Sylford Walker ADD

Sylford Walker, one of Jamaica’s hidden treasures, was born in the parish of St. Thomas in a district called Pen Line Castle. He was the first of four siblings. He grew up in Wakes Field Trinity Vill, St. Thomas, where he attended the Trinity Vill Primary School. Growing up in the country was not by any means easy, Sylford faced rough times but he always found ways to get by. While attending school Sylford discovered his passion for music. He performed at concerts where crowds would go wild, and he was convinced that he was born to sing.

Wanting more out of life, at the age of 11 Sylford ran away from home and traveled to Kingston, where he thought that life would be better. That was not the case . He had no family to turn to, he ended up sleeping on card board boxes in coronation market with rats and roaches running all over him. He could hardly find food at times. After growing up and learning the ways of the streets, Sylford got his first job working as an assistant plumber fixing sewage pipes without receiving any pay for his labor. Sylford could not take the pressure of working without getting any pay, so he started working as a vendor, pushing hand carts in order to survive. That did not help much so he went on to selling newspapers, which still didn’t keep much food in his stomach or a roof over his head.

Never giving up, he began selling ganja on Law Street and Ioban Street. He eventually started smoking herb and indulging in the street life. One night while hanging out on the unforgiving streets of Kingston, Jamaica smoking his herb, life in general and the police caught up with Sylford and he was incarcerated. This experience inspired him to write his first song (Burn Babylon) and at this time he also came to accept Rastafarian teachings. Before Sylford was released the police punished him by cutting one side of his dreadlocks, for years after this incident Sylford felt like a baldhead, until Jah showed him the light again.

Through all of his life ‘s struggles, Sylford didn’t wait around for things to happen for him. He walked the street endlessly, trying to get a producer to produce his song “Burn Babylon”. Everywhere he went they would turn him down. Still, he never gave up, partly because of his greatest musical inspiration – Burning Spear. Finally all of his hard work blessed him, as Sylford met Joe Gibbs who was one of Jamaica’s biggest producers. Joe Gibbs saw something in Sylford Walker and decided to give him a chance to record his song, which is to date one of the greatest songs to ever come out of Gibbs’ studio.

Sylford did not stop there, as he wanted to reach the world with his music. A year later he was inspired to write his second single “Jah Golden Pen,” also produced by Joe Gibbs, which became the world wide hit he had wanted. Sylford was then approached by another producer, Paul Cluff, to produce “Book of The Old Testament” and “I Just Can’t Understand”. A few years later his long time friend Glen Brown produced his first album “Lambs Bread” in 1977 for Greensleeves Records, which produced many hits. In 2000 the album was reissued as a compilation with Welton Irie, titled “Lambs bread International” by Blood and Fire in England.

Many years later Sylford was once again approached by Joe Gibbs to produce and record a second album he would name “Nutin Nah Gwan”, released in 2006. This album saw Sylford Walker becoming prominent on the international stage. After the hype of his second album died down Sylford decided to give up on music and almost on life itself. He felt he wasn’t getting the monetary reward that he deserved. After nearly loosing his life in a terrible accident, Sylford felt he was spared by the mercy of Jah. As he recovered he went back into the studio where he recorded several songs which have yet to be released. Sylford was then given a chance by Asher Selector from Switzerland to tour in Europe and perform for his fans. Since then Sylford has been touring internationally in places such as Jerusalem, France, Serbia, Switzerland and Italy, where he has performed at some of the world’s largest Reggae Festivals (Rototom Splash, Paleo Festival, Serbia Festival and Montreux Festival). Sylford has come to recognize the positive impact his music has on people all over the globe .