Keyboardist and producer Wycliffe "Steely" Johnson died on 1 September in New York, of complications from pneumonia, and was buried this weekend. Aged 47, Steely had suffered repeated health problems for some time.
A peerless session musician, born in Trench Town, best known for his productions with his musical partner, drummer Cleveland "Clevie" Browne, Steely began his career in the 70s with Lee Perry and Sugar Minott, then in the Roots Radics.
It was in the early 80s that the two friends christened themselves Steely & Clevie, in the manner of the duo Sly & Robbie. They took part in the recording of Bob Marley's album "Confrontation". From 1986, the pair worked for Jammy's and rode the digital wave with ease: they composed the riddims and handled the recordings, before setting up their own label.
Since then, Steely & Clevie productions have never stopped setting trends in Jamaican dancehall, from the label's very first release, Poco man jam by Gregory Peck, when the duo decided to modernise Studio One classics in 1992, to the most hardcore riddims (to name but a few the Street sweeper, riddim of the year 1999, the Skettel or more recently the Sleepy dog or Bug out riddims).
A great connoisseur of Jamaican music and a discoverer of artists (as was the case with Bushman in 1997), Steely had also set up the Silverhawk sound system, renowned for the originality of its dubplates.