Junior Reid still hot at 60 - Hosting concert to mark milestone

Reggae artiste Junior Reid is looking forward to celebrating 60 years of life and several decades of music come this June, and, to mark the milestone, the deejay is hosting the One Blood Family Concert at the Plantation Cove in St Ann.

Speaking with THE STAR, the This Is Why I'm Hot artiste shared the reason he has remained scorching over the years.

"You have to just give thanks for life," he joyfully shared.

"It is just the way I live and the love I get from the people. I get love from the majority not the minority. Sometimes you not go looking for love from the minority because sometimes the minority is the force that form against the people. If you watch them, they will make you have a down feeling. Whenever I have a bad time, I look at other people in a worse position than me and still have something to give thanks for which is life," he said. Reid noted that everyone has problems and good times.

"But when you get up in your bad times, don't make it look like your burden is the heaviest. You have to look at other people out there who are going through worse than you, then you will have something to say you are not the worst," he reasoned.

Reid has been in the music game since the 1970s and has created hits such as One Blood and I'm Free. Looking back at the decades of work he has put into his artistry and his life, he is proud of the legacy he has carved out.

"I am feeling great to know that I reached a milestone in this life which is not easy to really go through and survive with all that is going on on Earth and even in this music thing. So, to go through all of trials and tribulations and the good and the bad, I just feel great to know that I am a survivor, and I am surviving and setting an example for the youth them to follow," he shared.

As he prepares to light up Plantation Cove, he said the support for the One Blood Family Concert has been immense so far.

"Right now you have people already flying in for the show. All the artistes are looking forward to the show and the love that we have been getting from them and even just the fans and the One Blood Team is just overwhelming," Reid said.

Artistes such as Jahmiel, I-Wayne, Warrior King, Kiddus-I, Big Youth, Chezidek, Fred Locks, Cedric Myton (of The Congos) and Winston McAnuff are set to perform.

Reid, who is a former member of reggae band Black Uhuru believes that this kind of live music show is exactly what the industry needs.

"We want it to be an annual show because the rate that the show is going, and the amount of artistes showing interest in local and international shows, we really should be having a two-night show. We don't want to miss out 'cause the people need something like this," he said.