He was one of those performers who were the background to growing up when I did. His was a distinctive sound though. There weren’t many people performing Jamaican influenced music back then.
He later used his profile to advocate for civil rights and became a vocal critic of the second Bush administration. Like many other like-minded people he was disparaged for it.
Still, 86 years is a good innings.
I see from his discography on Wiki that this song wasn’t a hit in Britain. I would have assumed it had been. I’m certainly familiar with it from my youth.
Harry Belafonte: Jamaica Farewell
Harold George Bellanfanti (Harry Belafonte:) 1/3/1927 – April 25/4/2023. So it goes.
One of the few black British entertainers – one of the few black faces – to appear on British television in the early 1960s, belonged to Kenny Lynch, who has died this week.
There were US acts of course, such as Sammy Davis Jr, Nat King Cole and Harry Belafonte and Blues and Motown artistes would feature on shows such as Ready, Steady Go! and Top of the Pops but as for British performers Lynch was just about it.
There were quite a few strings to Lynch’s bow, singing on variety shows, popping up on game shows – always with a cheerful demeanour – and he also had a career as an actor but among other songs Lynch wrote Sha La La La La Lee which became a hit for the Small Faces. He was also the first singer to cover a Beatles song (Misery.)
This is his joint biggest UK hit. On it Lynch sounds a bit like Sam Cooke. No small praise.
Kenny Lynch: You Can Never Stop Me Loving You
Kenneth Lynch: 18/3/1938 – 18/12/2019. So it goes.
From the band’s first album rather heavy-handedly called Very ‘Eavy…. Very ‘Umble (but perhaps they thought it as well to acknowledge their name’s origin) and which appeared in 1970, their treatment of the anti-war song Come Away Melinda (first sung in public by The Weavers shortly before Harry Belafonte released his version) is reminiscent of early Barclay James Harvest and also features the mellotron.
