Singer Keith Lyn in efficiency.
Keith Lyn, a member of the basic Byron Lee and the Dragonaires (BL&D) line-up from the Sixties, died in Miami, Florida on February 24.
He was 89 years-old.
Keyboardist Neville Hinds, his former bandmate, stated he was knowledgeable of the singer’s passing by Lyn’s sister.
The reason for loss of life is alleged to be cancer-related.
Lyn died two months after Carole Joan Crawford, the primary Jamaican to win Miss World, handed away in Canada. Impressed by her victory in 1963, he wrote and sang Portrait of My Love for BL&D.
The diminutive Lyn additionally wrote the ballad Empty Chair for the band, which grew to become his signature.
He shared lead vocals with Ken Lazarus on Jamaican Ska, their greatest vendor, launched in 1964 on the top of the ska craze.
In a 2019 interview with the Jamaica Observer Lyn mirrored on how BL&D received concerned with that sound.
“We have been launched to the ska by Eddie Seaga, who had us go to Chocomo Garden to pay attention and study this fascinating rhythm; and Ken Lazarus and myself spent many an evening there listening and serving to. BL&D then launched this [sound] to the uptown followers,” he recalled.
Chocomo Garden was situated in Seaga’s Kingston Western constituency. He had a robust relationship with Byron Lee and his musicians, who have been signed to his West Indies Recording Restricted label.
Lyn, who joined the band in 1963, carried out with them on the World’s Truthful in Flushing Meadows, New York, one 12 months later. Crawford, singers Prince Buster, Eric “Monty” Morris, and Jimmy Cliff have been additionally a part of the Jamaican delegation.
Hinds remembers Lyn as “very affable, likeable, and straightforward to work with. He by no means received into quarrels with anybody”.
Lyn left BL&D in 1978 and migrated to South Florida the place he lived for a few years. In Miami, he led a band that included fellow Jamaicans Paul Douglas on drums, Trevor Lopez on guitar, and keyboardist Leslie Butler.
Lyn was invested with the Order of Distinction by Jamaica’s Authorities in 2020 for his contribution to the nation’s music.
