On August 9, the day that would have been her 57th birthday, family, friends and colleagues of the late Suzanne Couch gathered at the Sts Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church in St Andrew in celebration of the life she lived with passion, flair and love.

The accomplished Jamaican singer, songwriter, pianist and caterer, who was born in Kingston in 1961, died in Mexico on June 9.

In an emotional and musically moving ceremony, friends and family paid their tributes to the woman they remembered as a lover of life, music, family, dogs and good food.

Paying tributes in song were singer Ernie Smith, who sang I’m On Your Side, a track written by Smith with melody arranged by Couch. Wayne Marshall also sang his hit song Lord I Pray for the late singer, whom he called ‘Aunty Suzanne’. Jamaica singer Feluke moved the congregation with his personal rendition of his song Soul Alive, while everyone sang along to Velia Espeut’s and Stephen “Cat” Coore’s rendition of Bob Marley’s Redemption Song.

Other creative talents were on display during the thanksgiving ceremony as exemplified by the following poem written to Couch by one of her close friends, mixed media visual artist, Inansi.

Beloved Aunty Couch

Curvy bouncy speedy

Supportive & juicy

Song-Writing Singing

Playing your boards

Shopping Chopping

Cooking your rewards

Your gifts our bounty

Sister Suzy

Never bored

Never still

Seeing and voicing

Views from Jack’s Hill

– Villa Falaise –

A doggie Paradise

You So Nice!

LIFELINE to some

Giving HOPE to many

Caterer of Notes

At the top

of the scale

A driving force

For every course

The Essence of caring

What’s On Café

Christmas Feasts

in March or May

Whenever possible

You serve with

Gusto -hot sweet

spicy Repasts

Whenever I see you

-I laugh – at last

Ohh that voice

So resonant and sweet

A song-birds call

Come one Come all

Let’s Eat! Eat! Eat!

Have some more

Encore Encore!

A Little More Love

“Chewn In”

To YouTube

we see

-YOU ROCK!

Big-Up

your Up-Beat

Big- Band

& Better days

Alpha warrior woman

sturdy and strong

The fight was long

The pain’s gone

Your soul Released

spreading cheer

In the memories

Of we you hold Dear

So long my

Lion-heart Friend

Your Tribe is here

Blessing your year

Soon Come

Singing & Dancing

with you again Mi’dear

Peter -Sarah

Eric & Lucas

Will play their parts

We give Nuff Thanks for

“Our Queen of Hearts”

Til then

… Everyone…

S-M-I-L-E!

Namaste

An excerpt of the remembrance delivered by her close friend of 35 years and former Miss World, Cindy Breakspeare.

Suzanne Grace Couch (nee O’Connor) was born here in Kingston, Jamaica on this very day, August 9, 1961, 57 years ago to Phyllis O’Conner, nee Espeut, and Albert O’Conner. The youngest of three, she was many years junior to Paul and Jennifer. She was some months premature and Peter (husband) is convinced that the same impatience to begin her life all those years ago is what became the frenetic pace that drove her everyday existence. Educated at Campion College, she loved tennis and music and went on to major in music at the University in Florida. She and Peter met in 1977, when he saw her on keyboards at “The Talk of the Town”- a mere slip of a girl, and as we say in Jamaica, “him skin ketch fire”. They married in 1984, shortly after Peter’s return from California and a three-year stint with Native, a band many of you may be familiar with. Sarah was born in 1987 and thus began a 35-year marriage that seemed to flow seamlessly from career to home life, as they worked together, played together and acquired a great many dogs together, making it all look so simple and effortless.

I first became friendly with Suzanne in the late ’80s at the suggestion of a mutual friend, Joanna Thwaites. The suggestion was as a result of the fact that I had begun to dabble in the music business and Joanna thought Suzanne would be a good person to get to know for advice, support, possibly voice coaching and direction in general. I called her up, she immediately agreed for me to come over to her studio, which was then at her mother-in-law’s home in Jacks Hill and the rest as they say, is history. Shortly after we started working together she began planning one of her famous Jamming on the Fault Lines parties. I was slated to be on the bill. As the day drew closer, and the cold feet began to set in, I called her to say I didn’t think I would be able to do it, offering many excuses, all of them ridiculous. “Hold on, hold on Cindy”, she said, “Peteeerrrrrrrr!”, she hollered in that inimitable style, “Cindy say she not doing it again”, then she set about convincing me why I should in fact go ahead with it. Whatever made me think I had any escape? That was never happening. I don’t think I can remember a time when I walked into her house without hearing “Rella, you hungry? You want something to eat?” She would call on any given day, without warning, and say “come for lunch nuh!” I rarely refused, as I have always said, Suzanne’s food, even on a bad day, was better that everyone else’s at their best and it amazes me how like her Sarah has become, as each time I have visited the house in the last month, the inevitable question comes, “Aunty Cindy, you hungry?”

