REMEMBERING JACOB MILLER: Ephraim Martin recalls the last weekend
TOMORROW, MAY 4, reggae superstar, Jacob Miller, lead singer of the Inner Circle band, would have celebrated his 67th birthday. Much has been said and written about the man, who was poised to become a giant in the reggae industry, but who lost his life in a car accident, 29 years ago.
Founder of the International Reggae And World Music Awards (IRAWMA) Ephraim Martin, who was a photographer at The Gleaner at the time, recalls in techni-colour the details of the Friday evening leading up to the fateful Sunday evening of May 23, 1980. And, what’s more is that he still has unanswered questions.
“It was Friday, March 21, 1980, at about 7 p.m., and I was getting ready to leave for the day when Rita Marley (widow of Bob Marley) called the office and said that Bob was coming in to the island and that he had won an award, but it was for football rather than music. She asked if we could send somebody out to the airport.”
Although his shift was done, Martin said he decided to go to the airport. Bob was indeed there. He had
just come in on a flight with Island Records founder Chris Blackwell, Junior Marvin, Clancy Eccles and Jacob Miller. They were returning from Brazil, where Blackwell had just opened an office, to much fanfare.
“I greeted them and took some pictures,” Martin recalled, and then he and Miller, who was his friend, got into conversation.
“Jacob and I had a friendship. I would go up to Beverly Hills and we would talk. One of those conversations was about me getting involved in the music business. Jacob asked me to meet him on the Sunday at Zinc Fence, where Third World would be opening their club.” Miller wanted copies of the pictures that Martin had taken, and in those days, the process was much more involved than simply clicking a button and sending via WhatsApp.
Two days later, on Sunday, March 23, 1980, Martin recalls that having got the pictures developed, he took the package with him and swung by Dumfries Road, to the newly opened Zinc Fence. “It was the official opening and when I went there, a lady at the door told me that Jacob had not yet arrived. I had an assignment. As soon as the assignment was finished, I went back to Zinc Fence and I was told
‘Jacob and I had a friendship. I would go up to Beverly Hills and we would talk. One of those conversations was about me getting involved in the music business.’