JAMAICA | Dead at 80, Legendary Singer Jimmy Tucker is hailed as a Patriot

KINGSTON, Jamaica, May 25, 2022 - One of Jamaica’s first singing sensations, Jimmy Tucker, died on Tuesday at the age of eighty, at his home in Fayetteville, Georgia in the United States. He was surrounded by his family.

Tucker’s wife of 53 years, Janet said her husband’s health had seen a slight decline in recent times. In all this , she said, Jimmy was a patriot. “His thoughts were of Jamaica, period. He was a reflection of patriotic ideals... He was steeped in the positive ideals of nationhood. He was a patriot and a Caribbean man.”

Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, Olivia Grange, says that with the passing of Jimmy Tucker, Jamaica has lost another great talent, who from a tender age made his mark as a singer.

The People’s National Party said “The passing of singing sensation Jimmy Tucker, whose soaring tenor once warmed our nation, is a great loss for Jamaica.

A scholar and progressive thinker, Jimmy Tucker was a true comrade, who ennobled the PNP’s journey, with his sterling version of its timeless anthem, Jamaica Arise.

Jimmy Tucker was a child prodigy, his exceptional offerings on RJR's Lannaman's Children's Hour and his crowd-rousing encores during Vere John's Opportunity Hour at Ambassador Theatre in the 1950's, early foretold of the untapped potential and innate greatness of the Jamaican people. Jimmy was the first singer to receive a scholarship from the Government of Jamaica.

It is no coincidence that, like Bob Marley, he was a seminal ambassador of Trench Town that spawned a generation of limitless excellence in music and song. Pointedly, he hailed from Fourth Street, which also gave us his nephew, gifted saxophonist Dean Fraser.

He is uncle to former child star-cum-preacher Junior Tucker and singer Sharon Tucker. He is also uncle to Marlon Tucker, Jamaica’s most successful cricket captain.

During the 1950s, Jimmy Tucker performed in clubs, schools and churches. During that period, he performed music written by Clyde Hoyte, including Have Faith and Sweet as a Dream.

In January, Tucker was one of 10 recipients of the Musgrave Medal Award at a virtual event. He received a silver medal and was lauded as Jamaica’s first singing sensation.In later years, the Calabar graduate, Sunlight batsman and Manning Cup forward became a religious scholar and servant of the causes that Norman Manley espoused. 

“To his nephew, the brilliant former Kingston College and Jamaica cricket captain Marlon Tucker, his wife Janet, his children and his entire family, let us offer celebratory condolences for a life of patriotic service,” the PNP said.

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