by Kay Starr -

This week the Reggae Industry suffered a tremendous loss. On Monday Oct 26, 2010, Gregory Isaacs at the young age of 59 passed away from his long battle with Lung Cancer.

As a life long fan of his music, I have always pride myself on supporting his music whenever I can. Unfortunately our community has long been known for not giving enough support to their Reggae Icon while they’re living.. As of today we’re hearing that his music has re-entered the music charts worldwide, charting as high as number 2 on some charts. Where were all his fans when he was alive? Not just for him, but if we look at our history we can see that we seem to idolize our great talent after they are gone from this earth.

Today I walked into my office at the 5 Stars Recording Studio only to encounter a very intense discussion about the death of Gregory Isaacs and the lack of respect for this great artist. I was given a local Jamaican newspaper to look at and was shocked at what I saw. Our Reggae Legend was found in the upper left hand corner of the newspaper with a small caption and even worst he was mentioned on page fourteen with two picture and less than ten lines to his story. I know that over the years he’s been plaque with a serious cocaine habit, so does that warrant the lack of respect? Should we not pay homage to the music he gave us? Are we so focus on the man that he became because of his personal demons that we forget about the music that this icon has given not only to the Jamaican community but to the world at large? I am truly embarrassed for my community. How is it that this man that had given us such great music over the 35 years had only earned a mere mention in one of the most circulated Jamaican newspaper? How is it that this is ok on any level? I must say, as we sit here talking about all the great music that our Reggae Icons have given us over the years, we’re hard pressed to find a valid reason for the way we as a Caribbean community treat our very talented veteran Artist while they’re alive.

As a culture known for our ICONIC REGGAE ARTIST and GREAT MUSIC, we need to learn to appreciate our great talents while they are here with us and remember that showing appreciation doesn’t mean you go out and buy a “Bootleg CD”, it mean buying their original CDs, hiring them for your concerts and just giving then the accolade they so richly deserves.

This is just my little opinion folks! We all have our opinions and I certainly welcome yours on the subject at hand.