When Keith Morgan was only 13 years old he lost his older brother, rising DJ Jim Kelly, to Jamaica’s crippling urban violence. Young Keith adopted his brother’s moniker – christening himself Junior Kelly – and began to trod the musical path blazed by his older sibling. In 1985, at 16 years old, Junior Kelly overcame his parents’ strong religious objections to secular music and recorded his first single, “Over Her Body.” It promptly flopped. Kelly toiled in obscurity for another 15 years as a struggling artist – making ends meet with odd jobs as a roofer and construction worker – before the international smash “Love So Nice” made him the hottest “new” voice in Jamaican music.

Even then, however, Junior Kelly’s struggles were not over. In the immediate aftermath of his “Love So Nice” success, Kelly was pried from the wreckage of a near-fatal car accident with six broken ribs, a punctured lung and multiple pelvic fractures. While he recuperated, his hard-earned and newfound fame slowly ebbed away. The fickle Dancehall audience began to think of Junior Kelly as just another one-hit wonder.

As usual, Kelly was undaunted by his struggles. He emerged in 2003 to release his latest album, Smile – arguably his strongest to date. With a title track that typifies his chin-up resilience in the face of adversity, Junior Kelly has once again proved that he “nah go accept defeat.” Reggaematic caught up with the indomitable artist as he was preparing to take the world by storm all over again. [Continue]