An unheralded soldier of the music business, Gary Noble made his mark as a recording and mixing engineer, working on some of the biggest hit songs from the 1990s.

He died April 2 in South Florida at age 59.

His thanksgiving service took place at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in South Florida on April 15.

Noble, who was born in Kingston, engineered songs such as Here Comes The Hotstepper by Ini Kamoze; Ready or Not (remix) by The Fugees; Soundboy Killing by Mega Banton; and Frank, Amy Winehouse’s first album.

Those projects were produced by Salaam Remi, the American wunderkind who shared a fruitful professional and personal relationship with Noble, starting in 1990.

“Gary was more than an engineer to me, he was a brother. We learned so many things together, got our stripes in this business at the same time,” Remi, who attended the service, told the Jamaica Observer.

Noble migrated with his family to the United States at age 17, settling in New York when Jamaican sound system culture was emerging in the boroughs of Brooklyn, Bronx and Queens.

During the 1980s he developed an appreciation for hip hop, which also took shape in those communities. His eclectic tastes meshed with Remi, the son of Trinidadian musician Van Gibbs, who was once a member of Harry Belafonte’s band.

While working at an hospital in Queens, Noble started as an intern at Remi’s studio.

“Gary and myself come from Caribbean backgrounds, so we not only understood Jamaican culture and sound system culture, he also appreciated hip hop and everything else in the early days,” said Remi.

The first project Noble and Remi collaborated on was Here Comes The Hotstepper, which went number one in the United States in 1995. Noble also mixed Fu-Gee-La, the breakthrough hit by a trio named The Fugees, which made The Score, their 1996 multi-platinum album.

One of his biggest projects was Frank, the 2003 album by a talented British singer named Amy Winehouse. Partially produced by Remi, it introduced the eccentric artiste to an international audience.

Noble and his family moved to Miami in 2002, the same year as Remi.

Also attending the funeral service were producers Dwayne “Supa Dups” Chin-Quee and Rohan “Jah Snowcone” Fuller, along with keyboardist Bernard “Touter” Harvey of Inner Circle.