As Ernie Smith approached the entrance to TRIO restaurant in Kingston on May 1 he had no idea there was a gathering of family and well-wishers waiting to help him celebrate his 79th birthday.

“Surprise!” they shouted to the bemusement of the veteran singer who was accompanied by Claudette, his wife of one year.

He then mingled with guests who included his son Peter, niece Tina Carroll-Scott, fellow musicians Desi Jones, Christopher McDonald, Lloyd Parks, and Ed Robinson, whose wife Joanna Marie manages Smith.

Shortly before he performed some of his classic songs, Smith spoke to the Jamaica Observer about reaching the “last year of my 70s” and his career which started during the late 1960s.

“I still feel great; every time I hit di stage I still feel like a young bwoy,” he shared. “I’m satisfied with di standard I put out when I go on that stage.”

Patrons warmed to that standard when Smith performed Duppy Gunman and All For Jesus, two of the songs that made him a star with Federal Records during the 1970s. He also did a medley of ska songs.

All For Jesus, he said, was written and recorded during a period of soul-searching in the late 1970s when the talented Smith lost his way.

He migrated to Canada, then settled in South Florida before returning to Jamaica in the early 1990s and experienced a career revival.

Robinson also took the stage, performing Alton Ellis’s version of Ain’t That Loving You and his hit rendition of Bob Dylan’s Knocking on Heaven’s Door.