World of Jamaican Music

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An illustrated map of the creators of Jamaican music and how they are connected.

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Junior Byles

Artist. Reggae

Active
1967-2025
Sunrise
1948, Kingston, Jamaica
Sunset
May 15, 2025, Kingston, Jamaica
Also recorded as
King Chubby
Also known as
Chubby

Junior Byles, who also recorded as Chubby and King Chubby, was a Lee Perry singer and, in the words of Songlines, "one of reggae's foremost voices," whose career was cut short by illness.

He grew up in the Jones Town area of Kingston, the son of a mechanic and a schoolteacher, in a devout household, and sang in church. He worked as a mechanic and then as a fireman. In 1967 he formed the vocal trio the Versatiles with Louis Davis and a singer remembered as Dudley Earl, and their first sessions, including "The Time Has Come" and "Trust the Book," were cut for Joe Gibbs's Amalgamated label with Lynn Taitt's band, under Lee Perry's supervision. That is where he met Perry. The group also recorded for Dorothy Barrett's Deltone label and for Duke Reid, and broke up in 1970.

His solo debut, What's the World Coming To, appeared in 1970 under the name King Chubby. Over the next four years he and Perry made more than forty sides together, among them "Beat Down Babylon," co-written with Harold Meikle and backed by the Now Generation band, "A Place Called Africa," "King of Babylon," "Rasta No Pickpocket," "Curly Locks," "Auntie Lulu," and "The Long Way." He entered the Festival Song Competition twice: "Rub Up Festival" reached the last eight in 1971 before being disqualified over its lyrics, and "Festival Da Da" was second runner-up the following year.

"Fade Away" (1975), his biggest record, was not a Perry production. It was made for Joseph "Jojo" Hoo Kim at Channel One, sold heavily in Jamaica and Britain, and was covered by Adrian Sherwood's New Age Steppers.

News announcing Haile Selassie's passing in 1975 disturbed him badly and his health broke down. He was admitted to Bellevue Hospital in Kingston in 1976 and was in and out of care through the rest of the decade, recording intermittently, including "Chant Down Babylon" and "Pitchy Patchy" for Ja-Man. He spent long periods destitute and returned to live performance in Jamaica in 2004. He departed in hospital in Kingston in May 2025.

Last updated November 5, 2026

Connections

Notes

  1. The Rough Guide ranks him the "most inspired" of the "rebel music" singers and calls his voice "unique." Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 129, 130. He died in hospital on May 15, 2025, at seventy-seven. "'Curly Locks' Singer Junior Byles Has Died," Jamaica Gleaner, May 16, 2025, http://past.jamaica-gleaner.com/article/entertainment/20250516/curly-locks-singer-junior-byles-has-died. The Observer gives his given name as Kenneth Byles Jr.; the Rough Guide has "Kerrie Byles Junior." Howard Campbell, "Junior Byles 'Put Up a Good Fight,'" Jamaica Observer, May 17, 2025, https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/2025/05/17/junior-byles-put-good-fight/; Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 129. Review of Junior Byles, Beat Down Babylon, Songlines, accessed November 5, 2026, https://songlines.co.uk/review/beat-down-babylon.
  2. The Rough Guide says he came from "a devout family" and first sang in church. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 129. Campbell calls him "the second of auto mechanic Kenneth Byles' eight children." Campbell, "Junior Byles 'Put Up a Good Fight.'" Jonestown and his mother's teaching are from Wikipedia, citing David Katz's People Funny Boy. "Junior Byles," Wikipedia, accessed October 2, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junior_Byles.
  3. Campbell says he "was a fireman when he started his recording career." Campbell, "Junior Byles 'Put Up a Good Fight.'"
  4. The Rough Guide: in 1967 he formed the Versatiles "with Louie Davis and Dudley Earl," and the group's first recording, "The Time Has Come," was for Gibbs's Amalgamated label, supervised by Perry. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 129.
  5. The Rough Guide says Perry produced the group again after leaving Gibbs and that the titles "surfaced on Deltone, a label owned by a Mrs Dorothy Barrett." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 129. Wikipedia, citing Dave Thompson's Reggae & Caribbean Music, adds Treasure Isle and dates the split to 1970. "Junior Byles."
  6. The Rough Guide: "In 1970, Junior Byles embarked on his solo career ... beginning with the Perry-produced 'What's the World Coming To', released under the name of King Chubby." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 129-30. Bradley says Perry "even called himself King Chubby for some work." Lloyd Bradley, This Is Reggae Music: The Story of Jamaica's Music (New York: Grove Press, 2001), 325.
  7. The Rough Guide says the partnership with Perry "would last for the next seven years," from 1967. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 129. Bradley calls "Curly Locks" "a Black Ark production" and "a masterpiece of lovers' roots." Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 364. The original Justice League label of "Beat Down Babylon" credits Harold Meikle and Lee Perry as writers. "Junior Byles, Beat Down Babylon," Justice League single, Discogs, accessed October 2, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/3399548. Katz calls "Beat Down Babylon" one of the biggest Jamaican hits of 1972 and counts Byles's records with Perry in the early 1970s among the most notable expressions of Rastafari belief, "King of Babylon" among them (his article appears in Portuguese translation): David Katz, "Lee 'Scratch' Perry: xamã musical da Jamaica, o homem-espírito da Black Ark," Revista Brasileira do Caribe 11, no. 22 (January-June 2011): 144, https://www.periodicoseletronicos.ufma.br/index.php/rbrascaribe/article/download/662/419/2232.
  8. Wikipedia, citing Thompson. "Junior Byles." The Rough Guide dates "Da Da" to two years after his 1970 debut. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 130.
  9. Bradley and the Rough Guide place the record at Channel One. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 357; Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 156. Discogs lists 1975 pressings on the Hoo Kims' Well Charge label. "Junior Byles, Fade Away," Well Charge single, Discogs, accessed October 2, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/1089980. Wikipedia says it was recorded with Chinna Smith, Santa Davis, and Horsemouth Wallace "for producer Joseph Hoo Kim"; Campbell says Byles recorded it "for guitarist/producer Earl 'Chinna' Smith in 1974." "Junior Byles."; Campbell, "Junior Byles 'Put Up a Good Fight.'" The New Age Steppers' version, produced by Sherwood, was the first On-U Sound single (1980). "New Age Steppers, Fade Away," On-U Sound single, Discogs, accessed October 2, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/174073.
  10. The Rough Guide says "he attempted suicide after hearing about the death of Haile Selassie." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 130.
  11. Bradley: "He had been in and out of Bellevue mental hospital since the middle of the 1970s." Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 499. The Rough Guide calls his Ja-Man records the label's "biggest hits," among them "Pitchy Patchy" and, with Rupert Reid, "Chant Down Babylon." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 130.
  12. In 2001 the Gleaner reported that he "now roams the streets of East Central, St. Andrew begging passers-by." Balford Henry, "S.O.S. for Fallen Entertainers," Jamaica Gleaner, August 19, 2001, http://old.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20010819/ent/ent1.html. The Gleaner reviewed his performance at Rebel Salute on January 17, 2004. "Fiery Devils Disturb 'Rebel Salute,'" Jamaica Gleaner, January 23, 2004, http://old.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20040123/ent/ent1.html.
  13. Howard Campbell, "Junior Byles Put Up Good Fight," Jamaica Observer, May 17, 2025, https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/2025/05/17/junior-byles-put-good-fight. Campbell gives May 16 and his age as seventy-six; the Gleaner gives May 15 and seventy-seven.

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