FITZROY FRANCIS’ MIGHTYFUL 13 RECORDS IS ON A MUSICAL MISSION!

Observer senior writer—

AS a youth in Waterhouse, Fitzroy Francis grew up with artistes who went on to become some of the biggest names in reggae and dancehall. In the last decade, he says he has noticed the drop in sales, and standard, of Jamaican music.

That prompted Francis to expand his Mightyful13 Records label to the more lucrative pop market. Since its launch in 2011, he has worked with roots-reggae acts like Jesse Jendah and Hugh English.

Recently, he began working with Filipino singers July Rain and Elaiza Light. He is banking on bigger things.

“As a record producer my aim and objective is to achieve a million-selling song or songs which I see reggae has fallen short of today,” said Francis.

Though several dancehall artistes like Popcaan and Sean Paul have had big hit songs in the last five years, those have been collaborations. Throughout the 1990s, a number of Jamaican acts made the Billboard pop charts, consistently selling gold (500,000 copies) and platinum (over one million copies).

Francis, who toured North America with Black Uhuru and Shabba Ranks during that period, said most artistes in Jamaica have lost focus of reggae’s message.

“The sales of reggae has plunged because most of the Jamaican artistes have lost their way from the One Love message which was the focus of our greats, to vulgarity, profanity, ‘badmanism’ an’ ‘gunism’,” Francis charged. “Another factor is the lack of education to embrace the technological changes to purchase music online and streaming.”

English’s cover of The Beatles’ Hey Jude and Queen of The Morning Star, have been the most successful Mightyful13 Records productions to date.

While digital returns among reggae fans are dismal, the Philippines has a vibrant market. German marketing company Statista projects US$14 million in digital music sales there this year, most of it from streaming.

July Rain’s acoustic take on Believe, Cher’s dance monster from 1998, marked Mightyful23’s pop debut in March.

You Alone, a ballad by Elaiza Light, is scheduled for release soon.