R.I.P. Vincent 'Tata' Ford, 2008 a year of remembrance

Vincent Ford overleed het afgelopen weekend zeer plots, maar 2008 was zonder meer één van de zwartste jaren in de reggaegeschiedenis. Een overzicht van de legendes van wie we dit jaar afscheid hebben moeten nemen:

Joe Gibbs, best known for producing a string of hit records by Dennis Brown and Culture during the 1970s, died from a heart attack in February. He was 65.

Singer/producer/broadcaster Michael 'Mikey Dread' Campbell, who hosted the groundbreaking Dread At The Controls radio show on the Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation in the late 1970s, died from complications of a brain tumour in March, in Connecticut. He was 54.

Cedella Booker, mother of reggae legend Bob Marley, died of natural causes in April at her South Florida home. She was 81 years old.

Singer Roy Shirley, the 'High Priest' of Reggae, died in July in London. He was 64.

Trumpeter Johnny 'Dizzy' Moore, founding member of The Skatalites, succumbed to cancer in August at age 69.

Ermine Bramwell, better known in music circles as Cherry Green, who was a member of the original Wailers, along with Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer, died in September in Miami, Florida.

Alton Ellis, the soulful singer largely responsible for making the rocksteady beat famous, died in October in London at age 70 after a year-long battle with cancer.

Bandleader Byron Lee also died from cancer, in November. He led The Dragonnaires band for 50 years, making hit records and kept the calypso and soca sound alive in Jamaica.

Edward 'Baby G' Gordon, a member of The Flames, Alton Ellis' backup group, died in November from complications related to diabetes. He was 70 years old.

Bron: Jamaica Gleaner 23/12/2008