And I digress and so we embarked on 30 years of a wonderful irreplaceable friendship. Looking back at so many of the pictures taken of us at various events, we were so often side by side, arm in arm. Happy to be together, sharing good times and bad; revelling in the special bond we had formed. I must tell you though, that many of my older friends did not take kindly to this new relationship at first. Who was this bombastic bulldozer of a girl that I had befriended? One particular friend, affectionately known as Virg, told me initially she was in fact petrified of Suzanne. But they soon to understand that beneath all that bravado was not only the spirit of a firecracker but also the softest, kindest heart-a person who would take home stray dogs off the street (the mangier the better) and cry at the drop of a hat.

Music was Suzanne’s true passion and in reviewing her various performances and videos on YouTube as I have done repeatedly in the last month, it is truly an impressive body of work. She believed there was nothing she could not achieve in this arena and worked with some of the brightest and the best, Luther Vandross, Rob Mounsey, Monty Alexander, Roberta Flack, Les McCan, Dave Stewart and Ali Campbell of UB40.

It is no surprise that Suzanne followed in her mother’s Phyllis’s footsteps, into the catering business, another one of her passions. It came naturally to her. She loved good food and she loved to feed people. She became one of Jamaica’s most sought-after caterers, several times nominated at the Jamaica Observer Food Awards and the Jamaican chef chosen to set up the menu at Miss Lilly’s in New York City, showing them the versatility of jerk. Her home-made jerk seasoning, pepper jelly and Scotch bonnet mash were in high demand amongst foodies and I had to stop at her gate at 5:00 am one morning on the way to the airport to collect a large bottle of the mash for Patsy, because Suzanne simply refused to allow her to leave without it. I never heard anyone offer anything but the highest of praise for her food. They just went back for more. Many was the occasion we sat together in the back of her food truck, she in her chef’s attire, me in my “pretty dan dan” as she would call it, chatting, laughing, and having a fine time.

The food always tasted better in the back of the truck. So, briefly to the next of Suzanne’s great passion were her dogs. I remember Copper, Purple, Cocoa, Frenchy, Creamy, Josephine, Beauty, Reds, Mama, Penelope, and Annie, just to name a few. They had the free run of the house and the furniture and the little upstart Penelope would actually growl at you if you tried to unseat her.

Mexico was the last stop on her journey and when she finally transitioned one month ago, her beloved Peter and Sarah were right there by her side, keeping vigil and lovingly seeing to her every need, with Maxine playing that all important supporting role. Maxine…Peter and Sarah have asked me to thank you with all the love and sincerity in their hearts and although you could not be here today. To borrow the words of another friend, Suzanne put up a magnificent fight and I cannot say how much I admired her strength, courage and determination to live her best life each and every day, even in the face of adversity. She never complained; she never lost her sense of humour.

She was a devoted wife to Peter, an amazing mother to Sarah, a doting grandmother to Lucas and a somewhat intimidating mother-in-law to Eric, who she loved very much. She always put her family first and loved them unconditionally. I am certain that Suzanne has found a new Peter to feed, in the personage of St Peter. The buffet line is set up, the band is ready, the choir of angels is well rehearsed and ‘food for the soul’ will be the main course on the menu. There is a new head cook and bottle washer in town, a bright shining star. “Auntie Suzie, Chusie, Aunty Couch, Couch or just Sue”, totally unique, unforgettable, spectacularly talented and beautiful in every sense of the word. Rest well my dear friend, we will miss you greatly and remember you always and we will keep Peter, Sarah, Lucas and Eric close to us. Our sister, our friend, happy birthday and one love.