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Jah Cure fights to clear his name
Written by Lasana Liburd Tuesday, 10 November 2009 02:20
Jamaican reggae star, Jah Cure. Photo: Alykhat PR
“I am an artist not a fraudist,” Jamaican reggae artiste Jah Cure told the TnT Times, in a telephone interview. “Which artist in the world can say he not going to pay back a promoter? You cannot do that because your name is gonna be smeared... We were good friends and I am very unhappy about the way things turned out.”
At 7.30 pm on Saturday, local lawmen took the 31-year-old Jah Cure, who was born Siccature Alcock, to the Central Police Station on St Vincent Street, Port of Spain after an arrest warrant was issued over the non-payment of $126,000 to promoter Handel Anthony. Cure spent nearly three hours in custody before his manager paid the debt and he was allowed to leave the station.
He performed the same night to roughly 5,000 patrons at Guaracara Park, Pointe-a-Pierre before returning to Jamaica. But it was not quite a case of all’s well that ends well. Cure spent the past 48 hours trying to exonerate himself from even a hint of wrongdoing with the help of his publicist, Alykhat PR.
“I never tried to hurt or rip off anyone,” said Cure. “I am a loving youth. I am a humble youth. Everyone in Trini knows me cool like that…”
A short slender man, Jah does not look built for war. Yet he seems to have been fighting for as long as we have known him.
His father, Robert Alcock, was a farmer in the small north western parish of Hanover with an appreciation for African freedom fighters. And so, Jah Cure, who has eight brothers and four sisters, was called “Siccature”, which is pronounced like the name of late Guinea president, Sékou Touré, who helped liberate his nation from France.
The talented singer chose “Little Melody” as his first stage title when he was discovered and trained by another famous Jamaican bard and his first manager, Beres Hammond. He was later dubbed “Old Cure” by dancehall singer and friend, Capleton, before he assumed the title “Jah Cure”.
“Me get the name ‘Cure’ from my military friend, Capleton,” he told the TnT Times. “It come from dealing with the things Rasta deal with… I am a lover of the healing and my friends realise I love the healing so they named me ‘Old Cure’. But me fight against the name because me a youth. I find ‘Jah’ fit in with the ‘Cure’ because Jah Rastafari is the cure for all things…
“So me just make that name come to reality and tried to heal people through the music.”
Jah Cure. Photo: Alykhat PR
Cure’s big break came in March 1997 when his single “King in this jungle”, a duet with Sizzla and produced by Hammond, earned him instant fame. But, in November 1998, he was arrested and subsequently convicted of raping a young woman at gunpoint.
Jah Cure served eight years of a 15-year sentence at the Tower Street Adult Correctional, also known as the General Penitentiary. But he still denies the rape and gun possession charge and insists he was set up.
“I never owned a gun in my life,” said Cure, “and nobody ever catch me with nothing. But God helped me to overcome the hurdle and me more than blessed.
“My mother and father grow me up in love. I never see them quarrel and I never see my father fight with nobody. My grandmother used to cook and everybody on the street would come and eat. That is where I learn love from.”
Cure’s fame transcended the prison walls as he released three albums during his incarceration.
“I tell myself if Jah is standing by my side, why should I be afraid of the pestilence that crawleth by night,” said Cure, as he discussed his life as an inmate. “You have to stand firm or give up and I never give up. I am a survivor.”
Although Cure swore he never owned a gun, he has kept company with those who arguably lived and died by the weapon.
The young singer counted Merlin “Cudjoe” Allamby as “a close friend”. Cudjoe, a former Laventille don, died in a hail of bullets on July 21, 2008. The Trinidad and Tobago Police insisted Cudjoe was a drug dealer, a claim denied by relatives.
“Me and Cudjoe were so close,” said Cure. “I feel a way when he died because when I came down here I was always rolling with Cudjoe. I was so stressed when I got the news. I couldn’t get over it. I told myself (then) that I would cool off Trini for a while.”
Cure is aware of the allegations about Cudjoe’s lifestyle and violent background. How does that mesh with his self-professed higher calling as a conscious artiste?
The Jamaican pleads ignorance. Cure’s close friend, he claimed, was a business partner and he never involved himself with other aspects of his life. Hammond advised the young artiste to stick to one straight promoter in every region and he said that Cudjoe never let him down.
Jah Cure in action at Saint Martin last year. Photo: Alykhat PR
“As long as they do business with you good, I don’t want to know what a man do,” said Cure. “I do legal business and I don’t know any other business with Cudjoe. As an artiste, you go all over the world and people who do all kind of business pay you to do a show. And you do your show and then leave the country.
“Once him do business good, there is no conflict for me… Beres is the one who used to be my manager, my mentor, my daddy. He showed me how to sing and how to handle my business and, anywhere we go, we keep one steady thing with one person and I still remember that lesson.”
