Those who transitioned in 2020
The Jamaica Observer’s Entertainment Desk continues its look at personalities who passed away in 2020.
Derrick Lara of The Tamlins died on February 13 in Miami from lung cancer. The singer had been diagnosed with the disease late last year.
Lara, 61, joined the harmony trio in 1983 after being drummer/singer with the Seventh Extension Band for several years. Carlton Smith and Tony Moore, brother of Junior Moore, comprised The Tamlins.
Lara was originally from west Kingston, and was a younger cousin of Jennifer Lara, a singer who recorded mainly at Studio One.
He joined The Tamlins after the departure of original member Winston Morgan. Lara was recruited during a fruitful period for the harmony group which had cut several big songs for producers Sly and Robbie including Baltimore, which went number one in 1979.
The dreadlocked Lara sang lead on some of their popular songs such as Go Away Dream and Peek A Boo and was featured on their album, I’ll Be Waiting.
He also toured with The Tamlins as opening act and backup singers for Rita Marley, Marcia Griffiths, Leroy Sibbles and Beres Hammond.
Broadcaster Gil Bailey, a pioneer of Caribbean radio in New York, died from cardiac arrest resulting from the novel coronavirus disease on April 13. He was 84.
Known as the Godfather, Bailey launched The Gil Bailey Show in New York in 1969. He and his wife Pat co-hosted that programme on Caribbean radio stations such as WHBI, WNWK and WPAT, catering to listeners in the tri-state (New York, New Jersey and Connecticut) area.
The show played reggae, calypso, soca and gospel music. Pat, whom he married in 1969, died in December 2016 at age 77.
Bailey, who was from the town of Bath in St Thomas, migrated to the United States in the late 1960s.
He was never formally trained as a broadcaster but the lack of Caribbean content on New York radio made him a sensation in the Big Apple where there was a growing Jamaican population.
Last August, organisers of the Merritone Family
Fun Day recognised Bailey’s contribution to Caribbean broadcasting with a Golden Mic award during its annual event at Heckscher Park in Long Island, New York.
Delroy Washington, the singer/activist and mentor
who helped nurture British roots-reggae, died on March 27 in a London hospital.
Reports in the British media differ on the cause of death; one piece said it was due to the coronavirus, while another reported that he succumbed to diabetes.
Washington was reportedly born in Westmoreland in 1952 but migrated with his family to the United Kingdom in the early
1960s. As reggae flourished throughout that country in the 1970s, he befriended
Bob Marley, who spent a lot of time in the UK.
Among his early songs was Lonely Street, produced by Ephraim “Count Shelly” Barrett, and Give All The Praise to Jah, which was released by Virgin Records. Washington did two albums for Virgin — I Sus in 1976 and Rasta, which came out one year later.
In recent years, Washington, through his Federation of Reggae Music organisation, worked with the Brent Council in London to recognise the borough as reggae’s official home in the UK.
Washington was instrumental in the placement of Blue Heritage Plaques at homes in the UK where Bob Marley, Dennis Brown and Liz Mitchell once lived.