Gadaffie finds New Merciless - Renames him Mercenary

A video of an artiste who goes by the name New Merciless performing on tracks at a candlelight vigil for the late Leonard 'Merciless' Bartley sent the dancehall in a tizzy and Merciless's former manager was bombarded with calls.

"When I listen to New Merciless, I really think it was Leonard," Gadaffie said. "KipRich was the first person who call me and seh 'Gadaffie, yuh haffi find him,' and then other people started blowing up my phone. This artiste is talented."

A week later, he found the artiste, who hails from White Hill, St Elizabeth, and immediately put plans in motion for New Merciless to continue the journey.

"I am ready to come back in the music business to manage this artiste. We have renamed him Mercenary because he is a fighter and we are ready to go," Gadaffie said from his base in the US.

So too is New Merciless, who has been doing music for more than a decade and who has a small sound system called Bullet Movements. He is just getting used to his new name, which he said he likes.

"People seh is like the spirit of Merciless jump inside me and give me that extra power. Merciless is my artiste from long time and I love how him put him lyrics together sharp. That's how me like build my lyrics ... from mi do three lines mi must get a forward," he told THE STAR.

"Although I pattern myself off Merciless, I don't sing his songs. I listen to them and build my own lyrics ... sometimes I build a counteraction."

He shared that his performance at the candlelight vigil was an eye-opener.

"Mi get nuff forward from the people, maybe tru mi sound so much like Merciless and them never really expect it," he said, as he reeled off a piece of a new song.

"Yeah mi Fada a New Merciless this/Mi just a talk fi mek yuh soul know everything criss/A down a Madden's dem waant yuh fi lie down/Dem neva want yuh deh a England a fly down/Yuh woulda glad fi know seh yuh boy is a crowd pleaser and mi manager a look bout mi visa," he deejayed.

The artiste, who is looking to sign a contract with Gadaffie, already has a road manager, Sekkie Wonder, who was also Merciless' roadie.

"Him have it. I was around Merciless for 11 years and I can tell you that Mercenary have the clarity, the delivery, plus stage appearance. We record two songs with him already," Sekkie Wonder said.

New Merciless shared that he met his "father" Merciless at a stage show years ago "and him neva have no problem with me because him go up on the stage after me and him never throw nuh word nor nutten".

"When I hear that Merciless dead, I feel it like it was a close family member. I would really like to do a tribute to him at the funeral," he said.