Nardo Ranks, the deejay best known for the 1992 hit song Dem A Bleach, has died.

He passed away in Queens, New York, on December 22, according to colleagues on social media.

Leading the tributes was Red Fox, a veteran of the tri-state dancehall scene. He posted on
Instagram: “Saddened to hear the passing of Nardo Ranks… My condolence to his family and love ones. RIP DJ.”

Dem A Bleach was produced by the Taxi Gang on the Bam Bam rhythm that drove numerous hit songs, led by Murder She Wrote by Chaka Demus and Pliers. A jab at individuals who used acidic creams to lighten their skin, the song topped the RJR Top 40 chart for six weeks 32 years ago.

“When I did Dem A Bleach it was in response to Buju Banton’s Love Mi Browning. Bleaching was just catching on at di time, and I wanted to highlight dat in my song,” Nardo Ranks told the Jamaica Observer in a April 2017 interview.

Burrup, produced by Soljie Hamilton, followed in 1993. It peaked at #16 on the Billboard Dance Music Maxi-Singles Sales chart that year.

Born Gary Henderson, Nardo Ranks came from the Dunkirk (McIntyre Villa) community in east Kingston. His music career started in the mid-1980s on the Cave Man Hi Power sound system, with his first released song being Love To See The Girls in 1989.

He had a dancehall hit alongside fellow Dunkirk native Wayne Wonder with Sound Boy What Happen for producer Winston Riley, but it was Dem A Bleach that gave him national recognition. Its success earned Nardo Ranks a contract with Profile Records, a New York independent company with strong hip hop ties. The label released the album, Rough Nardo Ranking, in 1993.

On Sunday, veteran American music industry insider Murray Elias, who worked with him at Profile, recalled their time at that label.

“Nardo was an underrated deejay. He had a super-hot run in the early 90s, where he had not just back-to-back-to-back dancehall hits, but every one of those hits crossed over into the hip-hop world. They were massive hits in New York, both in the clubs and on the mix shows, and in the case of Burrup, on radio [stations] like KISS-FM and stations up and down the East Coast. Burrup, Rikers Island, New Jersey Drive and Dem A Bleach were all innovative and ground-breaking classics. Working with Nardo on these projects was an absolute honour and privilege,” he said.

Nardo Ranks, who was in his late 50s, also tried his hand at acting, appearing in movies such as Jamaican Mafia and Jump Off.

— Howard Campbell