Jamaican rocksteady and reggae musician Derrick Harriott dies at age 87

Jamaican rocksteady and reggae musician Derrick Harriott died peacefully at his home on October 24, 2026, at the age of 87. Clash Magazine and the Jamaica Observer both reported his death on October 24, 2026. [1][2]

Born in Kingston in 1939, Harriott began his musical career during the first wave of Jamaican sound systems, Clash Magazine reported. Clash Magazine stated that he initially performed as a duo with Claude Sang Jr, scoring local hits that blended jump blues, R and B, and local styles to help form early ska, before he went solo in the early 1960s. [1]

Harriott was a member of the Jiving Juniors alongside Herman Sang prior to his solo work. Over the course of his career as a record producer, he produced recordings for artists including Dennis Brown, Big Youth, The Ethiopians, Keith and Tex, The Chosen Few, The Kingstonians, Rudy Mills, Scotty, Sly and Revolutionaries, and Winston McAnuff. [3]