ALBIE J MISSING AFTER NINETY DAYS
BY ALBERT WILLIAMS
(First published in the Tropical Star, Wednesday, January 23, 2002)
Family and friends of 44-year-old, dreadlocked Rastafarian, musician, Albert ‘Albie J’ Joseph, who resided on Great Marlborough Street, Roseau, are aghast that even after three months on, no new leads have surfaced to bring a measure of closure following the alleged accidental death by drowning of their loved-one. Shrouded in mystery from the start, it was the New Chronicle that broke the news to the nation, one month from October 16th, 2001, in a front-page lead ‘Where is Albert…? In which the paper reported that an associate of Joseph with whom he used to accompany in the early morning fishing in the vicinity of the Roseau Fishing Complex, told the police that he had seen something fall into the sea around 5:00a.am.
This journalist spoke with one of his sisters, Roslyn, who said that “she will continue to pray that the truth surrounding the disappearance of her brother will surface.”
B.Blood of Dominica
As a teenager, Albie J was attracted to the rhetoric of the Black Power movement of the early seventies and adhered to the Rastafarian path for the last 30 years. During the height of the Cadance-lypso boom he performed and recorded with a number of local groups including Ghetto roots and Black blood in which he played the drums and percussion instruments. Albie J was also a composer.
Albert Darroux, owner of the Darroux’s Record World, recalls, “he would visit me as often as possible and talk about the old times of music…He spoke of putting the album Black blood on CD, and have it distributed to radio stations to promote the group.”
“he was just a nice guy. Even until the band all the bands broke up…he was still jovial as a good friend
Jerry lander
Close friends
Jerry lander, one of the musicians who worked with Joseph in those pioneering days, considers him someone you could get on with, “he was just a nice guy. Even until the band all the bands broke up…he was still jovial as a good friend. I find it very strange,” he said,” referring to the alleged incident.
Traumatized by the affair, close friend and confidant, Egbert Walsh, “he was a close friend of mine since I grew up across from where he lived and visited him quite a bit. When he was announced missing, I was totally shocked, and three months later still can’t understand what happened to him, and I don’t think enough was done to find out what happened.”
[Photo] Albert Joseph, aka Albie J was a songwriter, drummer, and percussionist and was a founding member of the short-lived B. Blood combo. (Albie J 5th from the left)
(2022) Amazon.com. Available at: https://www.amazon.com/B-Blood-Dominica-LP/dp/B0743K6V47 (Accessed: 17 June 2022).
[Photo:] Cutting from Tropical Star, Wednesday, January 23, 2002)
ALBERT WILLIAMS Reporting 
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