How Olivia Grange came to be the stalwart called ‘Babsy’

She has been described as a woman of substance with the tenacity to get the job done, whether it be in varying roles in Jamaican politics, music, sports or women’s affairs.

Olivia Grange, aka ‘Babsy’, has stood the test of time, and continues to blaze the trail as the consummate politician, her sojourn running well into three decades.

A product of the tough inner-city community of Luke Lane in Western Kingston, Grange learnt to be self-sufficient from a tender age, picking up much from her shoemaker father and dressmaker mother.

But how did she get the name ‘Babsy’?

Back in 2015, Grange explained how the name came about to then Gleaner reporter Robert Lalah.

“I was really close to my father. I was always with him, driving around with him. I was like his little tomboy sidekick,” said Grange. It was her father who named her ‘Olivia’.

Her grandaunt provided her middle name ‘Atavia’, while she was christened ‘St Veronica’ as a member of the Catholic Church. By the time her much-older cousin came along to suggest the name ‘Barbara’ be added to the already heavily titled ‘Olivia St Veronica Atavia Grange’, it was too late. “They told her there was no more room!” Grange laughed.

“So she said, ‘OK, well, I’m going to call you ‘Babsy’’.” After that, many other people began calling her Babsy, and after contending with mispronunciations of her real names (including Oliver and Oliva) she started suggesting people simply call her ‘Babsy’. Needless to say, the name stuck.

After attending All-Saints Primary and then Gainstead High, where she became head girl, Grange, under the guidance of her grandmother, took her early leadership qualities to Canada. In Canada, Babsy reunited with her mother, who had left Jamaica when the Jamaica Labour Party stalwart was just nine years old.

Babsy recalls her grandmother telling her queens were born in the ghetto and that she should always hold her head high. That kind of inspiration, Babsy recalls, pushed her into becoming a lawyer.

The University of Ryerson in Canada was Babsy’s tertiary stop on the education train, where she acquired the knowledge and skills that would later lay the foundation for her varying roles in Jamaican politics.

Several brushes with discrimination and racism in Canada prompted Grange to take up the mantle for the fight against the atrocities, and it was with that desire and hunger that she moved back to Jamaica after five years, beginning her political sojourn with then Member of Parliament for West Kingston, the late Most Honourable Edward Seaga in the 1970s.

Grange’s relationship with Seaga gave her first-hand into the power of social intervention, as she was handed the responsibility of organising programmes to that end in West Kingston.

Those programmes would involve community events, proposed by the music-loving Seaga, who was instrumental in discovering and producing several prominent local artistes back in the day.

Being around several reggae and dancehall acts at the time, Grange's love for the music industry blossomed, as she followed in the footsteps of her mentor, Seaga.

It was with that gusto, that she would go on to represent some of the most distinguishable acts in Jamaica as a record producer, songwriter and artiste manager in the 70s.

If names such as Patra, Shabba Ranks, Mad Cobra, Carlene Davis and even Bounty Killer ring a bell, Grange had a hand in their development as part of the Spec Shang music empire.

Following the death of Seaga back in 2019, Grange had this to say about the man, the legend, who helped to mould her career.

“He was the kindest, most caring and brilliant man I have ever known, and I loved him dearly. He taught me to dine with Kings and walk with beggars and to give respect to receive respect.

“Mr Seaga was the master craftsman who laboured for the upliftment of the culture of Jamaicans and promoted understanding and appreciation of the rituals that our people have created.”

If music was her passion, then political exploits would surely be her pride, as Grange swiftly established herself as a juggernaut in the landscape.

Grange has served as Member of Parliament for the constituency of Central St Catherine since 1997 and is the longest-serving woman MP in the House of Representatives. She was appointed Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport in March 2016.

Previously, Grange served in the Cabinet between 2007 and 2011 as Minister at one time or other with responsibility for Information, Youth, Sports, Culture, Women and Gender Affairs, Entertainment, Community Development and Special Projects.

In 2009, she had the distinction of being appointed the Caribbean Community’s (CARICOM) first Champion for Culture, with responsibility for advocating, among other things, capacity building for cultural industries, cultural institutions and individual artists.

Before her appointment to the Cabinet and election to the House of Representatives, Grange served in the Senate as a Government Senator between 1983 and 1989, during which time she also served as Parliamentary Secretary with responsibility for Information and Culture (1983-1985) and Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister (1985-1989).

In 1997, Grange was nominated as Woman of the Year in Jamaica, while in June 2009, she was named as the Caribbean Community's first Champion for Culture. In 2015, Grange was awarded the rank of Commander (CD) in the Order of Distinction for her contributions to the country's music scene and cultural development.

As a founding member and director of the Jamaica Association of Composers, Authors and Publishers (JACAP), Grange, as set out as one of her mandates, is also well on her way to seeing Jamaican music make the giant leap from being a collection of labels, rhymes, writers and artistes into being a fully developed industry.