ULCHA Knox is both motherless and fatherless, but the memory of his famousather still seems to be the guiding light of his blossoming career, nine years after his murder.P>Knox's father, Free-l, originally earned fame in Jamaica as the hot afternoon disc jockey, Jeff Dixon on JBC radio. After he left that job he moved to the United States where he became involved in serious music production and helped to launch the career of the R&B group,lave.P>When Dixon returned to Jamaica in the 1980s, it was with a new name, Free-l, and a new philosophy: One rooted in his Africanness and strong Rastafarian religious beliefs.When interviewed back in the mid-80s and referring to his Jeff Dixon days. He refusedto backtrack, as he had completely wiped that phase out of his mindand had become a completely new being.P>
Free-I lost his life that fateful night when gunmen entered the home of reggae superstar Peter Tosh in Barbican in September, 1987, killing him, Tosh and drummer Santa Davis.Knox remembered that the day his father was killed he was working on the conveyor belt at Alcan in Manchester.P>"They had a gun to shoot the iron and I was looking at it and thinking how easily it could takeomeone's life." He didn't hear about the incident, however, until later that night when he turned up at his uncle's shop to work with his small sound system.P>nox's mother died in 1993. She had worked with the government service for years. But, even before his father died, he had already started to nurture a musical career which noweems on the verge of breaking out big with the releose of his debut album, "Praise Jah, Again" for Ocho Rios-based Kariang Records.P>orn in Daveyton, the home town of popular singer Luciano, his cousins as well as the hometown of Free-l, Knox entered the music business deejaying on sound systems inhe area. "I remember that from I was wearing nappy, I was interferingith record changers."P>He won a number of amateur contests in the parish: "I remember winning a contest for a motorbike and US$1,000. I got the money, but I never got the bike."At one stage, his father suggested that he record a song named "Vagabond," which he had envlsioned. He promised to take him to Jack Scorpio's studios to have it recorded, but Knox was unable to follow up on the offer, as it would have meant leaving the security of his job in Manchester to move to Kingston.P>Eventually, however, his stepmother, Joy, invited him to the city to live and he took up that offer. In Kingston, he first worked at Penthouse Studio, where Tony Rebelad invited him. There he recorded a song titled, "Tribute tohabba," which he still thinks is the song he is best remembered for.rom there, he roamed all the major studios in the city seeking that elusive break:The fact thot Free-l was my father really helped me at that time, because peopleould recognise me because of him. " Knox says that this relationship had also proveneneficial to him abroad. Although he has not recorded heavily or has never had a major hit record, Knox continues to tour regularly and also appears on most showsith a cultural bose.P>He performed in Rwanda, prior to the current outbreak of war with Zaire, and even more recently he did a number of shows in Germany. When asked how he came by the name Knox , it is really his first name. He was named Knox by an aunt, but he never understood why she gave him the name: "Probably it has to do with Fort Knox, or even Knoxollege. I don't really know."P>Knox says he sees himself as a choracter and not really a deejay, something which has to do with his dreadlocks, Rastafarian image and character. Kariang plans to unleashis Debut album at next January's Midem festival in Cannes, France confirmed label head, Jah Mike. Knox says that the soon to be released album will be full of originals, but will betilising a number of well known dance rhythms.
robably, his most visible perforance so far is on Snow's "Anything For You," onhich he appears with a number of much more visible reggae acts, including Beeniean and Buju Banton. But he thinks that will be corrected as soon as "Praise Jah Again"its the road and people realise that there is an only son left behind by the indomitable Free-lo carry on the message.P>a href = "feat.html">
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