Keith Brown helped give stars more time

Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer

Keith Brown, along with Michael Barnett as MKB Promotions, put on the much-storied Startime series for nearly 20 years, with Heineken as the main sponsor for 17 years and CVM TV taking over that role for the November 2006 staging. The 100th concert was held at Mas Camp, New Kingston, on Saturday, December 4, 2004.

While it has not been staged for several years, Startime's extended run has created an enduring link between MKB's name and the vintage music concert. And Keith Brown tells The Gleaner that Startime helped give new musical life to performers who had often fallen out of the spotlight.

"We felt that these foundation persons of Jamaican music were not getting the recognition they deserved. We wanted to resurrect the careers of these guys," Brown said. That included presenting persons who had not performed in Jamaica for several years, although their songs had a lasting impact. "These guys were big in Jamaica and many people never saw them because they were not in Jamaica," Brown said.

So, in addition to artistes who lived and performed in Jamaica regularly, including Gregory Isaacs and John Holt, the Startime team also brought in Owen Gray (2004) and Monty Morris (1999), as well as others who were not on stage in Jamaica often - if at all.

Brown became part of the Startime organising team through his regular appearances at the Oceana Hotel. "When I worked at Alpart I used to be in Kingston frequently. They always had happy hour at Oceana and a lot of the singers used to come as guests. It started out in the bar and got so big they had to take it poolside," Brown said.

"I was very close to the action there," Brown said.

The event became known as Startime at Oceana and Heineken took up the sponsorship role. The event stopped with Oceana's closure but, based on demand from those who had experienced it, "we decided to get together and start Startime".

Sponsorship was easy, as "Heineken was very excited with the series in terms of the exposure of their brand. We did not have any difficulty getting them to continue their sponsorship."

meticulous about quality

So it was Heineken Startime for 17 years, CVM TV taking up title sponsorship briefly in 2006. Startime moved from Oceana to the Mirage Nightclub in Liguanea, then to Peppers on Upper Waterloo Road, the Countryside Club in Half-Way Tree and finally the Mas Camp Village.

Brown says MKB was responsible for all aspects of the production, from public relations to production, and "we were very meticulous about quality". That included the songs which were performed. "We decided on the playlist, the songs we wanted them to sing," Brown said. "Many artistes come and sing songs the public does not want to hear and are not familiar with. We focused on hits. All the songs the artistes did were well known."

Plus, Brown said, "We were insistent on quality productions. We started on time, the artistes worked on schedule. The two weeks before the concerts was spent on rehearsal to get a quality show."

Now, though, Brown says "Show business is quite challenging. The partnership is in abeyance right now. I am looking at one or two things to get back into the music scene."