Prominent Jamaican producer and songwriter Winston Riley is dead. Riley died in hospital yesterday from the effects of a gunshot wound he received last year. He was in a coma since he was attacked and shot in the back of the head in November last year. He was 65 years old.
Winston, who was the father of Fame FM disc jockey Kurt Riley, had been plagued by a series of violent attacks. He was shot in August last year and later stabbed five times in September.
Kurt Riley told the Observer that his father’s grieving relatives could not figure out a motive behind the attempts on his father’s life.
“Unfortunately Daddy didn’t wake up so we could talk to him to find out if there was something he was not telling us. He was a straightforward man, who was allergic to hypocrisy,” he said.
Winston Riley produced the late General Echo’s The Slackest album on his Techniques label in 1979, and was instrumental in the development of the careers of Sister Nancy, Buju Banton, Cutty Ranks, Lone Ranger, and Frankie Paul.
Some of the acts who scored for Riley during this period were Super Cat (Boops), Sister Charmaine (Granny Advice), Red Dragon (Hol’ A Fresh), Sanchez (Loneliness) and Spanner Banner (Life Goes On). General Echo’s Arlene and Ring The Alarm by Tenor Saw.
Four years ago, Riley established a museum dedicated to the history of Jamaican pop music in downtown Kingston.
