Joseph Hill, lead vocalist and songwriter for the traditional ”roots” reggae group Culture, died on August 19. He was 57. Hill abruptly fell ill and died in Berlin while the group were in the middle of a European tour, according to his daughter Andrea. She did not know the cause of death.
The group’s website said the band will continue their summer concert tour as a tribute to the smooth-voiced tenor, with Hill’s son Kenyatta taking on lead vocals.
One of reggae’s most enduring bands, Culture were led by Hill for three decades. Hill penned the group’s best-known songs, including Two Sevens Clash, Natty Never Get Weary and I’m Not Ashamed.
Born in the rural Jamaican parish of St Catherine in 1949, Hill began his musical career in the late 1960s as a percussionist.
As the Rastafarian influence on reggae grew in the 1970s, he formed Culture and remained their driving force through more than 30 albums.
Hill said Two Sevens Clash, Culture’s most influential record, was based on a prediction by pan-Africanist Marcus Garvey, who said there would be chaos on July 7 1977, when the ”sevens” met.
With its apocalyptic message, the song created a stir in his Caribbean homeland and many Jamaican businesses and schools shuttered their doors for the day.
In 2005, the singer, a devout Rastafarian, was honoured by the Jamaican government for his contribution to the island nation’s culture.
Andrea Hill, of Kingston, said funeral arrangements for her father had not been scheduled. — Sapa-AP