Legendary singer and songwriter Bob Andy died this morning at approximately 8:00 am.
Bob Andy (born Keith Anderson, 1944) is a Jamaican reggae vocalist and songwriter. He is widely regarded as one of reggae’s most influential songwriters.
Bob Andy was one of the founding members of The Paragons, along with Tyrone Evans and Howard Barrett. His first solo hit record in 1966, “I’ve Got to Go Back Home,” was followed by “Desperate Lover,” “Feeling Soul”, “Unchained,” and “Too Experienced”, amongst others. He also composed songs for other reggae artists, including “I Don’t Want to See You Cry” for Ken Boothe, and “Feel Like Jumping,” “Truly,” and “Melody Life” for Marcia Griffiths.
He had several hits in the late 1960s, including “Going Home,” “Unchained,” “Feeling Soul,” “My Time,” “The Ghetto Stays in the Mind,” and “Feel the Feeling”. Some of these, and his 1992 hit, “Fire Burning”, have come to be regarded as reggae standards and several have been covered several times by other artists.
In the early 1970s, he recorded with Marcia Griffiths as Bob and Marcia, under producer Harry J’s tutelage. These included the UK hits “Young, Gifted and Black” and “Pied Piper”. In 1978, Andy put his music career on hold and concentrated on his career as an actor, starring in the films, Children of Babylon in 1980, and The Mighty Quinn (1989).
