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Personality Bio
Born in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands I was giving my nickname "Badjoe by my favorite aunt Karol a few months after being born.
I started playing music at the age of 11. When I was 13 years old my cousin Achille started showing me how to mix on his BASF coffin set up. I learned to mix on turntables with 33, 45 and 78 speed with no pitch control. Achille was only home for breaks from college, so my time was limited. At that time, my aunt’s boyfriend Zeus who was a popular DJ he took me under his wing and pretty much taught me everything there was to know about what a DJ is suppose to be. Zeus got me my first pitch control turntables which were the Technics SL 200 and of course the Realistic Mixer. Later on I graduated to the Technics SL1200 and the Numark DM1900 Mixer. At that time, Zeus was playing at a club called Studio 54. I was sixteen years old when Zeus took me to the club and gave me my big debut. I was nervous and my hands were trembling when I was picking up the needle to place it on the record, but after getting acquainted with the equipment and the crowd it was a wrap my Dee Jaying career took off from there. The most important thing that Zeus taught me that sticks in the back of my head to day is; "you play for the crowd and not yourself". He also taught me that to be a DJ; you listen and play all varieties of music.
In 1988 I graduated from Ivanna Eudora Kean High School in St. Thomas and went to Electronic Technology Institute in Cleveland OH. I stopped Dee Jaying while I was in college because I was studying on a electronics scholarship. My mother Faye and step father Almando"Rocky" Liburd told me I need to concentrate on my school work. I left Cleveland in 1989 and transferred to Norfolk State University in Norfolk VA. Once at Norfolk State I met couple of my friends from back home that I went to high school with. One of them was Melvin. Melvin was a Mass Communication Major and came to me one day and ask me if I was still playing music and I told him no. He told me there is a girl by the name of Melanie Walters who was also a Mass Communications Major and wanted to learn how to mix. I told Melvin I would teach her. Melanie was doing a Reggae Show on Norfolk State’s Campus Radio Station WNSB 91.1FM called the Reggae Jamboree. Melanie caught on fast and asked me to do the live mixing while she was the host. Melanie Graduated in 1991 and Mr. Turner who was the station manager along with Doug Perry asked me to continue doing the reggae show. The Reggae Jamboree was doing so well and getting such a great response they asked me to do the show on Friday as well as Saturday evenings. This went on for 2 years while becoming a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. in 1991 and graduating from Norfolk State in 1993 with two degrees an A.S. in Industrial Electronics and a B.S. in Electronic Technology.
After I graduated from Norfolk State University in the summer of 1993 continued to look for a job in my major electronics. In December of 1993 KJ Holiday from WOWI 103 Jamz approached me and said that I was highly recommended to do their reggae show called the Reggae Sunset. He told me (I know you’re looking for an engineering job so once you get your foot in the door I will assist you in getting into the engineering department with Gabe the chief engineer). Chase Thomas aka "Commander& Chief of the Bass" was doing the show and handed it over to me on December 19, 1993 and I have been at 103 Jamz ever since.
I have been number #1 in my time slot. In 1995 I asked KJ to change the show’s name and call it the Caribbean Shakedown because I was catering to the island community with reggae and soca. I have been involved with every major reggae concert that passed through the Hampton Roads area. I have interviewed a variety of reggae artists and soca artists on my show; Dennis Brown, Gregory Isaac, Super Cat, Freddy Mc Greggor, Buju Banton and Edwin Yearwood to name a few. I am still holding down the fort to this day giving my listeners the best in Caribbean music…
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© 2008