Strength, determination, resilience all these words would appropriately describes this woman who has over decades in the dancehall arena and she keeps getting better at her craft.
For Janice Fyffe a.k.a. Lady G, the road has not always been easy but she is one determined lady who has proven that hard work in the end will always pay off.
It all started in the late 80’s, armed with talent and a whole lot of dreams, Lady G decided she was going to make her mark in the music arena but “on her terms”.
She came on the scene when such artistes as Shelly Thunder, Sister Nancy
and Sister Charmaine were “tearing the dancehall apart”. Although she yearned to make her mark too, she decided that slackness would not be the vehicle that took her there.
Born in Spanish Town, St. Catherine, Lady G attended St. Joseph High and Dunoon technical Schools. Her love of music was so strong that she used to sneak out through back doors to travel around the country with the Black Scorpio Sound Systems!
According to Lady G her escapades weren’t wasted as they taught her valuable life’s lesson.
After leaving high school she soon met Denzil “Sassafras” Naar who noticed her talent and decided to take charge of her career. Things couldn’t have been better as he was working with top DJ Papa San. Before long Lady G was making a name for herself all over Jamaica.
LADY G
Although she recorded several singles it wasn’t until she voiced “Nuff Respect” that she set tongues wagging. For a while this was the anthem of every woman who demanded to be treated with respect.
She soon followed this up with other hits such as ‘Legal Rights” and “Round Table Talk” both in combination with Papa San. Apart from placing her with the rest of the top DJs these songs also earned her DJ of the Year both in the United States and Canada. After copping those awards Lady G seemed to be attracting more like a moth to a flame. She copped the DJ of the year award in 1988, 89, 90, 91, 94 and 98 from Award bodies such as Martins, Tamika, Rockers, Jamaica Federation of Musician (JFM), Binns and the Canadian Reggae Music Awards. She also received a ‘Best Video Award” for “Round Table Talk” done with Papa San.
Lady G had a lot of tongue wagging in 1987 when she showed just what she was made of as she went four-the-hard-way with Lady Junie, Sister Charmaine and Junie Ranks. It was performance to behold as Lady G stood her ground and showed that she was up to any challenge, with the support of her adoring fans.
Fame has its price and for Lady G it was too much time away from her young family. She took a break from the music scene to add to her family. During her absence off the scene the dancehall culture became even wider spread and with it came a burst of fresh female talents such as Angie Angel, Princess S, Lady Mackerel, Queen Paula and Lady Saw.
On her return to the entertainment scene she joined force with Dannie Brownie on Main Street Records and began recording on his label.
It was hard work and a lot of creative marketing from the Mainstreet camp.
Lady G flowed right back into the musical rhythm releasing such hits as ‘Rock Back”, “Me or the Gun”, “Good Man Short”, “One Man Alone”, “Perform” and “Thank You” done in tandem with Chevelle Franklyn. Incidentally “Thank You” a track from her album ‘God Daughter’ recorded on the Exterminator label was a big hit for Lady G as it sat at the top of several Caribbean charts.
1998 saw the release of another album for Lady G titled ‘Nuff Respect’. Unfortunately lack of proper promotion prevented it from impacting on the market the way it should. However, the remix of ‘Nuff Respect’ more than made up for it as the song enjoyed extensive airplay.
In 2000 Lady G did a combination with Crissy D titled “Girls Like Us” which entered the British Charts at #5. The busy DJ went on to do other successful singles such as “Man A Bad Man”, “Perform” and “Breeze Off”.
With her popularity came tours to Europe, United States, Japan, Switzerland, England, Germany and the Caribbean.
In 2003 Lady G took charge of her own career with the formation of her production company G-String Music. It started off with a bang as the first Greensleeves distributed riddim Belly Skin with top artistes such as Sizzla, Capleton, and Ce’Cile. She then followed that up with VP distributed riddim Flava which she produced which was a hit, attracting such artistes like Macka Diamond, Lady Saw and Sizzla.
Among her recent releases are “Girls Know What Guys Want”, “Enough”, “Talk To We” (With Macka Diamond) on the 2004 Degree riddim, “Hungry Child”, “Can’t Live Like We” on the Gold Mine riddim and “Hard Ears” produced by Steelie and Cleevey.
Lady G may not have walked away with the top spot in the category of Female DJ of the Year and Best Comeback Female Artiste Irie FM Awards, but she has proved that she still has a dominant presence in the dancehall and it’s not accidental. Maintaining a strong presence after so many years in the business comes through strength, determination and resilience.
Ever since she made her presence felt on the scene Lady G has maintained a steady presence. In 2005 she did it with Women’s Intuition a rebuttal to Kip Rich’s ‘Telephone Ting’. It went to number one on the Suzie Q Reggae Trail chart. The song also stayed a few weeks on Richie B’s chart.
That same year Lady G along with Marcia Griffiths, Brick & Lace and other female divas toured Europe under the ‘Queens in Reggae’ banner. It saw the classy DJ touring places like Germany, Switzerland, France and Italy.
In 2007 Lady G’s combination with Queen Paul and Macka Diamond ‘Too Sexy’ for Big Yard created some buzz in the dancehall.
Presently Lady G has a new album already in stores titled “Rated G’ released on her G-String Music Label, produced by herself, along with her brother Vincent Wright (Pancho). Among the featured tracks on this album are ‘Ghetto Vibes’, ‘Slow Motion’ and ‘That Question’ featuring Lovingdeer.