The Mighty Diamonds

Roots reggae vocal trio, formed 1969, Trenchtown, Kingston

Donald “Tabby” Shaw sang lead, with Fitzroy “Bunny” Simpson and Lloyd “Judge” Ferguson in harmony — a Motown-shaped vocal group working in the roots idiom, and by the mid-1970s one of the most respected acts in Jamaica on the strength of Right Time. “Pass the Kouchie” arrived in 1981 on Gussie Clarke’s Music Works label and promptly got them denounced by the Prime Minister and banned from national radio, which did nothing to slow it in the record shops. Simpson and Ferguson are two of the three writers credited on the record label (with Jackie Mittoo); the composition’s full credit list runs to seven. Shaw was killed in a drive-by shooting in March 2022; Simpson died days later.

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Songs The Mighty Diamonds recorded first

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