This is the sixth in the Jamaica Observer’s Entertainment Desk’s series for Reggae Month titled Princess Black.

TO get Jamaican music on the international map a big star was needed. And, in 1964, none shone brighter than Millie Small, a precocious 18-year-old singer from Clarendon.

That year she made the top 10 in the United Kingdom and United States with her cover of My Boy Lollipop, a catchy sing along that catapulted her, and ska, to fame.

Her role as a trailblazer was hailed by Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records, which distributed My Boy Lollipop in the UK.

“I would say she’s the person who took ska international because it was her first hit record,” Blackwell told the Jamaica Observer in a 2020 interview.

He recalled that Ernie Ranglin played guitar and did the arrangements on My Boy Lollipop, which became the first Jamaican song to make it on to the British and American charts, reaching number one in Britain and number two in the United States in 1964.

“It became a hit pretty much everywhere in the world. I went with her around the world because each of the territories wanted her to turn up and do TV shows and such, and it was incredible how she handled it. She was such a sweet person, really a sweet person. Very funny, great sense of humour. She was really special,” said Blackwell.

Small died on May 5, 2020 in London at age 73. A recluse for many years, she had reportedly been hospitalised after suffering a stroke.

Like many artistes with big hit songs early in their careers, Small never duplicated the success of My Boy Lollipop, which was originally done by American singer Barbie Gaye eight years earlier.

She did, however, set the pace for other Jamaican acts who had massive hits in the UK, like Desmond Dekker, Dave Barker and Ansell Collins, John Holt, Ken Boothe, Junior Murvin, and Boris Gardiner.

For that, reggae is eternally grateful.