The West Indian community in Canada has lost a stalwart with the death of Claudia “Denise” Jones. Co-founder of the JAMBANA One World Festival, she died December 3 in Toronto at age 64.
Her brother, Gary Oates, confirmed her death which was due to cancer.
“Denise worked very hard…she ate what she killed. She made her own company and it became a pillar of the Caribbean community in Canada,” Oates said.
Since 1987 when they formed Jones & Jones Productions, Jones and her husband Allan worked on major music events in the Greater Toronto Area, including Reggae On Yah and Reggaebana. In 2009, in association with Air Jamaica, they launched JAMBANA One World Festival at Downsview Park. Held on August 3, Jamaica’s Independence Day, it drew over 45,000 patrons.
Jones was born in Portland, a rural parish in eastern Jamaica, to parents who were educators.
In the late 1970’s, she tried her hand at acting and creative dancing. Jones appeared in plays such as A Pack of Jokers and the pantomime, Johnny Reggae.
She migrated to Canada in 1980 and attended the University of Windsor where she earned a degree in communications. After a three-year stint with the Festival Commission in Jamaica, she returned to Canada for good, raising two sons with her husband.
Joseph Hill of Culture, Chelsea Stewart and multiple Juno winner Exco Levi were some of the artists she worked with as a booking agent and manager.
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