The Jamaica Observer’s Entertainment Desk continues its look at personalities who passed away during the year 2020.

BARRY O’HARE

Well-respected music and audio engineer Barry O’Hare died at University Hospital of the West Indies, in St Andrew, September 19. The 56-year-old had tested positive for COVID-19 earlier that week.

O’Hare has worked with Third World, Steel Pulse, and Burning Spear. He was engineer for Spear’s Grammy-winning album Calling Rastafari in 2000.

Tanya Stephens, Diana King, Yami Bolo, Jack Radics, Prezident Brown, Mikey Spice, and Jahmali have also benefited from his expertise. He also worked on sound for film and television projects including the Disney film Sebastian and the ABC series Going to Extremes which was shot on location in Jamaica. On the road, O’Hare was engineer for Shaggy for 10 years; he has also worked in this capacity for Sean Paul and Beres Hammond.

RICHIE MAC

Richard “Richie Mac” McDonald, best known as a member of vocal group The Chosen Few, died at the Kingston Public Hospital on October 28. He was 68 years old.

McDonald was born in Kingston and got involved in music during the late 1960s when the city’s live scene was hot. He joined The Chosen Few which emerged from producer Derrick Harriott’s Crystal label.

The group’s other members were Franklyn Spence, Noel “Bunny” Brown and David Scott who left and had a strong solo career as deejay Scotty. Brown died last year while Scott passed away in 2003.

Like Scotty, McDonald left The Chosen Few in the early 1970s and went solo. He had a big hit for producer Glen Brown with the horn-hooked Realise which featured saxophonist Tommy McCook.

In the 1980s, McDonald recorded the albums Jah is I Light and Missions are Possible, as well as singles such as Where is the Love. His last performance was at the Red Rose For Gregory show in Kingston last February.

COURTNEY ROBB

Courtney Robb, the veteran musician who played bass with Byron Lee and The Dragonaires for many years, died in a Melbourne, Florida, hospital on November 14. He was 71 years old.

Born in Kingston, Robb valiantly fought kidney disease for 15 years and moved to Florida for treatment. He had a kidney transplant in 2010.

He started his career in the late 1960s with the Hell’s Angels band but is best remembered for his 35-year run with Byron Lee and The Dragonaires. With the latter, Robb toured the Jamaican Diaspora in North America and United Kingdom as well as the annual Caribbean carnival circuit.

Courtney Robb is survived by his wife, six children and five grandchildren.

DENISE JONES

DENISE Jones, co-founder of Canada’s long-running JAMBANA One World Festival, passed away at her Ontario home on December 3. She was 64.

Launched in 1987 by Jones and husband Allan, JAMBANA One World Festival featured performances by internationally acclaimed bands, artistes and JUNO Award winners.

In 1993, Jones started Reggaebana which infused reggae music into the predominantly soca and calypso flavoured Caribana Festival.

Born in Portland, Jones attended Hope Bay All-Age School and Titchfield High School in the parish. She did her undergraduate degree at University of Windsor in Canada. She returned to Jamaica in 1977, then migrated to Canada after getting married in the early 1980s and has lived there ever since.

ALBERT GRIFFITHS

Albert Griffiths, the influential founder and leader of The Gladiators, died December 15, in Aberdeen, St Elizabeth. He was 74 years old.

Griffiths was born in St Elizabeth but moved to Kingston in his late teens and found work as a session guitarist at Studio One. He formed The Gladiators there in 1968 and recorded what became their signature song, Hello Carol, that year.

Known as “Youth”, Griffiths sang and wrote most of the group’s songs including Hello Carol, Roots Natty Roots and Bongo Red. After leaving Studio One, The Gladiators recorded for producer Lee “Scratch” Perry and cut an album, Trenchtown Mix Up, for Virgin Records.

The band enjoyed a revival during the 1980s and 1990s when they were linked to independent American record companies such as Nighthawk and Heartbeat. Griffiths led them on a number of successful tours of Europe and North America.

He was forced to retire from touring in 2005 when he became ill. Anthony on drums, and Al, another son who sings, tour with a version of The Gladiators.