Digital B Foundation officially launched on World Kidney Day
Published:Monday | March 13, 2023 | 12:22 PMStephanie Lyew/Gleaner Writer
Growing up with a father like Bobby Dixon, otherwise known as ‘Bobby Digital’ or ‘Digital B’, must have been like looking into a magic crystal ball at the future of music. Without even knowing it, his children, Craig ‘Giark’ Dixon, Sheldon ‘Calibud’ Stewart and Trudy-Ann Dixon Smith, probably interacted with some of the greatest musicians and recording artistes within the reggae-dancehall fraternity.
In the 1980s, Bobby Digital was at the forefront of dancehall’s transformation from rhythm tracks to a more computerised sound – credited for his contribution to the birth of modern dancehall – a legacy which the family wants to have an even greater impact on the country, Craig Dixon shared in an interview with The Gleaner, following the official launch of the Digital B Foundation on World Kidney Day last Thursday.
Bobby Digital was diagnosed with chronic kidney failure in 2012 and battled with the disease for eight years. He passed away in 2020, on May 21, at the age of 59.
“Part of my father’s life was the diagnosis, [so] the first giveaway was intentionally carried out by the renal department at the Spanish Town Hospital. It is where my dad would have been receiving treatment before he passed away. We started the journey there with him, and thought it most appropriate.”
The foundation pledged assistance to two patients of the Katie Hoo Haemodialysis Centre at the hospital. Craig explained that upon doing some research on the persons who were a part of the same treatment group that Bobby Digital was a part of, he discovered only two out of 20 persons remained.
“The information I was given, was that 18 persons had passed away,” he said.
“Both persons, Kevin Bernard and Carol Green, are from the parish of St Catherine, and I decided the foundation needed to start with the two persons my dad used to rub shoulders with. The aim of the foundation right now is to bring awareness and to help individuals who can benefit from a short-term and not necessarily long-term treatment plan. We are unable to promise to provide continuous dialysis service, but we can assist with medication or proper food, as many are not consuming proper food due to financial difficulties,” Craig continued.
Future projects on the Digital B Foundation’s list include establishing its own haemodialysis centre. He further explained that there are many persons in need of funds to facilitate transportation to receive treatment.
“We are trying to start somewhere, by contributing to one area of Jamaica’s health sector. There are less fortunate people out there who can’t make it to the dialysis centre, something as simple but crucial as this. Not even having the taxi fare to go to and from is an area we hope to cushion. Trust me, if my dad didn’t have the money in his pocket, he would have passed away probably two years after that diagnosis,” Craig stated.
For Craig, it is impossible to discuss his father’s profile without speaking about the lifetime of achievements. Bobby Digital, one of Jamaica’s most influential producers with close to 1,000 released songs, is behind the Grammy Award-winning albums of Shabba Ranks’ As Raw As Ever and X-Tra Naked. The names Sizzla, Beenie Man, Capleton, Buju Banton, Cocoa Tea, Morgan Heritage, Garnet Silk and many others cannot be mentioned without highlighting Bobby Digital’s work with them.
Craig shared, “One of the songs that brings me life is probably not the most popular, but it’s the Mikey Spice’s Born Again. That track gives me purpose to go and do. I know I have a purpose to ensure Digital B’s legacy lives on and is dominant in the next generation.”
Recalling one of the greatest lessons passed on to him by his father, he continued, “it is to do what the clock does and don’t stop moving”.
Bobby Digital was posthumously presented with the Order of Distinction Officer Class at the National Honours and Awards ceremony in October 2020. The estate is currently administrating the affairs of the catalogue of music.