Tyrone Taylor
Artist. Reggae, roots
- Active
- 1972-2007
- Sunrise
- c. 1957, St. Elizabeth, Jamaica
- Sunset
- December 1, 2007, Kingston, Jamaica
Tyrone Taylor was a singer from St. Elizabeth who made some of the hardest roots records of the 1970s and then, with "Cottage in Negril," one of the gentlest lovers records of the 1980s.
His recording career began in the 1970s with several of the leading producers, Winston "Niney" Holness among them; for Niney he cut "Sufferation," whose disco-mix cut the Rough Guide calls "monumental." For Jack Ruby he made "Life Table," which the same guide rates his best record, and his "Move Up Black Man" was versioned by I-Roy as "Move Up Roots Man."
"Cottage in Negril," from the early 1980s, with its soulful vocal and saxophone solo, became his signature song and a minor hit in Europe through reggae compilations; "Members Only," a cover of Bobby Bland, and "Rainy Sunset" (1994) followed. A substance-abuse problem he spoke about openly derailed his career, and after two strokes and several attempts at a comeback, one of them at Rebel Salute in his home parish, he departed in Kingston at fifty; the cause was prostate cancer.
Last updated October 21, 2026
Connections
- Niney the Observer (producer)
- Jack Ruby (producer)
Notes
- "Reggae Star Taylor Dies at 50," Jamaica Gleaner, December 3, 2007, https://old.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20071203/ent/ent3.html.
- "Reggae Star Taylor Dies at 50." Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 179.
- Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 147, 193.
- "Reggae Star Taylor Dies at 50."
- "Reggae Star Taylor Dies at 50," which reports his death on the Saturday before its Monday, December 3, issue, citing his friend Norman "Bull Puss" Bryan for the cause.
