away”.

May Junior Byles’ incredible legacy never fade away.