Frankie Paul

Exuberant dancehall star Frankie Paul was a prolific force in Jamaican music, releasing some four dozen albums throughout the ’80s and ’90s. The visually impaired singer was born Paul Blake in Kingston in 1965, and learned to play a variety of instruments while attending a Salvation Army school for the blind. A visiting Stevie Wonder encouraged his artistic aspirations in 1975, and Paul released his rootsy debut single, “African Princess”, in 1982. Paul’s full-throated voice quickly gained traction in reggae’s emerging dancehall sound, beginning with his 1983 hit “Worries In the Dance” and the following year’s hooky ganja anthem “Pass the Tu-Sheng-Peng.” Paul hit his ’80s stride with love songs like “Sara” and “Cassanova,” along with goofy tunes like “Alesha” (with its oft-quoted line “all she feed ’pon is french fry and hamburger”); by the early ’90s, cover versions began to supplant the originals. Paul relocated to Gambia in 1994 and struggled with health issues until his death in 2017.