December 11, 2016
Passage – Jimmy Riley
2016 ENTERTAINMENT HIGHLIGHTS
The singer, whose long career began in the late 1960s, died of cancer on March 23 in New York at age 68.
The father of singer Tarrus Riley, he had a 47-year career that started with The Sensations and Uniques.
As a solo artiste, Riley soared in 1979 with the drum-and-bass team of Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare. They produced Love And Devotion and My Woman’s Love, two of the biggest hits in Jamaica that year.
Riley had a hit song (Pull Up Selector) with Tarrus in 2007 and was still recording despite his deteriorating health.
His thanksgiving service on April 6 at Webster Memorial United Church in St Andrew was a rousing affair attended by family and music industry colleagues.
