Grammy Award Winning Reggae group Morgan Heritage last Sunday announced Sunday the death of their brother and lead singer Peter ‘Peetah’ Morgan via a social media post. Known for speaking on the injustice of the voiceless, with a catalogue of Reggae hits, the multi-Grammy award-winning singer is the voice of many of beloved songs, and […]
Barrett was born in 1946 and grew up in Kingston, where he would help to lay the foundations for reggae and dub. As a child, he sang along to soul music on the radio before switching over to the bass. He built his first bass guitar from scratch using plywood, a curtain rod and an […]
Pluto Shervington, born Leighton Shervington, died after being admitted to hospital in Miami, Florida last Friday. He was 73. Born Leighton Keith Shervington on 13 August 1950, in Kingston, Jamaica, Shervington was a gifted reggae musician, vocalist, engineer, and producer. He gained his first experience when he started singing with Tomorrow’s Children. In 1967, their […]
Nerene Virgin was born in 1946 in Hamilton, Ontario, and traces her roots to escaped Maryland slave Thomas John (Howard) Holland. Virgin was a Canadian journalist, an actor, educator, author and television host, best known for her role on the children’s television series Today’s Special. She died last Thursday at the age of 77. In […]
Basdeo Panday, a former prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago who was the first person of Indian descent to hold that position, has died. He was 90. Panday died on January 1 last, surrounded by his family, according to a statement that his daughter, Mickela Panday, posted on social media. “He passed with his boots […]
Kenneth Bhagan, a long-time member of the Ontario Steelpan Association, passed away on December 25. He was 77 years old. Mr. Bhagan will be remembered for the work he did with the St. James Town Youth Centre Steel Orchestra. Over the years, he had been the Executive Director of St. Jamestown Youth Centre Steel Orchestra. […]
By Neil Armstrong Popular Jamaican Canadian restaurateur, Merrick Orlando Aries, was eulogized as someone who bridged differences and saw the good in others. A Thanksgiving Service was held at the St. Andrew Parish Church in Kingston, Jamaica on December 14 — exactly two months after he visited his homeland to attend a funeral and seven […]
The murder of Kempton Howard, a beloved youth worker and basketball coach, continues to haunt his mother, Joan Howard, even 20 years after his tragic death. On a fateful day, Kempton was fatally shot in the hallway outside their ninth-floor apartment in East Toronto. He had just celebrated his 24th birthday and was a promising […]
Ricardo Drue, a soca singer renowned in his native Antigua and Barbuda and among the Caribbean community around the world, has died at the age of 38. Multiple Caribbean outlets reported that Drue was found unresponsive, and was rushed to a hospital in St. John’s, the capital of Antigua and Barbuda. Hours later, Drue’s fiancé […]
By Neil Armstrong Even as the year is coming to an end and there is much mirth during the holiday season, there is also sorrow being felt by many in Toronto’s Black community who are mourning the deaths of three creatives almost within a week of each other — legendary reggae musician Bernie Pitters, filmmaker […]
