Reggae, Dancehall Pioneer U-Roy Has Passed Away Aged 78

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Reports have emerged that vastly influential reggae and dancehall icon U-Roy, actual title Ewart Beckford, has handed away on the age of 78. His longtime collaborator Neil Fraser, aka Mad Professor, confirmed the information shortly after it started to flow into on social media.

Born in Jones Town, Jamaica, in 1942, U-Roy — typically known as Daddy U-Roy or The Originator — was one an early ‘deejay’ and broadly credited because the pioneer of a method often called “toasting”, a rhythmic manner of talking over a reggae document. His groundbreaking model would go on to encourage and inform every thing from trendy dancehall to hip-hop, grime and extra.

He was additionally breathakingly prolific, recording no less than 20 albums and an unfathomable variety of 45″ singles. One of his key contributions, as many are noting today, was 1970’s Version Galore with John Holt, one of the first ever reggae studio albums that changed the way music was recorded and released on the Caribbean island.

Shortly after the news broke, David Rodigan took to his socials to mourn the Jamaican icon, describing Beckford as an “iconic toaster who modified the paradigm of Jamaican music when he voiced the Version Galore album. I used to be all the time in awe of him; the tone of voice, the cadence, the lyrical shimmering and riddim driving made him ‘the soul adventurer’.”

In a statement posted to their Instagram, Trojan Records added that before Version Galore, “there actually wasn’t a lot of an album marketplace for Jamaican artists. ‘Version Galore’ modified that state of affairs in a single day by promoting within the type of portions that the three chart-topping 45s that preceded it had accomplished. If the success of ‘Wake The Town’, ‘This Station Rule The Nation’ and ‘Wear You To The Ball’ hadn’t already made U Roy the primary artist in Jamaica, this album would (and did!) verify his star standing completely.”