Oh dear. Just when The Garden Party had announced his substitution headline slot, Desmond Dekker suffered a heart attack at his home in England.
According to his manager, Delroy Williams: “He wasn’t sick – he died suddenly this morning from a heart attack.”
Born Desmond Adolphus Dacres, Dekker was one of the first Jamaican artists to make an impact outside of the country.
“When he released ‘Israelites’ nobody had heard of Bob Marley,” Williams notes. “He paved the way for all of them.”
‘Israelites’ wasn’t his only major international hit, with ‘Rude Boy Train’, ‘Rudie Got Soul’ and ‘007 (Shanty Town)’ all gracing the top 20.
We'll keep you posted on what this means for Garden Party-ers.