Owen Gray, trailblazing Ska singer, dies at 86
LONDON, England — Owen Gray, the Ska singer who helped introduce Jamaican music to the United Kingdom, died here on Sunday at age 86. His daughter, Antonitte Gray, confirmed his passing.
She did not disclose a cause of death but told Observer Online her father suffered a stroke four years ago and was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2019.
She remembers her father as “a jokester” who “was an entertainer not just on stage”.
Born in St Mary, Gray moved to Kingston in his teens and began his career singing in clubs. Patricia, a song he recorded in 1960, is widely acknowledged as the first release for Island Records.
Gray also recorded for producer Clement Dodd at Studio One where he mentored a teenaged singer from Clarendon named Millie Small, who had a global hit with My Boy Lollipop in 1964. Two years earlier, he moved to the United Kingdom as part of a massive West Indian migration to that country.
In 2023, Owen Gray was awarded the Order of Distinction by Jamaica’s government for his contribution to the country’s music. Ill health prevented him from coming to Kingston to collect his badge, but in April last year, Gray received the OD (Officer class), during a ceremony at the Jamaica High Commission in London.
“I have been in music for 65 years and I have to say this is one of the best things to happen to me. I’m really grateful,” he told the Jamaica Observer.
Anthony “Chips” Richards, Gray’s friend of over 50 years, attended that event. He said the national honour was a high point of his life.
“It gave him such a lift. He recovered from the stroke, because he was so determined to accept the award himself at the High Commission,” Richards told Observer Online.
Along with Small, Laurel Aitken, Jimmy James, Dandy Livingstone, Tony Tribe and Jimmy Cliff, Gray was part of a vibrant Jamaican music colony in the United Kingdom during the 1960s.
In the 1980s, he enjoyed a career revival after collaborating with Richards to record several well-received reggae albums that introduced him to new fans in South America.
Owen Gray is survived by many children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and two sisters.
