Laden

dancehall

Dancehall & Reggae recording artiste Laden, whose real name is O’Keefe Aarons, catapulted into the limelight through a Jamaican music competition known as Digicel Rising Stars Before Rising Stars, O’Keefe was just an ordinary kid who had no inkling that he would one day grace the stage. As he recollects, he developed the natural gift of ‘riding a rhythm” by just listening to beats and singing along. He was born in Kingston, Jamaica and spent the first few years of his life in the volatile Payne Avenue area. However, circumstances dictated that his family migrate to the more peaceful community of Cheapside District in St. Elizabeth where he attended Littz All Age School.. He later attended the Haile Selassie High School in Kingston. As fate would have it his best friend Mark Richie (Gussie) succumbed to injuries sustained in a fatal car accident. This catastrophe heralded the “coming out” of the artistic side of O’Keefe as it inspired him to pen his first song “Tribute”. This song was recorded and distributed to friends and sound systems. Nothing came of the song but it was the feedback, mostly encouragement which pushed him to start thinking seriously about a career as a DJ. It was the year 2006 and the TVJ Rising Star Auditions was coming “to your town”... Of course, Laden tracked all the way to Negril to audition. Laden made history by becoming the first Top Ten DJ finalist in the competition. He was able to withstand seven grueling weeks of compet...