Reggae/dancehall legend Lincoln Sugar Minott was laid to rest yesterday at Harker’s Hall Cemetery. The thanksgiving service for the superstar was held at the Jamaica National Arena.
Family, fans and close associates gave the dancehall legend an emotional farewell. Minott passed away on July 10 at the University Hospital of the West Indies, age 54. The Jamaican music fraternity have since being mourning the lost of another musical icon.
Several reggae and dancehall artists who were in attendance at the funeral service performed renditions of some of Minott’s biggest hits, as well as, some of their own.
Tristan Palmer and Little John, who were both groomed by Sugar minott performed Never Gonna Give Jah Up, one of Minott’s signature songs. They then did snippets of their own hits, Entertainment and True Confessions, before Palmer delivered a fine rendition of Good Thing Going, Minott’s biggest commercial hit.
Backed by Lloyd Parkes and We The People Band, singers Errol Dunkley, Phillip Fraser, George Nooks, the Silvertones and Derrick Harriott also performed. So, too, percussionist Bongo Herman, whose spirited version of Mr DC had the hall jumping.
Japanese reggae legend Nahki gave a much lauded tribute to Minott. The Japanese deejay was one of the most popular reggae entertainers in Asia during the late 1980s and early 1990s. He said Sugar Minott introduced dancehall culture to his country in 1984 and influenced many artistes, including himself.
“Without Sugar Minott, there would be no reggae in Japan,” Nahki said in an interview after the service.
Several other Jamaican music icons were in attendance, so you can imagine what an impact Sugar Minott made on Jamaican music.
Urban Islandz bid Minott farewell.
