THANKSGIVING service for the late Barrington Llewellyn — founding member of the rocksteady/reggae trio Heptones — has been changed to Curphey Place in Swallowfied, St Andrew.

Musical tributes will begin at 10:00 am and funeral rites at noon.

According to close friend and founder of the group, Earl Morgan, interment follows in the Dovecot Memorial Park.

Initial reports had indicated that the funeral would have been at the Jamaica Association for Vintage Artistes and Affiliates (JAVAA) headquarters on Hagley Park Road. It was unclear why the venue change was made.

Llewellyn, 63, died last Wednesday in the University Hospital of the West Indies in St Andrew after complaining of not feeling well. Pnuemonia was later cited as the cause of death.

Llewellyn, who would have celebrated his birthday on Christmas Eve, is best remembered as the lead vocalist in the 1973 hit song Book of Rules for Island. The song is based on an American poem called A Bag of Tools by RL Sharpe.

Started in 1965 in Kingston, Jamaican rocksteady and reggae trio got their name from Morgan, who saw it written on a discarded drink bottle.

The group comprising Llewellyn, Morgan and Leroy Sibbles produced a number of hit songs throughout the 1960s and 1970s which included: Fattie Fattie (1966); I’ve Got a Feeling (1966); Get In the Groove (1967); Equal Rights (1968); Ain’t Nobody Else (1968); Party Time (1966); Pretty Looks (1969); Our Day Will Come (1972); Mistry Babylon (1977); and, Sufferers’ Time (1978).

Leroy Sibbles left the trio in 1979 and migrated to Canada where he began a solo career. Sibbles was replaced with Naggo Morris and group continued to make music producing their last album — Rainbow Valley — in 2007.

Llewellyn is survived by his wife, Monica, and several children.