Cocoa Tea, Beloved and Prolific Reggae Artist, Dies at 65

Colvin Scott, the influential reggae artist who carried out as Cocoa Tea, has died. The singer’s spouse, Malvia Scott, confirmed the information to Jamaican information outlet The Gleaner, stating that her husband died Tuesday morning (March 11) at a hospital in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, following cardiac arrest. He was 65 years previous.

Cocoa Tea was recognized with lymphoma in 2019, and he had just lately been coping with pneumonia, Malvia Scott informed The Gleaner. She added, “He was positively very courageous. He was optimistic all through all of it.”

Colvin George Scott was born within the fishing village of Rocky Level, in Jamaica’s Clarendon Parish. Although he began recording singles as Calvin Scott at age 14, his greatest identified work emerged within the Eighties and Nineties, when he took on the moniker Cocoa Tea (typically stylized as Coco Tea). Early hits underneath his new stage title included “Rocking Dolly” and “I Lost My Sonia.”

After a prolific output within the Eighties, the next decade discovered Cocoa Tea reaching wider audiences with songs like 1990’s “Rikers Island,” which was later reworked right into a dancehall observe by Nardo Ranks known as “Me No Like Rikers Island.”

In 1997, Cocoa Tea launched his personal file label, Roaring Lion, after releasing dozens of singles for imprints like Greensleeves, Jammy’s, and Mr. Doo. Along with releasing his personal music, Cocoa Tea issued music by Buju Banton, Cutty Ranks, Sizzla, and plenty of others.

In March 2008, Cocoa Tea launched one in all his hottest songs to-date: “Barack Obama.” The refrain featured merely the now-former President’s title repeated six occasions, as a musical endorsement of Obama’s candidacy on the time.

In an interview, following the discharge of “Barack Obama,” Cocoa Tea known as the then-senator “exception to all politicians everywhere in the world.” “I’m on the lookout for the change that this man has articulated,” Cocoa Tea stated. “I need to see a change from world warming. I need to see a change from all these rising meals costs.” He added, “No matter occurs in Washington not directly impacts all of us.”