Thank you to Carter Van Pelt for his contributions to the Jamaican Living Legends list.

So many of Jamaica’s foundational artist are no longer here on Earth. All too frequently we read that another legendary singer, musician, or producer has passed. When that happens, Facebook timelines are flooded with tribute posts and YouTube clips of the artist’s best works. And rightly so! Yet at times I can’t help but wonder why we (I include myself here) so often wait until an artist has died to give him or her the tribute that they would have surely appreciated in life. Maybe human nature comes into play here. I don’t know.

The other day I asked my facebook friends to help me compile a list of still-living Jamaican artists who recorded in the 1960s, 70s or 80s. Happily, as we soon discovered, many more artists are still with us than I had realized!

Below I have compiled the names of all the living artists we could think of, and included links to their music (just click on a name.) My plan is to constantly update this list (as we think of more names, and, over the years, as artists fly away home). I know I’m missing a lot of 80s artists, specifically digital-era artists from the second half of the decade.

If you notice any omissions or errors, please send me a message at [email protected].

Above all, please support these living legends! Buy their music or merchandise, find out when they are coming to town and go see them, and listen to their tunes!

Winston Rodney aka Burning Spear

–Vernon “Maytones” Buckley (lead singer of The Maytones)

–Ken Boothe

–Freddie McGregor

–U-Roy

–Dennis Alcapone

–Winston Rodney aka Burning Spear

–The Mighty Diamonds (Donald “Tabby” Shaw, Fitzroy “Bunny” Simpson and Lloyd “Judge” Ferguson)

–Peter Austin (The Clarendonians)

–Ernest “Soul” Wilson

–Stranger Cole

Stranger Cole

–Tappa Zukie

–Keith & Tex

–Lee “Scratch” Perry

–Bunny Wailer

–Clinton Fearon (The Gladiators & Solo singer/songwriter)

–Albert Griffiths (The Gladiators)

–Horace Andy

–Yellowman

–Purpleman

–Toots Hibbert (of Toots & The Maytals)

–Sly Dunbar (Sly & Robbie)

–Robbie Shakespear (Sly & Robbie)

–Johnny Clarke

–Cornell Cambell

Cornell Campbell

–Barrington Levy

–Little John

–Michigan & Smiley

–Leo Graham (The Bleechers and solo artist)

–The Cables

–Don Carlos

–Michael Rose (Black Uhuru and solo artist)

–Israel Vibration

–Cedric Myton (The Congos)

–Marcia Griffiths

–Judy Mowatt

–Rita Marley

–Sister Nancy

–Sister Carol

–Wayne Wade

–Wayne Jarret

–Winston Jarrett

–Linval Thompson

–Rod Taylor

–Johnny Osbourne

–Sylford Walker

Sylford Walker

–Welton Irie

–Leroy Sibbles (lead singer of The Heptones, Studio One Bass player)

-Earl Morgan (The Heptones)

–BB Seaton

–Roy & Yvonne

–Derrick Harriott

–Derrick Morgan

-Roy Ellis

-Monty Neysmith

–Keith Blake

–Rudy Mills

–Lester Sterling

–Errol Dunkley

–The Silvertones

–Errol “Flabba” Holt (Roots Radics bass player and solo artist)

–Bingi Bunny (Roots Radics guitar player)

–Ernest Ranglin

-Monty Alexander

–Eek-A-Mouse

–Half Pint

–Junior Reid

–Tonto Irie

–Lone Ranger

–Big Youth

–Willie Williams

–Hux Brown (guitar player for Sound Dimension and other bands)

–Bob Andy

–Pipe Matthews (Wailing Souls)

–Bread (Wailing Souls)

–Garth Dennis

–Scientist

–King Jammy aka Prince Jammy

–Aston “Family Man” Barrett

–Keith Porter (The Itals)

–Cocoa Tea

–Judah Eskender Tafari

–Tippa Lee

–Tony Tuff

–Jim Brown

–Viceroys

–Yami Bolo

–Courtney Melody

-Earl “China” Smith

-Fully Fullwood

-Carlton “Santa” Davis

-Tony Chin

–Leroy “Horsemouth” Wallace

–Pablo Moses

Pablo Moses

–Sidney Crooks

–Ras Michael

–Ernie Smith

–Pluto Shervington

–Willie Francis

–Owen Gray

–Kiddus I

–Enos McCloud

–Winston Reedy

–Max Romeo

–Winston Hussey

–Tristan Palmer

–Prince Alla

–Junior Ross

–Frankie Jones

–Jimmy Cliff

–Carlton Livingston

–Scion Sashay Success

–Doreen Shaffer

–Lloyd Parks

–Vin Gordon

–Milton Henry

–Keith Poppin

–Bernard Collins (The Abyssinians)

–Earl Zero

–Carlton Manning (Carlton & The Shoes)

– Harry Belafonte

– Roy Panton

– Yvonne Harrison

– Patsy Todd

– Junior Byles

– Lord Creator

– Norman Grant (Twinkle Brothers)

– Ralston Grant (Twinkle Brothers)

– Leroy Brown

– Leroy Smart

– Eric Bubbles/Buddle (African Brothers)

– Winston Jones (Spanishtonians)

– Constantine Vision Walker (Wailers/ Soulettes)

– Bongo Herman

– Fil Callendar

– Roy Cousins (The Royals / Tamoki Wambesi)

– Vin Gordon

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