The end for Stewart of ‘Keith and Enid’ fame
VETERAN Jamaican singer Keith Stewart is dead. The pioneer entertainer lost his battle with cancer of the kidney with which he had been battling for some time, on the same day another stalwart from the local music fraternity — record producer Sonia Pottinger — passed away.
Stewart died at his home in Montego Bay on the evening of Wednesday, November 3 at 7:24, his wife Merlyn Stewart told the Observer.
Known for a vocal texture that lacked friction, Stewart began his career in music over 50 years ago. Teaming up with Enid Cumberland, they established in 1958 one of Jamaica’s best duets known as Keith and Enid.
Their signature tune is the enduring 1960 ballad, Worried Over You, with haunting melodies which brought them to prominence.
Keith and Enid also earned for themselves another hit with great harmony called The End, which, for Stewart, came approximately four months after his 72 birthday on July 1. He was born in 1938.
After the duo split in the late 1960s, Stewart embarked on a solo career, switching his focus to the hotel circuit on the North Coast and entertaining mainly tourists while performing mento and folk songs.
His best known recording in this phase of his career is the song, Yellow Bird, which became the titled track for an album.
“Keith has a voice, very, very smooth. It’s unfortunate that he didn’t put out enough material for one to really judge him for his true worth.
“For his voice is a very good voice. It reminds me of Boris Gardiner, but like I said, he didn’t do enough work for us to recognise how good an artiste he was,” was how music oficionado Bunny Goodison remembered his friend from boyhood days.
Goodison went on to reveal some little known facts about Keith Stewart.
“I personally am going to miss him because I’ve known him from little boy days. He used to be a very good cricketer… he went to Kingston Senior School and he played Matcham Cup Cricket and was a very good cricketer.
“We all used to play at Race Course. And also, he was an extremely fine commercial artist as well. I’m talking about painting — high-class painter in terms of artwork,” Goodison added.
