I WOULD LOVE TO SEE GREATER PARITY BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN IN REGGAE/LOVER'S ROCK - JC LODGE

JC Lodge, Reggae/ Lover's Rock Musician

June Carol Lodge, better known by her stage name JC Lodge, joined King Lagazee, host of Yaad Settingz on Asaase Radio 99.5 via zoom to discuss her life as a mixed-race child, her music, the difficulties she faces as a woman who performs reggae and lovers rock, as well as some advice for other women who want to pursue careers in these genres.

The stunning 63-year-old has 14 albums to her name and 42 years of experience in the music business.

Her 1980 recording of the song Someone Loves You Honey, which was later certified gold and platinum in the Netherlands and became the best-selling hit of 1982, catapulted her into the spotlight. "Someone Loves You Honey" is a song written by Don Devaney that was first released by Johnny Rodriguez, an American country music artist, on his fourth album, Songs About Ladies and Love, in 1974. Charley Pride recorded it and released it in January 1978 as the second single and title track from his album Someone Loves You Honey.

She was questioned by King Lagazee on why music producers in the past preferred to encourage performers to perform cover songs rather than original songs.

"In general, producers are taking investments risks like any businessman, and many of them are businessmen, they want to make their money back and make lots on top of it, so instead of going with an unknown entity they will go for a song that is already on the market and they have seen that people love it because it's less of a risk." she said 

When asked what she would do if she had the power to change things in the industry to benefit females in terms of lovers and reggae given her experience as one of the pioneers who first pushed this vibe, she added that

I would like to see greater parity in the music industry; when you look at the artists in R&B, you don't have to look for the females, and if a radio DJ is playing R&B, they play, roughly speaking, an equal number of male and female tunes. There are plenty of women in the profession, and if we felt like we had a good deal, I think there would be a lot more of us. I believe that everything is out of balance.
Jamaicans are a male-chauvinistic society in general, and the music scene has been treated similarly, hence there have never been as many women in the music scene as men. When there are shows, the music from women are not as frequently played as the men, and there aren't as many females on as there are males. And you can see for yourself, because this is a society that is always talking about how much we combat homosexuality, yet when we put on a show, it is male dominated. So explain to me, if you are a man who loves women, why are most of the shows dominated by males, and why is radio in general male artists dominated? Someone should call and explain that to me since I don't understand where your alleged love of women is.

Finally, she was asked what advice she has for females who want to work in the music industry.

Well, I get asked that question a lot, and my answer may not be what you want to hear. I will not encourage a young woman who is interested in music, and I will not say, yeah man, come into the reggae business because you know you can really make yourself a success if you just work hard and you get there. How can I explain that, you know, it's such a struggle, and we're still struggling to be heard to this day. I can only say to them that if you have that passion and want to pursue it, be ready and prepared because it's a long and difficult road, you'll make ten great songs and maybe one of them will get some exposure, that's the reality, and it's best if you can hook yourself up with some people who have enough money to spend on you to promote otherwise you'll just be making music and it won't get the exposure that you require. That's all I have to say about it.

 I've said in recent interviews that there are a lot of really good young females coming up in Jamaica now doing reggae and I'm happy to say that they're doing original material, their productions are high quality, they're doing good videos, high quality as well that can stand up to first world videos and I'm just watching them and wondering what's going to happen to the young females coming up, they've got great looks, you know it's a full package, what's happening with them because they're going to show the world the result of their hard work and good standards in reggae. As a female this is what will happen for you, what’s gonna happen next?

Check out her latest tune, Love Uprising, on Tranfusion Rhythm. It's an EP with Luciano, Pinchers, and Wayne Armond.

You can find her music on Spotify and iTunes.

You can watch the full interview here KING LAGAZEE INTERVIEWS JC LODGE