Wayne 'JAI' Buchanan. -Anthony Minott/Freelance Photographer

Teino Evans, Staff Reporter

Gospel artiste JAI, whose real name is Wayne Buchanan, recently found out that he has a brother. According to JAI, "I had no knowledge that I had a brother."

JAI says he went to a church called Christian Life Fellowship in Papine and led praise and worship one morning "and a young lady (Shanna Buchanan) came to me and said she heard that my last name was Buchanan and she was wondering if we were family."

"She said she didn't really knowher father either, like me, because all I knew about my father was that his name was Bobby Buchanan. After she investigated she came back to me a week and a half later and said her father had a brother by the name of Bobby Buchanan and so I was her cousin," he said.

It was then, JAI said, Shanna revealed to him that he had a brother. An arrangement was made for them to meet at church and, according to JAI, it was an emotional moment for them both.

Eye to eye contact

"His name is Anthony Buchanan but they call him Wayne, which I find so ironic because my right name is Wayne," JAI said.

"Immediately, as we made eye to eye contact, we both felt the connection. I was in a state of shock; I couldn't pinpoint how I was feeling emotionally. He started crying and his hands were trembling," JAI said.

He continued, "I'm just couple months older than he, because I was born in February and he was born in August. Both of us are 25 years old. He was even laughing and saying that 'mi cyaan believe seh mi have a big brother'."

JAI says all he could do was rejoice, "because not knowing that I had relatives on my father's side and to now find out that I have a brother, it was just a glorious time."

He also said before he got saved he was of the mindset that "mi nuh have nuh father and I had no sense of belonging, but since I have been saved is like God is completing me, closing all the gaps."

JAI says his brother is not in the church - well, at least not yet, as he believes "him soon inna it cause him a guh follow inna him big brother footstep. Him a seh him all use to hear mi song dem, like Can't Take My Lord, and all a dem song deh an him neva know seh a him brother sing dem."

JAI says his debut album is coming out very soon and an experience like this will definitely inspire him to write a song specifically for the collection.

"The album will be called Best Friend and I believe that God a complete mi now and solve some mystery and close some gaps in my life. Ironically, I also found out that my father use to inna di singing ting likkle bit, suh I guess that's where I got my talent from. So I'm actually anxious to find out more about my father now," JAI said.