Winston Riley, an innovative reggae
musician and producer, has died of complications from a gunshot wound to
the head. He was 65.
As a teenager, Riley founded an influential
harmony group, The Techniques, which recorded for pioneer producer
Arthur “Duke” Reid. Riley also toured with Byron Lee and later gained
fame for producing songs such as “Double Barrel” by Dave Barker and
Ansell Collins.
He worked with musicians including Gregory Isaacs, Johnny Osbourne, Sister Nancy and Buju Banton.
Riley died Thursday at University
Hospital of the West Indies, where he had been a patient since
November, when he was shot at his house in an upscale neighborhood in
the capital of Kingston, his son Kurt Riley said Friday.
Riley also had been shot in August and was stabbed in September last year. His record store in Kingston’s downtown business district also was burned down several years ago. Police have said they know of no motives and have not arrested anyone.
Kurt Riley told the Jamaica Observer newspaper that the family did not know what motivated the attacks.
“Unfortunately, Daddy didn’t wake up so we
could talk to him to find out if there was something he was not telling
us,” he was quoted as saying. “He was a straightforward man who was
allergic to hypocrisy.”
