Veteran dancehall icon Tiger returned safely to his family on Friday, thanks to the help of a Good Samaritan, TikToker Leonardo Reynolds, and the police.
The ‘Come Back to Me’ deejay was reportedly staying at the home of a Good Samaritan, Leonardo Reynolds, who gave the legend a room to sleep in after Tiger found himself in Greenwich Farm, St Andrew.
Reynolds, a resident of Greenwich Farm, said he was sweeping his yard on 6th Street in the community on Thursday morning when he realised that there was a man who looked uncannily like the veteran artiste Tiger across the road from him.
“Fi tell yuh the truth, mi a sweep mi yard, and mi spot him across the road. He was there sitting down on a bounce about that the youths were using the night before. I didn’t expect to see a man who I know his status to be in that situation. Anyway, the man dem give him a chair, give him food to eat, and mi see people ah crowd around him, and then mi realise say ah really the artiste that,” he said.
He said he put up the first video with Tiger when he was in his yard.
“Mi shock say ah the artiste that mi see,” he said.
Reynolds said he went to work and when he returned, Tiger was still in the community.
“The man dem deh deh on the block, and who round him ah some real yute, so him deh deh on the block. Mi come from work and come cross, the man dem deh ah play ludo and bun dem chalice and him just sit down and a gwaan easy himself… Mhi tek two little picture and show him and say, ‘People still respect yuh, people still acknowledge yuh’,” he said.
Reynolds told Loop News said he didn’t know where Tiger was between Tuesday and Thursday morning.
“Him just appear on the scene,” he said.
When night fell, the men began to make their way to their respective homes, but they told Tiger that there was a particular yard he could stay until morning.
“Mi still see him out there. He had asked me to drop him home, he told me he lived in Mona but ah the hours now, mi never did a really go up deh so. Mi do a video so people can try get in contact, so hours come, mi tell miself say mi nah mek him sleep out deh after mi see everyone leave,” he explained.
Reynolds said he gave the deejay food and allowed him to “hold a wash off”. He said that Tiger’s granddaughter contacted him on TikTok, and he sent her his number.
“That’s how him come fi inna my place and me mek him rest until morning,” he said.
He did another video in the morning to show that Tiger was still at his home, and he needed relatives “to come for him”.
According to Reynolds, a policeman called him and asked about Tiger’s whereabouts, and he promised to take him to the nearest police station. Then Tiger’s daughter, Rhiality Check, contacted him, and they met up at Hunts Bay Police Station.
Tiger’s daughter is grateful that her father was returned to her safely after he went missing for almost four days earlier this week.
“I just want to thank Leonardo Reynolds for keeping my father safe by giving him a room at his house to sleep for three days because Greenwich Farm is not really a safe place for man like him to be,” she said.
Tiger has struggled with his health for almost three decades, ever since a life-altering accident in 1994.
Reynolds apologised to Tiger and his family for posting one of the videos posted online which claimed that “Tiger mad out”.
“My apology on that, you know when yuh shock fi see an entertainer weh yu grow up come hear bout, you know we Jamaicans how we express ourselves, mi no really mean that..and mi apologise to him also,” he said.
Tiger is a legendary dancehall figure whose powerful performances ignited audiences all over the world. Born Norman Washington Jackson, the legend of Tiger grew in the mid-1980s with his live performances, and he recorded for producers like Harry J, King Jammy, Gussie Clarke, Sly & Robbie, Philip “Fatis” Burrell, and Donovan Germain.
In 1989, he became one of the first dancehall artistes to cross over into the US hip-hop scene when he did a combination with the Fat Boys on “T’ings Nah Go So”.
Success continued in the 1990s and he was signed by Columbia Records’ short-lived Chaos imprint. His only album for the label was ‘Claws of the Cat’ in 1993. In the early 1990s, he scored big with the hit song, ‘When’.
After his accident in 1994, he suffered two strokes.
Tiger, 63, is known for songs such as ‘Ram Dancehall’, ‘Hide and Seek’, ‘When’, ‘No Puppy Love’, ‘Bam Bam’ and ‘Come Back to Me’ featuring Malvo.