Father of 7, Heavy D, the proudest dad of all

There is no need to get iffy with this one. Plain and simple, proud dad is indeed a person, and his name is Junior ‘Heavy D’ Frazer. Silky and soft are not the types of adjectives that one would necessarily associate with the music industry titan and hard-nosed, tough-talking negotiator. However, Heavy D radiates a special glow accompanied by a softness in his voice when talking about his kids – Tasheka, Jody, Janille, Jenae, Jillian, Mark and Jamel.

“Me just proud of my five golden daughters and two sons,” the artiste manager and promoter told The Sunday Gleaner. “Is a set of kids who me and all of them good. We talk regular, and even though they are not all for the same mother, they are very close. All of them, except one, in them 20s, and all of them turn out to be something good. I don’t have what people would call ‘black sheep’ among my kids, and that is really a blessing that I give God thanks for every day.”

Heavy D isn’t the type to go around and brag about the achievements of his children to every Mary, Jane and Martha, but once he gets started and feels comfortable, he easily shares his delight at the accomplishments of his children, who, obviously “tek after dem father”.

“All my kids are brilliant. My youngest is 18, and she is now living in the States, attending college. She went to Immaculate and passed 10 subjects in CXC, and we decided to send her overseas. She took accounts in fourth form, and she said to me, ‘Daddy, I don’t feel like I’m ready for this yuh nuh’. But after the exam, she said that everything that she studied came on the paper, and she ended up with a distinction. That little girl is just a natural-born leader. She go to the US from Jamaica and, right away, she was made treasurer for the entire student body. She got a scholarship to go to college and, right now, she want to do summer classes so that she can finish her degree quicker. That’s not covered under the scholarship, so she called me and say she need US$1,000, and mi haffi find it,” he said happily.

MASTERS AT 23

The daughter who she follows, he said, also received a scholarship to attend college in the US. “In the middle of her first degree, she started her masters. So, at 23, she has a master’s in finance and accounts. The one before her is into make-up and does it for all types of celebrities, and she is also a nurse. My oldest daughter is adopted. I was along with her mother and her father died, so I just took her as mine. And she is doing very well in the US also. All through the pandemic, none of them lost their jobs. They tell me that they have their papers, so what am I doing? But I am all right,” Heavy D stated.

Heavy D was adamant that a father’s role is to provide for his children, whether or not he is on good terms with their mother. However, he says part of the recipe to having a great relationship with children is for the parents to live amicably. “My kids are for four different mothers, and me and all the mothers are friends. (My son’s mother died.) They come to Jamaica and me and them par with no strings attached. I believe in treating women with respect and, from me know myself, me never inna no argument and jealousy thing with a woman. If me find out that me and she can’t ‘gree, we part. Jealousy is a crazy thing and mek you a check woman phone and dem madness deh. Not me, me never check a woman phone in my life,” he declared.

Not surprisingly, he believes that fathers also have a special duty to stand up for their daughters and ensure that nobody, especially a man, abuses them. And he extends this courtesy to all the females within his orbit. The former manager of Spice and Etana, at different points, noted that both of them could attest to this. Etana recently gave Heavy D his flowers in an emotional Facebook post.

“Etana really said some nice things about me, and I appreciate it. Me is a man who come to serve and protect, especially the females. I believe in truths and right, me nuh believe in the fighting, but if any man touch my daughter, dem haffi know that my hand can reach very far,” he said ominously.

But in the midst of this, Heavy D is also quite God-fearing and speaks with reverence about his respect for the Almighty. “Me is a man like Job who only deal with God because Him always work it out. God always send an angel with me, whichever part of the world me travel for the past close to 40 years and, when there are problems, there is someone to fix it. During the pandemic, I never suffered and, look at me — I’m a man of 62 and nuff people can’t believe that. As a father, you have to believe in God and pass on that respect for the Creator to your kids and then sit back and give thanks for the blessings,” the father of seven said.

yasmine.peru@gleanerjm.com