Bushman
Artist. Roots, dancehall
- Active
- 1990s-present
- Sunrise
- 1973, St. Thomas, Jamaica
- Also known as
- Dwight Duncan, Dwight Marvin Duncan, Junior Melody
Bushman is a roots singer of the Rasta renaissance of the 1990s whose debut album, in the Rough Guide's words, is "as good an example of modern cultural singing as you could hope to find."
Born Dwight Duncan in St. Thomas in 1973, he was a selector called Junior Melody on a local sound before he went to Kingston, where, after hard times, he met Steely & Clevie; they recorded his first sides, beginning with "Grow Your Natty," and Steely renamed him Bushman. "Call the Hearse" was a hit, and the single that "more or less determined" his direction, "Black Star Liner," with deeply committed vocals over one-drop rhythms, led to Nyah Man Chant (1997), with "Man a Lion" and "Rude Boy Life." Where other new roots singers showed Garnett Silk's influence, the Rough Guide hears him as closer to Luciano.
Total Commitment (2000) for King Jammy confirmed his promise and carried "Fire Bun a Weak Heart," and singles for other producers followed: "I Burn," the autobiographical "Life," and "Jerusalem" for Penthouse. Later albums include Higher Ground (2001), Signs (2004), with "Downtown" and "Lighthouse," Bushman Sings the Bush Doctor (2011), a tribute to Peter Tosh, and Conquering Lion (2018), much of it made at his own studio in St. Thomas and issued on his Burning Bushes label, with Capleton among the guests. Reviewing the Tosh tribute, Angus Taylor heard an "impressive bassy brogue" that lacked the bite of Tosh's delivery but was equally powerful in its calmer way.
Last updated November 4, 2026
Connections
- King Jammy (producer)
- Steely & Clevie (producer)
- Capleton (collaborator)
- Penthouse (studio)
Notes
- Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 369.
- "Bushman," artist page, United Reggae, accessed October 21, 2026, https://unitedreggae.com/artist/n343/bushman. "Bushman (Reggae Singer)," Wikipedia, accessed October 21, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushman_(reggae_singer), citing Colin Larkin, for the sound-system name and the renaming. Mel Cooke, "Five Questions with ... Bushman," Jamaica Gleaner, June 21, 2018, https://past.jamaica-gleaner.com/article/entertainment/20180622/five-questions-bushman, which calls him "Dwight 'Bushman' Duncan."
- Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 369. "Bushman," artist page.
- Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 368.
- Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 368. "Bushman," artist page. Wikipedia dates Total Commitment to 2000. "Bushman (Reggae Singer)."
- Cooke, "Five Questions with ... Bushman." "Bushman (Reggae Singer)," for Higher Ground.
- Angus Taylor, "Bushman Sings the Bush Doctor," United Reggae, January 25, 2011, https://unitedreggae.com/articles/n554/012511/bushman-sings-the-bush-doctor.
