World of Jamaican Music

Discover artists and hear songs from everyone on the site! Log in to Spotify in this browser to hear full songs. SourcesYour Voice

An illustrated map of the creators of Jamaican music and how they are connected.

Remembering Derrick Harriott (1939-2026), rocksteady singer and producer. Read his story →

Frankie Paul

Artist. Dancehall

Active
1980-2017
Sunrise
October 19, 1965, Kingston, Jamaica
Sunset
May 18, 2017, Kingston
Also known as
The Jamaican Stevie Wonder

Paul Blake, who recorded as Frankie Paul, was blind and enormously prolific, "the singer who was to be the most recorded of the decade," in the Rough Guide's phrase.

He was blind at birth; an operation later gave him some sight. He was educated at the Salvation Army School for the Blind in Kingston. Stevie Wonder visited the school and, by Paul's account, encouraged him, which is the origin of the nickname, the Jamaican Stevie Wonder, that he carried for the rest of his career.

He began recording in the early 1980s and worked with nearly every producer of consequence: Henry "Junjo" Lawes, King Jammy, Gussie Clarke, Bobby Digital, Winston Riley. His output was extraordinary even by Jamaican standards, running to dozens of albums, at one point several a year. "Pass the Tu Sheng Peng" (1984), "Sara," "Worries in the Dance," and "Casanova" are the ones that lasted.

Peter Mason writes of his "rich tone and impressive vocal range," and the Rough Guide hears both Stevie Wonder and Dennis Brown in him, along with the improvisatory technique of the sound systems.

Kidney problems and costly dialysis brought financial hardship, and a leg was amputated in 2016. He departed in Kingston in May 2017, at fifty-one, of complications of kidney failure.

Last updated November 5, 2026

Connections

Notes

  1. The Rough Guide calls him "the most prolific singer of the era" and "the singer who was to be the most recorded of the decade," and says he cut "seemingly endless runs of hits for every producer on the island." Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 267, 282, 285.
  2. The Observer says he "was blind from birth and spent his early life at the Salvation Army School for the Blind." Balford Henry, "Reggae Singer Frankie Paul Is Dead," Jamaica Observer, May 19, 2017, https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/2017/05/19/reggae-singer-frankie-paul-is-dead/. Wikipedia also says he was born blind, and adds that an operation on a hospital ship partially restored his sight in childhood. "Frankie Paul," Wikipedia, accessed October 1, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankie_Paul. Peter Mason, "Frankie Paul Obituary," Guardian, via inkl, accessed November 5, 2026, https://www.inkl.com/news/frankie-paul-obituary.
  3. The Observer says he met Wonder at the school when Wonder was in Kingston for a show at the National Stadium in the 1970s, and that "Wonder urged him to become a professional singer." Henry, "Reggae Singer Frankie Paul Is Dead." Wikipedia says he was "dubbed by some as the Jamaican Stevie Wonder." "Frankie Paul." The Rough Guide hears the influence of both Wonder and Dennis Brown in his singing. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 267.
  4. The Rough Guide says his first record was "African Princess," cut at Channel One for Chinna Smith and Bertram Brown's High Times, and that his first hit was "Worries In the Dance," from a Channel One album shared with Sugar Minott; it credits the records he made for Winston Riley, with those for High Times and Channel One, with first establishing his name. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 282-85. It also covers his work for Junjo Lawes, George Phang, King Jammy, and Fatis Burrell. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 267-68, 272, 280-81. Bradley names him among the singers Bobby Digital voiced. Lloyd Bradley, This Is Reggae Music: The Story of Jamaica's Music (New York: Grove Press, 2001), 524.
  5. Wikipedia says he "was known to release several albums a year." "Frankie Paul." Mason says dozens of albums.
  6. The Greensleeves album Pass the Tu-Sheng-Peng, produced by Junjo Lawes, is dated 1984. Frankie Paul, Pass the Tu-Sheng-Peng, Greensleeves, Discogs, accessed October 1, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/1320121; Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 268. "Sarah" and "Casanova" were King Jammy productions. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 272; Frankie Paul, "Cassanova," Jammy's Records, Discogs, accessed October 1, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/3470641. The Rough Guide calls "Worries In the Dance" "searing." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 283.
  7. The Rough Guide notes that he and other singers who came up through the sound systems "employed similar improvisatory techniques at the mic" as the deejays. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 248. Mason, "Frankie Paul Obituary."
  8. The Observer says he died at the University Hospital of the West Indies on May 18, 2017, after kidney problems that had him on dialysis twice a week, and that he had moved to The Gambia in 1994. Henry, "Reggae Singer Frankie Paul Is Dead." Wikipedia says part of his leg was amputated in January 2016. "Frankie Paul." Mason, "Frankie Paul Obituary."

World of Jamaican Music: the whole map