The reggae community is now mourning the loss of Jamaican reggae icon Denroy Morgan, who passed away on Thursday (March 3). 

The May Pen native, who fathered two generations of artistes including Grammy-nominated band Morgan Heritage, died surrounded by his family in the United States, where he had lived for more than 50 years.

He was 76 years old. 

The Morgan family, in a statement today, did not disclose a cause of death and is asking for the public’s understanding in their time of grief. 

“It is out of sincere love that we share that our beloved father and patriarch, the Bishop Ras Denroy Morgan, has ascended. Daddy has been our light, our source of love and joy all our lives. Our family thank you in advance for your overwhelming love and support and we ask for your continued prayers as we go through this process. We also ask that you respect our privacy during this time of healing,” the family wrote from Morgan’s Instagram page.

Born in 1946, Morgan migrated to the US aged 19 to pursue his dream of making it big in music. 

Nearly a decade after leaving Jamaica, Morgan, alongside Devon Foster and Llewellyn Breadwood, formed The Black Eagles reggae band in New York City in 1974. 

The Black Eagles snagged top honours at the 1977 New York Reggae Music Festival, which pushed Morgan to springboard into a burgeoning solo career that blossomed in the 80s. 

The Jamaican struck gold in June 1981 with the hit single I’ll Do Anything For You, which featured instrumental backing from Black Eagles bandmates Foster and Breadwood.

By August that year, the song had peaked at No. 9 on the American soul charts, and No. 7 on the Billboard US dance club charts. I’ll Do Anything For You spent 20 weeks on the charts, according to Billboard.com archives.

The Jamaican began trending again on Billboard in November 1982 with Happy Feeling, however, the single only spent eight weeks on the charts and peaked at No. 46.

Morgan got another serving of stardom by signing to RCA Records in 1984, becoming the first reggae act to strike a deal with the New York-based record label. 

A devout Rastafarian, the Jamaican released his debut album Make My Day that same year. The nine-track project was met with mixed reviews.

The reggae-pop patriarch’s musical legacy did not end with him, as nearly all his children have become artistes themselves, notably among them Morgan Heritage—comprising Roy ‘Gramps’, Peter ‘Peetah’, Una, Nakhamyah ‘Lukes’ and Memmalatel ‘Mr Mojo’ Morgan.

LMS, a dancehall-hip hop band, was also formed by Morgan’s children Noshayah, Otiyah ‘Laza’ and Miriam.

Denroy’s penultimate project Half N Half was released in 2014, with the reggae great last shoring up anticipation for his latest album, Divine Destiny,  alongside The Black Eagles.

Divine Destiny, a conceptual roots reggae album, sees Denroy sharing his views on Africa and its current state as a continent and is set for an April 2022 release.

It is not clear if the project will be cleared posthumously.