Donald 'Tabby' Shaw RIP

Very sad to hear of the death in a drive by shooting in Kingston of Donald 'Tabby' Shaw, aged 67, lead singer of the Mighty Diamonds, one of Jamaica's finest harmony groups who made a series of excellent albums from the mid seventies onwards. Formed in 1969 the trio were influenced by soul groups such as the Temptations and the Impressions and after several successful records produced by Stranger Cole, Derrick Harriott and Lee 'Scratch' Perry they recorded their first LP 'Right Time' for Virgin in 1976. Their second album, 'Ice On Fire', was produced by Allen Toussaint in New Orleans and they went on to record some 40 albums over the following 30 years. I remember seeing them a couple of times in the nineties and being very impressed. One of these shows was in 1996 at the Rhythmic, a short lived venue in Islington where I also saw Rufus Thomas, Bo Diddley, Marlena Shaw with Jean Carne, and Teddy Royal with Hank Crawford. Does anybody remember that excellent music venue? And a second member of the Mighty Diamonds, Fitzroy 'Bunny' Diamond, has also died just four days after Tabby passed away. He was 70 and had been suffering from diabetes. Another Jamaican artist to have died is Nathaniel Ian Wynter, (67) also known as Natty Wailer, who was best known for his work with Bob Marley and the Wailers. RIP to them all.