NEW YORK, USA The mother of popular music selector Ricky Trooper is "worried and deeply concerned' that her son is being investigated by United States authorities, who maintain that he waved a real gun in his now infamous YouTube video monologue.

Trooper's mom, who spoke on condition that the newspaper not disclose her name, said from her home in Massachusetts that she was "not aware that her son was involved in anything" that would justify a probe by the US authorities.

"It seems as if most of what he is alleged to have said is just the usual dancehall hype and culture," she told the Observer.

A number of people within and outside the music industry here seem to support that view.

Keith N Smellie, who heads the Ex-Correctional Officers' Association and who is credited with providing the then budding selector with his first musical instrument, does not "think" the investigations will cause any problems for the entertainer.

"I have known him for a very long time, and have not known him to be one who would be involved in acts of lawlessness," Smellie told the Observer.

Dwight P Bailey, a school custodian who has known the selector and his family for several decades, said, "He will be OK, given the person I have known over the years."

But these sentiments provided little comfort for Trooper's mother, who struggled to raise her son and four other siblings in the tough community of Spanish Town, Jamaica.

"Unlike his other siblings -- three of whom have gained university degrees -- he was never for the academics," she said.

"Music was always his love, and while I tried to point him into other directions, I had to relent when he persisted," she added.

Trooper honed his early skills playing drums with the Troopers Marching band in Spanish Town. It was from this band that he adopted the stage name (Ricky Trooper).

It was usually an epic encounter between the Troopers and the Tivoli Gardens Drum Corp -- another highly successful marching Band -- for the top medal in the annual Jamaica Festival Marching Band competition. And according to several people here who recalled the encounters, Ricky Trooper would always make the difference as to whether or not that prize ended up in Spanish Town.

Acknowledging that her son had made a success of his career, the selector's mother said, "It would be stupid of him to do anything to ruin his career."