KENNETH THOMPSON - Blessing others with his music

Dave Lindo, Gleaner Writer

MANDEVILLE, Manchester:

KENNETH THOMPSON is a man who, for years, has been using his true gift from God - his voice and his music - to soothe the souls of the depressed and the sick, giving them hope and spiritual upliftment.

He does this by singing and playing his beloved guitar at places such as the Mandeville Hospital and the Mandeville Infirmary, as well as in public places where his songs can be heard by people needing an extra lift or words of encouragement to carry them through the day.

The Gleaner caught up with the man popularly known as GG as he was standing by the roadside in Mandeville playing his guitar while waiting for a taxi to take him to his home in Georges Valley on the outskirts of the town.

"I am just coming from the Mandeville Infirmary," he said. "I play for the old people there. I comfort them with my songs. I go there at least once a week. They love me up there."

Thompson, a Christian of 50 years, said he started out singing in the church choir. "I was born in Clarendon, but I left school very early. I was encouraged to stay in school but I disobeyed," he disclosed.

With no education and no skill, Thompson did the only thing he knew that he was good at, and that was singing.

In his early years, in the 1980s, when the Jamaica Railway corporation was up and running, he used to ride on the trains singing and praying for the passengers. "I used to take the train from Siloah in St Elizabeth and ride on it to May Pen," he said.

Thompson later added his guitar to his repertoire which, he pointed out, he learnt to play on his own. As he explained, "I have been playing the guitar for over 30 years. I just love it! I got a few lessons here and there, but I learned on my own. It is what the Lord gave me to do. It is my gift from God."

With the closing of the local railway system, Thompson started singing for people at hospitals, infirmaries, and nursing homes. Commenting on the type of songs he sings, he said, "They are sacred songs and gospel. That's the only type of songs I sing."

Thompson survives on the money that people who have been touched by his songs give him. "The people will give me a little thing because I don't beg," he said. "I don't beg anybody anything, so if the Lord says give him something and they give me, I just take it and bless them."

He added, "All my songs are mostly my own. I make them up."