Luciano

IN OCTOBER 2007, reggae singer Luciano received the Order of Distinction during the National Honours and Awards ceremony. The Government recognised the Rastafarian vocalist's contribution to the development of reggae music with Jamaica's fifth-highest civic award.

Yesterday, Luciano's fortunes took a dramatic dip when he was charged by police with harbouring a fugitive at his Westminster Road, St Andrew, home.

Six days ago, Andrew Senior, a gunman known as 'Conqueror' was killed by police at the house. Senior shot and injured three policemen during the early-morning shoot-out which ended in his death.

Shows scheduled

Delano Franklyn, Luciano's lawyer, declined to comment on the singer's mood or say what effect yesterday's police action will have on his overseas dates. Luciano had been billed to perform in Miami last Friday and has a handful of shows scheduled for Germany in May.

The last 18 months have been taxing for Luciano, a Manchester-born performer whose real name is Jepther McClymont. He parted with his long-time band and manager/booking agent Copeland Forbes last year, and expressed disappointment with producer Dean Fraser for not allowing him more writing time on Jah Is My Navigator, his latest album.

In February, Luciano made the news again. This time, he was involved in a much-publicised physical altercation with a former member of his production team.

Deejay Tony Rebel has known Luciano for almost 20 years. They were pivotal figures in the cultural rebirth that took place in dancehall music during the early 1990s.

Hit song

He says Luciano should not be judged by the public.

"We as artistes can never tell who are some of the people around, we just don't have the time to check out everybody," Rebel told Tidbits Tuesday from Florida. "We're like safe haven for a lot of people."

Luciano started recording seriously in the early 1990s. In 1993, he had a minor hit song with Shake It Up Tonight for singer Freddie McGregor's Big Ship company; the following year, his second album One Way Ticket was distributed by VP Records and produced the hit song of the same name.

His career really got a bump in 1995 when impressario Chris Blackwell launched Island Jamaica Records. Luciano's Where There Is Life was one of the label's first batch of releases, along with Beenie Man's Blessed and Spanner Banner's Chill.

Featuring an all-star cast of musicians, including Sly and Robbie and Fraser on saxophone, Where There Is Life spawned several hit singles such as the anthems Lord Give Me Strength, It's Me Again Jah and Who Can It Be Now.

Although he never repeated the success of that album, Luciano continued to record hit songs and remained a solid touring act.