Junior Byles dead: Jamaican reggae legend Curly Locks dies aged 76 as tributes pour in

Reggae icon Junior Byles - whose rean name was Kenneth Byles Jr - has died at the age of 76 at the Kingston Public Hospital on Thursday (May 15). His passing was confirmed by his sister Janet Byles, but the cause of his death has not yet been announced.

Since the news of his death hit the headlines, a host of famous friends have flocked to social media to pay tribute to him online. The minister of culture, gender, entertainment and sport, Olivia Grange has shared a touching tribute to the star online. She wrote: "Junior's contribution helped to create the potent force that Reggae music has become in the world.

"In recording some of Roots-Reggae's greatest songs, he rubbed shoulders with some of music's brightest and best throughout the years from the 1960s when he entered the business.

"Despite his immense talent, Junior Byles remained a very humble, kind, loving, peaceful person; a gentle soul until death and it seems so sad that in his later years he developed mental health challenges.

"Junior's songs such as Beat Down Babylon, Fade Away, Curly Locks and A Place Called Africa are classics so much so that there has been a renewed interest in his music during the past 25 years due to regular playing of Beat Down Babylon and Fade Away at dances and on radio in Jamaica and around the world.

"It was such a wonderful thing that a number of his artiste colleagues honoured him by performing on a tribute album, Still Beating Down Babylon, that was produced by Earl 'Chinna' Smith taking its title from Junior's hit song, Beat Down Babylon."

She went on: "And I must again emphasise how important it to honour our stalwarts while they are alive and able to enjoy the honoyr and so I am happy that Junior Byles was among those given the Reggae Gold Award at the Reggae Gold Awards Ceremony held during Reggae Month 2025.

"I will also be assisting with the arrangements for his Service of Thanksgiving. I extend my deepest sympathy to the family, relatives, friends, and colleagues and to the music fraternity."

Taking to X, fans shared their tributes to the musician online. One user penned:"It's not the image of the man we knew as Junior Byles that captivated us, it's the words he performed; the message in his music, the lyrics that connected us. Your sonic resonance will always be with us though your flesh is gone [prayer emoji, heart emoji]."

Born Kenneth Byles Jr, in Kingston, Jamaica, Byles was a firefighter before he found his calling as a musician later in life. In the late 60s, the singer stepped into stardom when he joined the band The Versatile. He came in to prominence during the Rasta-inspired roots revolution of the early 1970s, with chart-topping hits such as Curly Locks, Bear Down Babylon and A Place Called Africa.

In the early 70s he recorded his own material alongside legendary producer Lee 'Scratch' Perry, including Beat Down Babylon and Curly Locks.

Fade Away, released in 1974, was produced by Smith, a session musician whose credits also include songs by Bob Marley, Dennis Brown, Gregory Isaacs, Ziggy Marley, The Melody Makers, and Lauryn Hill.

However, his promising career was affected by mental illness, with reports he was often found roaming in the streets and had benefited from financial assistance from fellow artists, including Bounty Killer.

He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in the late 2010s, and in early 2019 a benefit concert celebrating his music was held to help, as well as a large cash donation to Byles from the charity foundation of dancehall artist Bounty Killer in 2020.

Two years ago, acclaimed guitarst Early 'Chinna' Smith and his Binghistra Movements revisited some of the singer's finest moments on Still Beating Down Babylon, an album that was released by DubShot Records, an American independent comedy.