Popular singer Phyllis
Dillon died at her home in Long Island, New York on Thursday
night. She was 59 and had been ailing from cancer. The singer's
sister, Blondell Dillon-Beckford has said that her funeral
will be held in New York.
"We haven't finalized the
details of the funeral arrangements as yet, but she will
definitely be buried here in New York. We are dealing with the
grief of her passing and I am just glad that she is not feeling
anymore pain," Dillon-Beckford said. Phyllis last performed in
Jamaica at the popular vintage show Stars 'R' Us held in Montego
Bay on February 14. After the show she returned to New York
where she was hospitalized. She spent a month in hospital before
being released and allowed to return home. "The doctors in
Jamaica were treating her for acid reflux and arthritis. They
were treating her for the wrong thing; maybe she would've had a
little more hope," Dillon-Beckford commented.
Marvin "Horseman" Pitterson,
promoter of the Stars 'R' Us series, remembers Dillon as a true
professional and a friend. "She (Phyllis) was just a nice, nice,
nice person. She was a lady and true professional. It was really
a pleasure working with her and her passing is a significant
loss to the music community and Jamaica, and she said in one of
her songs 'I only have one life to live and I'm going to live';
that is a true reflection of how she lived her own life,"
Pitterson said. Originally from Linton in St Catherine, Dillon
began her professional career at Duke Reid's Treasure Isle
studio. Like most singers from her time (1960s) she started
singing in school, church, and later with a band called the
Vulcans.
It was during a performance with the Vulcans at the famous Glass
Bucket Club in Kingston that Dillon came to the attention of
Reid who signed her in 1965.She never recorded for another
Jamaican producer.
She wrote her first single
Don't Stay Away, which was released in 1966. It went straight to
number one on the RJR Top 40 chart and stayed there for four
weeks. She recorded duets with Alton Ellis, who in past
interviews Dillon mentions as one who encouraged her
professionally and Boris Gardiner and Hopeton Lewis. The most
popular of her duets were: Right Track and Remember That Sunday
with Ellis, and Walk Through This World With Me, and Love Was
All We Had with Hopeton Lewis.
Ellis was particularly
devastated by the passing of his close friend.
"I was listening to the
radio and heard a lot of Phyllis' songs being played. I
immediately got curious only to find out that this beautiful
songbird had passed away. She was a wonderful person, a truly
wonderful person with a soft gentle voice that everyone loved.
We were close friends especially in the early part of our
careers, and I was very happy when she visited England in 1997
to perform on my Rock Steady Gala show. Bwoy this is a big loss
for me personally and for music," Ellis said.
Dillon's solo hits included
Perfidia, the self-written Rock Steady, One Life To Live, Don't
Touch Me Tomato, Nice Time and We Belong Together among others.
These hits earned her the title 'Queen of Rock Steady'.
Dillon left Jamaica in
December of 1967 for New York. She found employment doing
temporary jobs before landing a stable position at a bank. She
would then visit Jamaica at least twice a year to record for
Reid.
Her first major live
performance in Jamaica following a hiatus of 17 years was in
1991 when Dillon performed on the stage of "Get Ready Rock
Steady" held at the National Arena. Michael Barnett, one of the
directors of MKB Productions, producers of the Get Ready Rock
Steady remembers the occasion well. "Her performance on 'Get
Ready Rock Steady' in June of 1991 came after many years of
negotiating, but it was all worth it as the audience really
warmed to her. We became friends as Phyllis performed on several
other shows including Heineken Startime. Phyllis was a humble
person, who loved her music. She was a professional to the core
and I for one was really happy that this wonderful individual
was able to give up her job in the States to earn a living from
her performances. Her passing is really a tragic loss for
Jamaica's music," Barnett said. Her work can be found on solo
albums and a long list of various artistes' compilations from
Trojan and Heartbeat Records.
Dillon, who never married,
is survived by a son Nigel and a daughter Janice.
