Winston Riley has passed away

Founder of the ska and rocksteady vocal group the Techniques, Winston Riley, passed away on Thursday, never recovering from a gunshot wound to the head he had sustained in November. He’d previously been shot in August and stabbed in September. Like so many of the Jamaican talents we respect, he was not only a talented vocalist, but an accomplished reggae producer and record shop owner.  That record shop was burned to the ground some years ago.  Such a run of “bad luck” remains a mystery, according to the family (as reported to AP).

Read the Associated Press report

This of course, comes at the same time as the death of Etta James, Johnny Otis and Errol Scorcher.

So, while life moves on, reflect on the good things, brought to us by individuals whose legacy will always remain as long as a select portion of the world have good taste in music.