Sad news: another reggae icon has flown to Zion. The reggae community mourns the loss of sweet sweet Cocoa Tea. The veteran singer passed away at a hospital in Broward, Ft Lauderdale, Florida, following a cardiac arrest. Cocoa Tea, known for his sweet, melodic voice, as well as his powerful chanting, was 65-years-old. Rest in power, legend. Your music will live on forever! Our sincere condolences to his family and friends.
Cocoa Tea was born Calvin George Scott in 1959. In 1974, at the tender age of 15 after gaining experience and exposure in school and church choirs he recorded his first single Searching In The Hills under the name Calvin Scott. This was not a successful bid into a career in music, so he continued to work as a racehorse jockey and fisherman for several years, but he also kept performing on various sound systems on the the island.
In 1983 he moved to Kingston to restart his jcareer in music. In the beginning many distrusted him and labeled him a mere stylist. But that style of his proved to be so irresistable that most of the doubters soon became converts while Cocoa Tea matured to become a much more well rounded vocalist approaching quickly the level of Dennis Brown or Gregory Isaacs. He teamed up with ace producer Junjo Lawes with whom him he recorded two of his biggest hits, Rocking Dolly and Lost My Sonia. The latter was the song that bust him. His debut album Weh Dem A Go Do…Can’t Stop Coco Tea was released in 1984.
At the dawn of the digital era his talent became sought after by many of the top producers on the island. He recorded the bulk of his material for the dominant hit maker of the second half of the ’80s, producer King Jammy. Cocoa Tea became one of Jammy’s main singers both on the producer’s sound system and in the studio and the hits kept on coming. Cocoa Tea improved so consistently that he became surprising well known internationally.
When Jammy’s main engineer Bobby ‘Digital’ Dixon decide to branch out on his own, Love Me on a recut of the Real Rock riddim and Lonesome Side became two of his earliest successes as producer. At the end of the ’80s Gussie Clarke took notice of the success and chemistry between Cocoa Tea, Home T and Shabba Ranks after their hit collaboration for King Jammy’s Who She Love. Gussie reunited the trio for an album project that took the reggae world by storm upon its release. Songs like Pirates Anthem and the title track Holding On became instant classics. In 1990, the singer gave New York-based producer Mr. Doo the hit single and album of the same name Riker’s Island. The tune was on an update of the riddim from the Heptones Studio One classic Get In The Groove.
Producer Philip ‘Fatis’ Burrell and the Xterminator camp maintained the singer’s status amongst the top reggae acts in the ’90s, with a series of popular songs including Good Life and She Loves Me Now. Both are classic lovers grooves across timeless Studio One riddims. Fatis produced Too Young and added the voice of Buju Banton for some extra punch. Bobby ‘Digital’ Dixon was also successful in continuing to capture Cocoa Tea in fine style with tunes like No Threat, Come Love Me and soundbwoy tune We Do The Killing. No Threat was on a popular recut of Jackie Mittoo’s Hot Milk riddim. The other two tunes were voiced over the Stalag riddim.
When conscious lyrics and social commentary began to dominate in the mid-’90s, Cocoa Tea continued his association with these two producers. His stunning version of Bob Marley’s Heathen for Bobby Digital and Israel’s King for Fatis are just two of the many crucial examples of the singer in this style. By the end of the ’90s Cocoa Tea began his own Roaring Lion label. For that imprint he released Zeeks, a popular tune he did with Louie Culture on the Equal Rights riddim. He gained notoriety in March 2008 after releasing a song titled Barack Obama in support of the US presidential candidate. In March 2008, he gained notoriety after releasing a song titled Barack Obama in support of the US presidential candidate.
[In May 2019, Stephen Cooper did an interview with Cocoa Tea which can be read HERE.]