Cure performed for Cudjoe in Grenada and Trinidad and had agreed to a third show in Tobago before the murder. At this point, according the Jamaican, Anthony stepped in.
“Handel called for weeks and months to get me,” said Cure, “but I wasn’t taking any calls from any promoters in Trini. He offered to bring my friend from Jamaica on the show too and my friend begged me to listen to what he had to say.
“He said he would come to Jamaica and I said ‘come to my house’. And we talked and agreed.”
Their agreement led to two shows by Cure in Trinidad and Tobago, earlier this year, on April 11 and 12. There was some “spillover money”, according to Cure, from those appearances. He claimed the promoter let him keep the money as part of a downpayment towards his next show.
In Anthony’s affidavit, he said the outstanding money was paid to Cure after his April shows but did not reveal what it was for.
In August, Anthony requested that Cure perform at the Sting Nightclub, San Fernando in October. Cure refused.
“He wanted me to perform at a club on track and I don’t do track,” said Cure. “I don’t perform nowhere without my band. I set a standard in Trinidad as a good singer so why I would want it to spoil? I won’t drop my standard for nobody because music lives forever and I won’t embarrass myself…
“I don’t like to do club either. I want a big crowd and fresh air to breathe and sing. I will only do club in Europe where there are not many open air venues… I didn’t want to do Trini twice in one year either but I was willing to do it for him as a friend.”
Cure and Anthony supposedly discussed other possible venues for that date but failed to agree and the proposed Sting concert was shelved. However, Cure was approached by Men in Black Promotions and decided to break his own rules about using one promoter per region and not appearing at the same place twice in a calendar year.
The new promoter promised Cure a nice, open air venue at Pointe-a-Pierre and convinced him that south Trinidad has a different clientele to Port of Spain and he would not risk over-exposing himself as a performer.
“We were good friends up to the time when I decide to work in the south,” said Cure. “But sometimes you give people a lot of privilege and they try to rule you. (Anthony) said I couldn’t do that. He wanted to control everything I do in Trini.
“If he fails to come up with a show within a certain time, I have to take up another booking because I have my band to pay and bills to pay… I told him ‘let us overlook this and work (in the future)’ but he said the reason why he didn’t want me to perform (at Guaracara) is because the other promoter is his enemy.
“He told me if I do the show he will want the money back and I said ‘no problem I will give you the money back’. I said ‘give me your account number and where I can send it’ and he didn’t reply. All he said is that he will do everything in his power to stop the show.”
Written by Lasana Liburd Tuesday, 10 November 2009 02:20
Jamaican reggae star, Jah Cure. Photo: Alykhat PR“I am an artist not a fraudist,” Jamaican reggae artiste Jah Cure told the TnT Times, in a telephone interview. “Which artist in the world can say he not going to pay back a promoter? You cannot do that because your name is gonna be smeared... We were good friends and I am very unhappy about the way things turned out.”
At 7.30 pm on Saturday, local lawmen took the 31-year-old Jah Cure, who was born Siccature Alcock, to the Central Police Station on St Vincent Street, Port of Spain after an arrest warrant was issued over the non-payment of $126,000 to promoter Handel Anthony. Cure spent nearly three hours in custody before his manager paid the debt and he was allowed to leave the station.
He performed the same night to roughly 5,000 patrons at Guaracara Park, Pointe-a-Pierre before returning to Jamaica. But it was not quite a case of all’s well that ends well. Cure spent the past 48 hours trying to exonerate himself from even a hint of wrongdoing with the help of his publicist, Alykhat PR.
“I never tried to hurt or rip off anyone,” said Cure. “I am a loving youth. I am a humble youth. Everyone in Trini knows me cool like that…”
A short slender man, Jah does not look built for war. Yet he seems to have been fighting for as long as we have known him.
His father, Robert Alcock, was a farmer in the small north western parish of Hanover with an appreciation for African freedom fighters. And so, Jah Cure, who has eight brothers and four sisters, was called “Siccature”, which is pronounced like the name of late Guinea president, Sékou Touré, who helped liberate his nation from France.
The talented singer chose “Little Melody” as his first stage title when he was discovered and trained by another famous Jamaican bard and his first manager, Beres Hammond. He was later dubbed “Old Cure” by dancehall singer and friend, Capleton, before he assumed the title “Jah Cure”.
“Me get the name ‘Cure’ from my military friend, Capleton,” he told the TnT Times. “It come from dealing with the things Rasta deal with… I am a lover of the healing and my friends realise I love the healing so they named me ‘Old Cure’. But me fight against the name because me a youth. I find ‘Jah’ fit in with the ‘Cure’ because Jah Rastafari is the cure for all things…
“So me just make that name come to reality and tried to heal people through the music.”
Jah Cure. Photo: Alykhat PRCure’s big break came in March 1997 when his single “King in this jungle”, a duet with Sizzla and produced by Hammond, earned him instant fame. But, in November 1998, he was arrested and subsequently convicted of raping a young woman at gunpoint.
