Owen knibbs

About Owen knibbs

owen knibbs was born november 10th 1966 in mt salem montego . he grew up with his mother (mama granty) three sisters and nine brothers owen was the youngest ,,he was introduce to music at a tender age by his mother, she would host parties in the back yard every other weekend ,,she own a stereo (vinyl player) and owen would play the records for her ..owen study the lyrics of tinga stewart -play the music a festival song in 1974 ,which became the first song he perform at a talent show and receive one dollar ,he started to perform in church and at school and was very popular in the community ..while attending st james high school he met a friend name martin reid in nine grade and they became a duo .they call themself (little ista and billy dread ) he would sneak out the house whlie his mother was asleep to go dance to perform .he wrote his first song about a young tenth grade female teacher ..his friends encourage him to sing it for the teacher ..he was suspended for a week because the song was kinda sexual ,,,while still in school one of his classmate elder brother promote a dance with owen knibbs ..early b ,,bruck back and moma nancy on one of monteo bay top sound ,ghetto intl , early b like his performance so he invite him to go to kingston with him ..with the respect he has for his mother he told early b to ask his mother which early b did but mama granty say no ,,she say him not behaving himself ,he and early b kept a close link after that ,owen became a regular on the montego bay dancehall seen sparing with a dj name jah brown who would take him to a lot of dance where he master the art of making up a song on the spot as the selector would play the version and he would chant on the riddim ..around 1982 one of his childhood breathren leon virgo who graduate two years before him and went to kingston was on a visit and heard the cassette playing with him and early b and bruck back and though it sound good so he make a copy and took it back to kingston with a promise to send back for him,,,a few months after leon wrote him a letter to come to kingston ,this would be his first time going to kingston but as he quote ,mama granty not gonna stop me this time ,so he went ,,still very young around 17 yrs old he found himself in arnette garden a section call havana where leon introduce him to joe dog a breathen who know alot of producer at the time and probadly wonna get in the busines,,while in arnette garden he met eek- a- mouse ..squidly ranks and thriller so he know he was in the right place ..joe dog promote a dance with a sound call hot sizzler ft barrington levy and squidly and many more dj from jungle ,,he felt good because he get to sing with barrington levy who after the dance told him to keep going ..things were looking promising for him but he ran into problem because he never have any where to stay so one of his friend (danavan) took him to stay in havendale where his grand mother live ..he was not welcome in the community as people thought he was a rude boy from jungle and believe he came there to hide out ..he was heart broken because he knew he would have to return to montego bay and go back to school which he did not plan on doing but not having anywhere to stay he return home very depress and disappointed,,he still continue to sing and was now listening to singers like sugar minott -little john -triston palmer -michael palmer -junior delgado -hugh mundell - linvol thompson and his favourite djs super cat and early b .... after owen graduate high school and leon got himself better situated owen return back to kingston around 1985 to continue his journey ,two years after leon decided to go in producing so in 1987 he produce owen first recording on his label virgo production ,,a song title JUGGLER a song owen wrote while in school about poor people hussling and working hard to survive .the track was play and arrange by jimbo and was recorded at aquarius studio at half way tree ,,with not much experience leon gave a respectable distributer to distribute the song ,which turn out to be a mistake because he only distribute a few hundred copies in jamaica and would told leon the song not selling ..more disappointment for owen as popular jbc radio dj free i who play the song tuesday and thursday a week after the song was recorded was murder along with peter tosh and doc the following friday to make matter worst leon decided not to continue producing music ..frustrated and disappointed owen went back to montego bay ..at the age of around 21 yrs old living in the salt spring area of montego bay a place with a bad reputation ,owen got caught up and for a few yrs and was in a dark place ..a little good news came as a breathren from england was playing some cassettes he recorded off the radio stations in london on one of these cassette owen heard the JUGGLER when he told his breathren that was him ..he did not believe as everyone knew owen as ista ,,on the record leon made a mistake and put owen real name ,,so to convince him he show him his passport and sang it for him ,,he told owen the song is big in europe and if he went over there he would make lot of money ..he promise when he went back he would send for him ,,the breathren kept his promise and send owen a invitation letter .but there was a catch .owen would have to carry a pound of weed which he turn down..still writing and promoting dance but was not performing that much but the love for the music never go away ,,around 1993 he went back to live in kingston and was sparing with up coming dj chuckle berry hanging around music factory studio on hagley park road ready to go again but soon after he migrate to the usa and came to the bronx in 1994,,a few months after he won a dj contest at the popular night club call ACT 3 beating nineteen other contestant and receive five hundred dollars and then open a show for top dj a the time MERCELLES ..after that he wasnt really inspire to continue performing so he and a breathen started a sound call simple one intl which they play around the bronx locally for quite a few years ..after living in the bronx for 10 yrs his journey took him to connecticut where he met jah mikey who own a restaurant and a lounge ..owen would play there every friday night ,,one night he play the JUGGLER by mistake and jah mikey ask him who sing that song owen look at him and smile ,when jah mikey realise he sang the tune ,jah mikey told him he should continue recording ,,with no interest in singing again owen still continue to select his music but jah mikey would not stop pressuring him ,,,so one night he was in dygon production studio chilling ,he decided to record his voice so jah mikey would hear that he dont have them vibes deh again and leave him alone but something strange happen it was the first time since 1987 owen heard his voice on a track and to his surprise it sound good..at that time he and jah mikey has just started a program on ONE LOVE RADIO a locall radio station in the area and he play the song and the listeners love it ..with encouragement and and financial support from jah mikey he went back into recording and now working with dygon production ,,hi dawg production ..hazematic production ,,interrupt production and lambsbread who he rerecord the juggler for,,since recording and putting out songs and videos on youtube and soundcloud and is on social media he was spotted by jamwax records out a france a vinyl distributer that specialize in rare and hard to find music ..owen could not believe that after 29 yrs they wanted to repress the JUGGLER and make it available to buyers because people were selling it online for as much as 200 pound and all across europe ,,japan ..south america he was shock,,since its release of late 2014 finally after three decades he starded to see his journey on the move again he get to record the juggler in dup-plate style for sounds in japan and europe he just release his ep title LAST CALL with seven tracks available on itune and all digital outlet and a 18 track album coming in 2016 ..a very humble person in a real life and on a mission with his roots rock reggae ..when i ask him how would you like people to remember you ..his answer ....like how the they remember junior delgado and hugh mundell and the great sugar minott ...link owen knibbs on facebook as janamijuggler he is on twitter ..instagram..soundcloud,and youtube as his name ..stay tune there is more to come on this musically journey .....blessed