Reggae’s Top Child Stars: list of famous young Jamaican artists

Discover some of Jamaica’s top child stars, from classic reggae singers to dancehall DJs. Many proceeded to have successful careers as adults.

Billy Boyo

Billy Boyo was a teenage star of pre-digital dancehall. He was born in 1969 in Kingston, Jamaica. His real name was Billy Theophilus Rowe.

Legendary producer Henry “Junjo” Lawes discovered Billy Boyo when he was just 12 years old. In the early 1980s, Billy Boyo recorded some amazing hits with the powerful Roots Radics Band and the innovative young engineer Scientist. ‘One spliff a day’ is one notable example. Always under Junjo, Billy Boyo recorded the album “DJ Clash Volume 2” with fellow young deejay, Little Harry.

In 1983, Billy Boyo (together with Ranking Toyan and yet another child star, Little John) went to London to work with producer Silver Kamel. Due to various reasons, it took almost twenty years before Billy Boyo’s album, “Zim Zim”, was released.

Billy Boyo wasn’t a prolific recording artist, he was more of a live deejay rather than a recording artist. He died in 2000, according to most sources of a brain tumor.

Dennis Brown

Dennis Emmanuel Brown was born in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1957. He started his career as a nine-year-old singer, performing with Byron Lee and the Dragonaires in the mid-60s.

Dennis Brown cut his first hit single, No Man Is An Island for Clement “Sir Coxsone’ Dodd at the age of 10. Over the next 30 years, he would become one of the most prolific artists the world has ever seen, releasing around 80 studio albums, seven live productions and countless singles.

Bob Marley dubbed him “The Crown Prince of Reggae“, and Brown would prove influential on future generations of reggae singers. Dennis Brown died of cardiac arrest in 1999 at the age of 42.

*A very young Dennis Brown [source: pinterest]*

Freddie McGregor

Freddie McGregor was born in 1956 in Clarendon, Jamaica. His music career began when he was seven years old. At that time, in 1963, “Little Freddie” formed his band “The Clarendonians” with Peter Austin and Ernest Wilson (who died recently in November 2021), and recorded his first song for the Studio One label.

Ever since Freddie McGregor has had an incredibly steady career. He’s spanned nearly every stylistic shift in Jamaican music, from ska to Rastafarian roots reggae to lovers rock, and even experimented in dancehall.

Little Lohn

John McMorris, or Little John, was born in 1970. This Jamaican dancehall musician is best known for his 1980s recordings when he was one of the reggae DJ child stars along with Billy Boyo and Little Harry.

He began performing and recording at the age of nine and was famous for his ability to create lyrics over any backing track. He recorded for many producers in the 1980s, notably for ‘Junjo’ Lawes, Joseph Hoo Kim, Jah Thomas, and King Jammy.

*Little John, Billy Boyo and ranking Toyan [image from Deejay Toasters on facebook]*

Little Harry

Little Harry was born in 1965. According to Discogs, his real name is Claude Alexander Campbell. Little Harry’s music career started when he was about 13 years old, and he became famous throughout the 1980s for his live performances with sound systems including Volcano and King Sturmars Hi-Fi.

Little Harry was an early collaborator with Yellowman and recorded the 1983 LP “DJ Clash Volume 2” with fellow child deejay Billy Boyo.

Jimmy Cliff

Born James Chambers in 1944, Jimmy Cliff began his illustrious career while in high school by entering many local talent contests.

By the time he was 14, Cliff had released several hit singles, including Hurricane Hattie. At 16 years old, he represented Jamaica at the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair. Shortly after his career took off when he was signed by Island Records. Jimmy Cliff has released more than 30 albums.

Musical Youth

This British-Jamaican reggae band was formed in England in 1979 when the ages of its members ranged between 8 and 12 years. Musical Youth is best remembered for the successful 1982 single “Pass the Dutchie”, which became a No. 1 hit around the world.

Delroy Wilson

Delroy Wilson was born in 1948 in Kingston. He began recording when he was only 13, while still attending Boys’ Town Primary. By 1962, he had recorded his first set of songs under the guidance of Clement ‘Coxson’ Dodd.

Delroy Wilson was one of Jamaica’s most soulful vocalists, and over a 40-year career he unleashed a flood of hits and masterpieces. He died at the age of 46 in 1995 following health complications.

Beenie Man

Anthony Moses Davis – better known as Beenie Man – was born in 1973 in Kingston. This Jamaican dancehall deejay started toasting at 5 years of age. He won the Tastee Talent contest in 1981. His initial stage name was spelled Beany Man. He would eventually work with Henry Junjo Lawes, Bunny Lee and Sly and Robbie – among others – achieving international stardom in the 1990s.

Nadine Sutherland

Nadine Sutherland burst onto the scene when she was 11 years old, in 1979, when she beat Yellowman in the first Tastee Talent Contest. Recording a song was part of her prize for winning the competition, and her hit single, Starvation on the Land, was produced by Bob Marley. She went on to become a successful dancehall artist in the 1990s.