Prince Buster dies in Miami

Legendary Jamaican ska singer, songwriter, record producer and sound-system operator Prince Buster is dead. The singer died of health complications at approximately 7:20 a.m. yesterday in Miami, Florida. He was 78 years old.

Born Cecil Eustace Campbell on May 24, 1938, Buster died leaving his widow, Mola Ali, sister and children.

Ali told The Gleaner that since Buster's passing yesterday morning, several persons from the entertainment fraternity have called in to offer their condolences and she is grateful for the outpouring of support for her late husband.

Prince Buster operated the Voice of the People sound system, produced the Folkes Brothers hit, Oh Carolina (1960), and had a famous lyrical battle with singer Derrick Morgan. For Oh Carolina, he included the drumming of a Rastafarian group led by Oswald 'Count Ossie' Williams , who died in 1976 in a motor-vehicle accident.

Among the recordings Buster did were They Got to Come and Black Head Chineyman, the latter an especially stinging blow at Morgan.

Buster, a former boxer, met and was influenced by former world heavyweight boxing champion Muhammed Ali.