Tony Curtis recalls Kingston roots of Butterfly with Jigsy King

Tony Curtis has traced the making of Butterfly, his 1992 collaboration with Jigsy King, to the excitement around a dance that had started in Kingston and was moving quickly through the dancehall space.

Curtis said he and Jigsy King had recently signed with Roof International after winning a contest when the idea surfaced in studio. According to him, Jigsy told him about the Butterfly dance and urged him to come up with a song around it.

The singer recalled being young and searching for the right approach while at RFM studio, where Barry O'Hare was working as engineer. He said a melody came to him, leading to the opening idea, "Do you catch the brand new lick?" Jigsy King then answered with "Butterfly," helping to shape the call-and-response feel of the track.

Curtis said one early line included "Mr Video dance butterfly," but Jigsy advised him to remove the "Mr" and keep it cleaner as "Dance butterfly." He described Jigsy as a key influence in how his music developed, even at that early stage.

Producer Courtney Cole of Roof International also responded strongly to the recording, Curtis said. After the song was voiced, the team carried it out to the public, including playing it at Roof International, where people wanted to know how the dance was done.

Curtis said they were then shown the foot movement that went with the Butterfly. From there, the song was taken to Stone Love, where it was tested before the wider dancehall audience.