THE seemingly unshakable bond between deejay Busy Signal and his longtime manager/producer Shane Brown, was shattered recently with news of their split.

There have been no details about what caused the parting of ways which comes five months after the entertainer was released from prison in the United States.

Deejay Busy Signal (left) and his former manager Shane Brown in better times.

Following his release after three months in a Minnesota penitentiary, Busy Signal had strong praise for Brown, the man behind some of his biggest hit songs.

Brown was just as complimentary, saying he was committed to reviving the deejay’s career.

Being a manager of Jamaican artists is tough work. Entertainers are known to change managers or publicists regularly.

Splash spoke with Tommy Cowan, former manager for acts such as Dennis Brown, Israel Vibration, Junior Tucker and Inner Circle regarding the challenges of managing a reggae artist.

“Here in Jamaica artists seem to want a manager to get them work and spend on them. What they need is an agent to get them work,” Cowan said.

He says artists splitting with managers when they hit the big time is global with the latter most times coming away bitter.

“Sometimes an artist gets to a position where they think they are powerful after you have spent a lot of time, they want to walk…you think they are ungrateful,” he reasoned. “You need to keep all that disgust out of your system, it’s not even worth it going to court ’cause sometimes they don’t even have it (cash) to refund you.”

Singer George Nooks has enjoyed many hits songs over the years such as God Is Standing By, Forty Legs and Tribal War. Although he has several persons handling his business affairs he is yet to find a suitable full-time manager.

“It is difficult finding someone compatible with what you are doing and what you want. Finding a good one (manager) is hard,” he says. Nooks handles most of his managerial duties, but notes this extra work cuts into time where he should be doing other things.

“I’m still looking as I can’t do everything,” he said.