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Dragonaires at carnivals around the
Caribbean since the mid-1970s, and chose the location for the carnival to attract revellers from all of Jamaica's classes, stating: "The biggest problem was that most Jamaicans said it wouldn't work, that it isn't a carnival country, but I persisted 'cause I believed in it. I wanted carnival to go to the public. You always had other carnivals that were held mostly indoor, where persons had to pay to get in. I went to the people and choose
237:. He taught himself to play bass on a homemade instrument, and around 1950, along with his friend Carl Brady, he formed the first incarnation of the Dragonaires, named after the college football team that they played for, at that time concentrating on mento. The band turned professional in 1956 and went on to become one of Jamaica's leading
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truck to move from gig to gig. The bass guitar gained popularity throughout the country and soon became the standard. The electric bass's louder, clearer, and more in-your-face sound soon changed the sound of
Jamaican music entirely, especially after Skatalites bassist Lloyd Brevett took a liking to it.
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where uptown and downtown meet. That is where the route will remain". In the early days of ska, Lee was credited in taking it from the ghettos and giving it appeal among
Jamaica's "uptown" middle and upper classes. He has also been credited with taking soca in the opposite direction, popularising a
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In 1990, Lee inaugurated what became an annual event, Jamaica
Carnival, held on Constant Spring Road, and attended by hundreds of thousands of people that united the "uptown" and "downtown" residents of Kingston, an event that Lee called "the happiest moment in my life". Lee had performed with the
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after having surgery in
Florida, and no longer appeared on stage with the Dragonaires, although he was still involved in the band's management, and was involved with the festival again in 2008. A concert was held in his honour on 30 June 2007, to celebrate his 50 years in the music industry, with
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Byron Lee is known to have introduced the electric bass guitar to
Jamaica in late 1959 or 1960. However, the reason Lee began to use the electric bass as opposed to the double bass had nothing to do with sound. Rather, it was a way for Lee to avoid carrying the large and heavy double bass to the
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In
October 2008, after receiving treatment for several weeks in Florida, Lee returned to spend his final days in Jamaica. In a ceremony at the University Hospital of the West Indies on 26 October 2008, he was awarded the Order of Jamaica (OJ). Lee died from
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in 1982, upgraded to
Commander level on 15 October 2007, in recognition of his "contribution in the fields of Music and Entertainment both locally and internationally".
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tour, which involved several
Jamaican acts (including The Maytals) touring the Caribbean. He also became the head of distribution in Jamaica for
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genre that had previously only been enjoyed in Jamaica among the upper classes, with the island's working class.
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mother, Evelyn Chung, and a Chinese father, Oscar Lee, a language teacher originally from
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musician, record producer, and entrepreneur, best known for his work as leader of
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after fire had destroyed the pressing plant on the same site, and renamed it
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Lee missed the Jamaica Carnival in 2007 as he was receiving treatment for
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when Lee was around 8 or 9 years old. He learned to play piano at a
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He and his band, The Dragonaires, are featured in the first
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bands, continuing since and taking in other genres such as
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Dub: soundscapes and shattered songs in Jamaican reggae
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artists performing including fellow cancer survivors
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Lee also worked as a producer, producing many of the
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666:", Office of the Prime Minister, 4 November 2008.
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774:Members of the Order of Jamaica
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556:Edwards, Michael A. (2007) "
460:Reggae & Caribbean Music
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517:Ellington, Barbara (2007) "
187:Byron Aloysius St. Elmo Lee
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691:Byron Lee Biography
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739:2008 deaths
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348:Myrna Hague
279:The Maytals
277:singles by
159:Formerly of
154:Bass guitar
728:Categories
382:References
299:Paul Simon
262:James Bond
231:Mandeville
207:Christiana
151:Instrument
129:rocksteady
89:Manchester
85:Christiana
78:1935-06-27
67:The Dragon
53:Birth name
715:Byron Lee
701:Byron Lee
201:Biography
174:Byron Lee
116:, Jamaica
91:, Jamaica
37:Byron Lee
695:Allmusic
660:Archived
621:Archived
602:Archived
561:Archived
401:Archived
223:Kingston
191:Jamaican
114:Kingston
705:Discogs
264:movie,
243:calypso
219:Kowloon
185:, born
137:calypso
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325:, and
267:Dr. No
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133:reggae
121:Genres
96:Origin
365:Death
307:Angie
719:IMDb
500:ISBN
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350:and
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72:Born
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