LA Lewis has done it again. The greatest self-promoter Jamaica has produced in the 20th century, the deejay LA Lewis, is one of the feature articles on the BBC website, appearing as the sole topic in a blog entitled ‘Meeting a Reggae Superstar’..
Here is a snippet from the blog written by writer Alison Mitchell.

“…silver vehicle pulled up at the kerb alongside us and a grinning face leaned out of the driver’s window, microphone in hand, words screaming out of the megaphone. “Here for de cricket? You English? Yeah mon, come to de after-party! I play at de after-party, I’m LA Lewis, reggae superstar!” Every person in a hundred mile radius must have heard the invitation too.

Next thing, he was climbing out of the car and we got the full effect of his get-up. Spangly black and white shirt, shoulder padded jacket, black cowboy hat and shiny pointed boots. He posed for photos as if he was Michael Jackson, looking like he really could have been a superstar.

I asked one of our hotel staff about him and he burst out laughing. Apparently LA is the ultimate ‘self styled’ superstar, a DJ true enough, but his success borders on negligible, one person telling me that he has been “knocking on the door for almost 20 years.”
He is infamous in these parts though, seemingly looked upon with gentle mocking affection yet also with admiration for his sheer desire and inimitable determination to ‘make good’. His forte seems to be self-publicity, to which you can only take your hat off to the man, and that is what the people of Jamaica tend to do…”

You can read the rest at http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/tms/2007/03/mee...superstar.shtml

Moral of the story: You don’t have to be even within shouting distance of good to be famous and LA Lewis is a shining exemplar of that unfortunate little aphorism.