MOST people’s memories of Millie Small in 1964 are of her climbing international charts with the massive hit song, My Boy Lollipop. But for Dennis Smith, it was her return to Jamaica that year that made the greatest impression.

“Shi was at di airport an’ shi had on black leather pants an’ a white boots, an’ har hair was shocking!” Smith, who later found fame as deejay Al Capone, remembered.

Small, who died in London on May 5 at age 73, would become friends with Al Capone shortly after he moved to the United Kingdom in the early 1970s. He said their last conversation took place one week before her death.

“Shi was very upbeat, never sound like somebody who sick or depressed. I was shocked when I got the news,” he told the Jamaica Observer from his London home.

A statement from Small’s family said she suffered a stroke last weekend and went into a coma. The trailblazing singer was taken to Charing Cross Hospital in London where she died..

According to Al Capone, he and the reclusive Small were “phone friends” who had not seen each other in 40 years.

“Lots of people try get har to do dub plates an’ shows an’ when di time come shi kept putting dem off. Shi not budging,” said the veteran toaster.

The Clarendon-born Small became an instant star through My Boy Lollipop, a catchy ska single which entered the top 10 of pop charts in the UK and United States. It was produced by Chris Blackwell and arranged by guitarist Ernie Ranglin.

Her success opened doors for other Jamaican acts in the UK including Desmond Dekker and The Aces, Dandy Livingston, Jimmy Cliff and Nicky Thomas.

She never replicated that mega triumph and by the 1970s was forgotten, even though some of her contemporaries continued to do well on the resurgent European ska scene.

Al Capone, who is also from Clarendon, hailed Small’s understated accomplishments.

“Shi set di pace for all artistes. Millie was Jamaica’s first superstar long before Bob Marley. She’s high up there,” he said.