Leonard Dillon, leader of the group The Ethiopians, died in Kingston on Wednesday at the age of 69, of lung and prostate cancer. Ill for several months, Leonard Dillon had undergone surgery in February for a brain tumour, before his doctors diagnosed new tumours.
With the Ethiopians, he sang in his superb warm voice some of the finest rocksteady classics with Rasta-inspired lyrics. Before that, Leonard Dillon had recorded a few solo tracks at Studio One under the name Jack Sparrow, which would remain his nickname. Made up of Leonard Dillon, Stephen Taylor and Aston Morris (who would leave the group soon after), the group started out around 1966 with Coxsone at Studio One. Introduced by the Wailers, they recorded notably Free Man and Live Good, before recording their hits Train to skaville, Engine 54, and also The Whip.
The group's identity rests on unique vocal harmonies in the service of Rasta-inspired lyrics, social commentary on the news of the day (as in Bad to worse and above all their hit Everything crash, recorded for Karl "Sir JJ" Johnson, a scathing text on Jamaican domestic politics) or quite simply moving (Band Your Belly, Mother's tender care...). The Ethiopians would record for most of the producers of the time (Winston "Niney" Holness, Alvin Ranglin, Prince Buster, Joe Gibbs, Derrick Harriott...) but in 1975, Stephen Taylor was knocked down by a car.
Leonard Dillon did not replace him, remaining alone at the helm of the group, which never fully recovered. A figure of rocksteady, the group struggled to make the turn to roots. Three albums would still come out ("Slave Call" in 1977, "Open the Gate of Zion" in 1978, and "Everything Crash" in 1980) but the band gradually faded away.
In 1991, Dillon recorded a solo album, "On the Road Again", and would sporadically relaunch the Ethiopians for tours with different line-ups, including Jennifer Lara and Merlene Webber on backing vocals for the album "Tuffer than Stone", released in 1999.
Leonard Dillon had gone back into the studio in 2009, with the Silverstones, to record a new album, whose first single, Good you do, had only just become available.
Leonard Dillon leaves behind seven children, and a remarkable career.