Jamaican singer Pluto Shervington, known for hit songs like ‘Ram Goat Liver’, ‘I Man Born Yah’, and ‘Your Honour’, has died.
The 73-year-old entertainer reportedly died at a hospital in Florida, United States on Friday morning.
He had been living in Miami, Florida since the early 1980s following his musical successes on local shores in the previous decade.
Born Leighton Keith Shervington on August 13, 1950, the singer was also known as a songwriter, engineer and producer.
At the age of 16, Shervington joined a band called The Presidents in 1966, leaving a year later to join The Hurricanes, and then moving on to join the Tomorrow’s Children showband.
After going solo, he achieved a hit in 1976 with ‘Ram Goat Liver’, a comical song about a man’s love for goat meat and its perceived benefits to “make your daughter (your female companion) walk and talk”.
Shervington followed up with hits such as ‘Dat’, which reached No.6 on the UK Singles Chart in 1976.
As a record producer, the Jamaican oversaw the creation of the 1975 festival song winner, ‘Hooray Festival’, which was performed by the late Roman Stewart.
Following on from Roman’s festival hit, Pluto produced ‘Midnight Rider’ by a white Jamaican named Paul Davidson, with the song peaking at number 10 on the UK Pop chart in December 1975.
As a songwriter, Pluto wrote Lorna Bennett’s 1976 disco-styled hit ‘Dancing To My Own Heartbeat’.
After moving to Miami in the early 1980s, Shervington continued to record music, reaching the Top 20 of the UK Singles Chart with ‘Your Honour’, which was originally recorded in 1975, but was never released at the time.
The Jamaican continued to perform across the United States and making appearances in Jamaica in his later years.
Tributes have been flowing across various social media platforms as news of Shervington’s death spread.
Oliver Mair, Jamaica’s Consul General to Miami, said Shervington was the headline act at the Consulate General’s ‘Love At Christmas’ show in Florida on December 19, 2023.
“Jamaica never left his heart. He will never leave the hearts of us Jamaicans. RIP my friend,” Mair wrote on Facebook.
Suzanne Rickards Raja, a cousin of the reggae singer, said she was proud of him and adored him.
“I remember him dropping by our house in Jamaica when I was a kid, taking me for a ride on his motorcycle. He was so cool! Yet… so deeply loving,” she recounted.
The Cayman Music and Entertainment Association (CMEA), in a tribute on its Facebook page, described Shervington as a true Caribbean musical legend.
“We embraced him as if he was a son of the soil, and he always brought us immense joy and pride in being who we are,” the CMEA said, adding that Shervington’s songs “touched our hearts and was the soundtrack to a special time in our lives”.
Lancelot Hall, a drummer of the band Inner Circle, said Shervington was “a very good friend” who has left behind great memories.
Attorney and social commentator, Gordon Robinson, said Shervington’s death was a tremendous loss.
“He was an icon of the day when lyrics were written with linguistic skill and humour, and music was properly structured and arranged,” Robinson wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
