Sheila Lee, a respected businesswoman and widow of bandleader Byron Lee, died on June 6 in Florida, her daughter Julianne told Observer Online. She was 83.

Lee was a quiet influence in most of her husband’s ventures including Dynamic Sounds, the recording and distribution company he operated from 1964 until his death at age 73 in November 2008.

She also played a major role in The Dragonaires, the band he started in 1955 at St George’s College in Kingston, as well as Jamaica Carnival, the annual event Byron Lee launched in 1990.