Broadcaster Barry G, Who Kickstarted Yellowman And Beenie Man’s Career, Died Of Pneumonia At Age 70

Iconic radio broadcaster Barrington ‘Barry G’ Gordon, the man who helped to kickstart King Yellowman and Beenie Man’s careers, died at the Savanna-la-Mar Hospital in Westmoreland on October 29.

He was 70 years-old. He reportedly died of pneumonia.

Dubbed the “King of Radio”, Barry G was the first radio broadcaster to leave the radio studios and play at parties and other events across Jamaica and the world. He was also a regular emcee at Reggae Sunsplash.

Barry G first became interested in radio broadcasting during his teenage years as a student at Kingston College. Upon graduation, he copped a job at the now defunct Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation (JBC) in 1975 as a producer after which he began doing vox pop features.

He was later given the evening programme, Turntable Time slot and inherited the coveted afternoon slot from brilliant broadcaster Errol ET Thompson. Later, he would rise to national fame in the 1980s with his show “Two to Six Super Mix”.

The St, Mary native was also the last person to interview Bob Marley in 1981, in the Florida hospital where he died.

In 1987, Barry G got fired from JBC radio for playing the song “Hold a fresh ” done by Red Dragon as a diss directed at the late former Prime Minister Edward Seaga.

“Barry G pushed the envelope, he got fired because of a certain tune him play. Him touch a Prime minister, a song for Edward Seaga, that man from Vale Royal need fi hold a fresh,” radio broadcaster Captain Kirk said, laughing.

A household name, so popular was Barry G that in 1987, he immediately landed a job at Radio Jamaica where Barry G’s popularity grew exponentially and he secured the enviable status of having one million listeners.

So loved was Barry G by Dancehall artists that Rankin Toyon dedicated an entire Dancehall tune to the St. Mary native.

Titled Spar With Me, the classic 1982 Dancehall track was laid on the Shenk I Sheck riddim and produced by Henry ‘Junjo’ Lawes, who was the top producer in those times. That song hailed Barry G for among other things, “chat pon radio station, fi suit everyone” and “playing Reggae music on the radio station”.

Barry G was highly influential in promoting local artists and popularizing reggae and dancehall music on the radio.

Music journalist Norman Gentles crowned him the ‘King of Afternoon Radio’ in Jamaica.

“You couldn’t beat Barry G in afternoon radio. I remember when he started doing the Boogey Down programme which was a night time programme, and then he did Turntable Time when he took over from Errol T because Errol used to do that before Barry G,” Gentles reminisced.

“He was the King of Afternoon Radio and by 1978 and 1979, he was doing the Tow to Six Supermix’ and that was when the Boogey Man was in his element, over two million people tuned into him faithfully everyday at 2,” he added.

Eventually, the enigmatic broadcaster began to move around a lot. After being unceremoniously fired from JBC in 1987, Barry G moved to the rival Radio Jamaica and also had stints at Power 106, KLAS FM and Hot 102. He enjoyed a career revival at Mello FM in Montego Bay where he stayed for 11 years before leaving in 2021.

Captain Kirk hailed the late broadcaster for his “verbosity’.

“It’s all about Barry G’s dialect and his verbal verbosity, he used words, he actually rewrite the English Language when it comes to radio. When you listen to some of Barry G’s old style –I learned from him, I copied Errol Thompson and Barry G when Barry G came along. I started to listen because he changed the paradigm of radio . When it comes to quizzes, you always learned something from him,” Captain Kirk said.

Captain Kirk does broadcasts on several stations, including 105.5 The King (which simulcasts with other stations like Reggae North Radio), Island Gold Radio, and Supa Jamz Radio. He hosts shows like the “Captain Kirk Caribbean Show” and “Mid Day Jamz” with Empress Shae, focusing on reggae, dancehall, and other Caribbean music.

Barry G was also known for his long-standing friendly musical clashes with his friend and fellow broadcaster David Radigan of the UK. Radio mogul Derrick ‘Big Dee’ Thompson, owner of Silk Radio, recalled those fantastic face offs.

“Barry G demolish him (Radigan) in the first clash, then Radigan come back inna the second one and demolish him, and then mi bring the two of them here in England with Daddy Ernie, Chris Goldfinga, Gammo Speng, about six radio presenters and Radigan, but nobody couldn’t beat Radigan. Radigan cut dub plates, spending thousands of pounds sterling on dubplates, he was the best at that, but Barry G was the best at radio,” Thompson said.   

Thompson worked for years with Barry G, assisting him with his famous reports of entertainment news in location news far from Jamaica. Thompson was the one who reported on the death of famed producer Henry ‘Jungo’ Lawes was shot and killed in Harlsden, northwest London in June 1999.

Thompson said that two million listeners were glued to the dial to hear that particular infamous report in dancehall history. Thompson said that Barry G was a maverick who was unafraid to experiment with the radio format.

“He is the first man do radio on phone. He can be in a hotel lobby, and have an engineer in Jamaica, telling him where to find a song during the ‘Request Line’. He could tell the engineer to find a particular song in the library, he had a great memory. Often, he would be coming from Mandeville, and he would drive in a car while doing the show because he was late. The owners have to tell him to stop work pon road, but him say ‘ah modern time, mi ah carry radio to you on phone’, the man great him great him great,” Thompson recalled.

Barry G is credited with engineering Yellowman’s rise to become a superstar in Jamaica, after Yellowman won the Tastee Talent Show contest in 1982. At the same time he has been criticised for promoting “slackness” by virtue of his association with Yellowman, who has been blamed for bringing slackness to the surface and making it popular and accepted.

In a Gleaner interview back in 2004, Barry G had said that while he was influential in promoting dancehall in the 1980s, he had distanced himself when he saw it heading on a negative direction.

Barry G was known for his witticisms and his own unique slang.

Norman Gentles referred to his favourite Barry G-ism which he recalled as “for those who know who wished they knew who want to know who dont even know that they don’t know’. 

Gentles claimed that Barry G named himself the ‘Boogeyman’ because most of his contemporaries feared his charismatic personality and his near-dominance of the media landscape.

“He was just the best, they feared him, he eclipsed everyone, the Whip, ET Thompson, he was just the best,” he said.

Another one is ‘goodness gracious me’. Yet another phrase that Barry G’s fans will remember is “non stop action multiplied by electrifying musical motion, into the sounds of now and positive vibration (roar of a tiger)’.

“He was just the greatest personality on Jamaican radio,” Captain Kirk said.

Barry G suffered a severe stroke in April 2007 and was hospitalised in Florida, United States.

According to the report, Barry G had been unable to walk upright, had been stuttering and had constant hiccups.

The stroke occurred while driving back and forth from Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland, to Mandeville, Manchester.

Over the years, his mental faculties began to decline and he had a much-publicised falling out with the head honcho at Mello FM.

“Mello treated him badly. Barry G should have known when to leave radio, they’re like boxers, they never know when to retire, they want the next fight, Barry G moved around, you need to leave at your best, leave on a high,” Gentles said.

After Barry G left Mello FM, he set up a station called Lion FM and developed a devoted following. In his later years, he played mostly gospel songs and he became a bit of a health buff.

“He will be sorely missed,” Thompson said.