Reggae musician Pluto Shervington has died

Jamaican Reggae singer and producer, Pluto Shervington, has died.

According to the Jamaica Gleaner, he passed away minutes before 11 o’clock on Friday morning in a hospital in Florida. He was admitted on Thursday.

Born Leighton Keith Shervington, he began his career in the early 1970s as a member of the showband Tomorrow’s Children.

Inspired by the success of Ernie Smith’s “Duppy or a Gunman” and Tinga Stewart’s “Play de Music”, both delivered in heavy patois, he recorded in a similar style “Ram Goat Liver”, inspiring Lee “Scratch” Perry to produce a popular version with Jimmy Riley.

The follow-up single, “Dat” – about a Rastafarian trying to buy pork (without naming it aloud), contrary to his faith, so that he can afford marijuana – achieved considerable chart success internationally in 1976, reaching the number 6 spot in the UK Singles Chart.

Trojan Records capitalized on this success by reissuing his first single, which peaked just outside the top 40 in the UK.

Life in Miami

Shervington moved to Miami, Florida, in the early 1980s. He continued to record, and reached the UK top 20 again when “Your Honour”, originally recorded in 1975 but never previously released, was re-issued in early 1982 together with a new recording “No Honour Among Tiefs”.

In addition to his work as a singer, Pluto Shervington gained a reputation as a talented bass guitarist, and as a recording engineer, notably engineering Little Roy’s 1974 album, Tafari Earth Uprising.

Shervington also scored as a producer, overseeing the creation of the 1975 song “Hooray Festival” performed by Roman Stewart, and “Midnight Rider” by Paul Davidson, which peaked at number 10 in the UK Singles Chart in December 1975.

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Shervington often performed live in Miami, and periodically returned to his homeland for performances.

From 2018, when not on tour, Shervington performed solo several times a week at the Bahama Breeze in Kendall, Florida, and every other Sunday at Black Point Marina in Cutler Bay, with a five-piece band.

Pluto was married and has four sons and two daughters.