Miss Lou being escorted to her seat during a special concert in her honour at Emancipation Park in 2003.

Louise Bennett-Coverly, who died yesterday in Toronto Canada, was arguably the most beloved of Jamaica's cultural figures.

Bennett, known to generations of Jamaicans as Miss Lou, has long been hailed as a cultural icon. Her influence on Jamaican cultural expression was wide-ranging.
Broadcasters, actors, would-be emcees, poets (both writing and performing) and popular musicians (from Bob Marley to present-day DJs) listed her as a key influence on their development, particularly for her work in popularising the use of Jamaican dialect in both print and broadcast media.

Speaking by phone with the Observer, writer, talk show host and present director of the Pantomime company Barabra Gloudon said Miss Lou would remain alive in the consciousness of Jamaicans by virtue of her work. "No way is this the end of Louise Bennett. What she has done,
her poetry, her social commentary, her contribution to the Pantomime, are so monumental in Jamaican life and culture that they just cannot be taken away," she said. "She was the person who did a lot to help me do what I'm able to do. I'm not crying. Miss Lou mek a step."

Broadcaster and actress Fae Ellington, who first met Miss Lou while at the JBC, lauds her for giving the Jamaican language respectability. "All her dialect pieces are social commentary, not to be taken for a lark.

Addressing her influence on popular music and culture, Ellington said, "We tend to talk glibly today about Brand Jamaica, and many forget that were it not for Miss Lou, there would be no Brand Jamaica. One of the ways a brand is ascribed to a nation is through language, and our DJs and singers who took our music to the world were not -[and are not] - singing standard English, they're singing in patois. Miss Lou really was a pioneer and a visionary in that regard."

In addition to her exemplary track record as a folklorist, writer and pioneer in the performing arts in Jamaica, Miss Lou is also fondly remembered as the host of the long-running children's variety programme, Ring Ding on the former JBC-TV. She was also instrumental in the development of the LTM National pantomime, having played various roles in several productions. Her combinations with the late Ranny Williams, as 'The Lou and Ranny Show' are also well known.

A long-time resident of Canada, Miss Lou came home to a rapturous welcome in 2003(her first visit since 1990), where she travelled in a motorcade, and was the subject of an official civic tribute in Emancipation Park, and also guest of honour at the Prime Minister's Independence Gala.

Miss Lou was the recipient of several accolades from the Institute of Jamaica. Among these are the Silver and Gold Musgrave Medals.

She was awarded the Silver Musgrave for Dialect and Folklore in 1965 and the Gold Medal for Poetry and the Arts in 1978.

She was also the recipient of the Norman Manley Award for Excellence in Folklore and Art.

In 1988, her composition, You're Going Home Now, earned a nomination from the Canadian Academy of Film & Television for best original song in the movie Milk & Honey. Other songs for which she is known and in which she helped to popularise include Linstead Market, Wheel an' Tun Me, Under Banyan Tree, Chi-Chi Bud O, Evening Time, Wata Come To Me Eye(Come Back Liza) and Nobody's Business.

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