Leroy's aiming to be a big hit

A musician from Wolverhampton has ploughed every penny he has into living his dream by putting out his first album.

Leroy Dunkley's CD, called Welchman With Respect Across The World, has hit the shelves in Zavvi stores in Walsall and Birmingham and tracks are available to buy as downloads on the internet.

Leroy, of Park View Road, Bilston, said: My music is not about violence, it's nice reggae, a little bit sexy, and R n B.

"I used to run a jewellery shop with my brother Neil in Willenhall town centre but about three years ago we were struggling because everybody was buying on the internet."

Now Leroy, who was born in Bilston but grew up in St Elizabeth and Kingston in Jamaica, has decided to make the internet work for him and has started promoting his work on MySpace and through his own website.

He has put everything he had left from the business, called Kelly and Dunkleys and based in Willenhall's indoor market, into releasing his album.

"I must have spent at least £15,000", he said.

"I had to do it because it was what I'd always wanted to do and I'd never get another chance.

"I called myself Welchman because growing up in Jamaica everybody was interested to hear that I had Welsh ancestors."

The album features 14 tracks and took Leroy more than two years to make in recording studios in Birmingham and Bermondsey, London.