Reggae star Desmond Dekker is dead of a heart attack. Before Bob Marley, Dekker was Jamaica’s biggest international star.
Dekker is best known for the song The Israelites (1968) which made it on both U.S. and U.K. charts.
That song — and many of Dekker’s other hits such 007, It Mek and his recording debut Honor Your Father and Mother — was produced by Chinese Jamaican Leslie Kong, who also produced Bob Marley’s first two recordings.
The Guardian has a note about Dekker’s passing: Reggae star Dekker dies at 64
There is more on Chinese Jamaicans and reggae, in particular Leslie Kong, on this old Danwei post: Chinese reggae pioneers.
Desmond Dekker’s official website still contains concert details for August of this year: Dekker never stopped performing and was scheduled to play in Prague next Friday.
Below are the lyrics of the song The Israelites:
Get up in the morning, slaving for bread, sir,
So that every mouth can be fed.
Poor me, the Israelite. Aah.
My wife and my kids, they are packed up and leave me.
Darling, she said, I was yours to be seen.
Poor me, the Israelite. Aah.
Shirt them a-tear up, trousers are gone.
I don’t want to end up like Bonnie and Clyde.
Poor me, the Israelite. Aah.
After a storm there must be a calm.
They catch me in the farm. You sound the alarm.
Poor me, the Israelite. Aah.
Poor me, the Israelite.
I wonder who I’m working for.
Poor me, Israelite,
I look a-down and out, sir.
Image of Dekker from BBC.