Jah Cure served eight years of a 15-year sentence at the Tower Street Adult Correctional, also known as the General Penitentiary. But he still denies the rape and gun possession charge and insists he was set up.
“I never owned a gun in my life,” said Cure, “and nobody ever catch me with nothing. But God helped me to overcome the hurdle and me more than blessed.
“My mother and father grow me up in love. I never see them quarrel and I never see my father fight with nobody. My grandmother used to cook and everybody on the street would come and eat. That is where I learn love from.”
Cure’s fame transcended the prison walls as he released three albums during his incarceration.
“I tell myself if Jah is standing by my side, why should I be afraid of the pestilence that crawleth by night,” said Cure, as he discussed his life as an inmate. “You have to stand firm or give up and I never give up. I am a survivor.”
Although Cure swore he never owned a gun, he has kept company with those who arguably lived and died by the weapon.
The young singer counted Merlin “Cudjoe” Allamby as “a close friend”. Cudjoe, a former Laventille don, died in a hail of bullets on July 21, 2008. The Trinidad and Tobago Police insisted Cudjoe was a drug dealer, a claim denied by relatives.
“Me and Cudjoe were so close,” said Cure. “I feel a way when he died because when I came down here I was always rolling with Cudjoe. I was so stressed when I got the news. I couldn’t get over it. I told myself (then) that I would cool off Trini for a while.”
Cure is aware of the allegations about Cudjoe’s lifestyle and violent background. How does that mesh with his self-professed higher calling as a conscious artiste?
The Jamaican pleads ignorance. Cure’s close friend, he claimed, was a business partner and he never involved himself with other aspects of his life. Hammond advised the young artiste to stick to one straight promoter in every region and he said that Cudjoe never let him down.
Jah Cure in action at Saint Martin last year. Photo: Alykhat PR“As long as they do business with you good, I don’t want to know what a man do,” said Cure. “I do legal business and I don’t know any other business with Cudjoe. As an artiste, you go all over the world and people who do all kind of business pay you to do a show. And you do your show and then leave the country.
“Once him do business good, there is no conflict for me… Beres is the one who used to be my manager, my mentor, my daddy. He showed me how to sing and how to handle my business and, anywhere we go, we keep one steady thing with one person and I still remember that lesson.”
Cure performed for Cudjoe in Grenada and Trinidad and had agreed to a third show in Tobago before the murder. At this point, according the Jamaican, Anthony stepped in.
“Handel called for weeks and months to get me,” said Cure, “but I wasn’t taking any calls from any promoters in Trini. He offered to bring my friend from Jamaica on the show too and my friend begged me to listen to what he had to say.
“He said he would come to Jamaica and I said ‘come to my house’. And we talked and agreed.”
Their agreement led to two shows by Cure in Trinidad and Tobago, earlier this year, on April 11 and 12. There was some “spillover money”, according to Cure, from those appearances. He claimed the promoter let him keep the money as part of a downpayment towards his next show.
In Anthony’s affidavit, he said the outstanding money was paid to Cure after his April shows but did not reveal what it was for.
In August, Anthony requested that Cure perform at the Sting Nightclub, San Fernando in October. Cure refused.
“He wanted me to perform at a club on track and I don’t do track,” said Cure. “I don’t perform nowhere without my band. I set a standard in Trinidad as a good singer so why I would want it to spoil? I won’t drop my standard for nobody because music lives forever and I won’t embarrass myself…
“I don’t like to do club either. I want a big crowd and fresh air to breathe and sing. I will only do club in Europe where there are not many open air venues… I didn’t want to do Trini twice in one year either but I was willing to do it for him as a friend.”
Cure and Anthony supposedly discussed other possible venues for that date but failed to agree and the proposed Sting concert was shelved. However, Cure was approached by Men in Black Promotions and decided to break his own rules about using one promoter per region and not appearing at the same place twice in a calendar year.
The new promoter promised Cure a nice, open air venue at Pointe-a-Pierre and convinced him that south Trinidad has a different clientele to Port of Spain and he would not risk over-exposing himself as a performer.
“We were good friends up to the time when I decide to work in the south,” said Cure. “But sometimes you give people a lot of privilege and they try to rule you. (Anthony) said I couldn’t do that. He wanted to control everything I do in Trini.
“If he fails to come up with a show within a certain time, I have to take up another booking because I have my band to pay and bills to pay… I told him ‘let us overlook this and work (in the future)’ but he said the reason why he didn’t want me to perform (at Guaracara) is because the other promoter is his enemy.
“He told me if I do the show he will want the money back and I said ‘no problem I will give you the money back’. I said ‘give me your account number and where I can send it’ and he didn’t reply. All he said is that he will do everything in his power to stop the show.”
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