Family to honour ‘Bunny Striker’ Lee’s wish - Thankful for National Indoor Sports Centre viewing

The family of legendary music producer, ‘Bunny Striker’ Lee, will be honouring his wishes to be laid to rest next to his mother at the Dovecot Memorial Park and Crematorium in St Catherine. “They were extremely close, so the two of them will be in the same vault. That was his wish, so as a family we are honouring it,” Striker Lee’s widow, Annette Wong-Lee told The Sunday Gleaner.

Striker Lee’s body will be interred at Dovecot on November 15. But, before that, there will be two viewings, one organised by the government and the other by the family. The official viewing takes place on Friday, November 13 at the National Indoor Sports Centre, in Kingston. Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, Olivia Grange, in making the announcement, said that the body of ska and reggae legend, Toots Hibbert, would also be viewed the same day.

“The viewings will take place within the same time frame at the same venue but in two separate spaces. Both men contributed so much to the development of Jamaican music, and we want to ensure that they are both given their due, and that their fans get a good chance to pay their respects and say goodbye,” Grange said, adding that all COVID-19 protocols will be in place.

JAMAICA’S MOST PROLIFIC PRODUCER

A man who effortlessly rocked his trademark, captain hat, Edward ‘Bunny Striker’ Lee Sr is numbered among Jamaica’s most prolific and influential producers, and, upon his death, was hailed by music industry people across the spectrum, globally. Grange called him “one of the great generals of Jamaican music”, and dancehall king Beenie Man said he was a father figure. “The man that produced my very first album when I was ten years old. Mi feel deh one yah to mi heart! Bunny ‘Striker’ Lee taught me how to be a true professional musician and entertainer,” Beenie Man posted on social media.

Also paying tribute to Lee were singer Maxi Priest, who called him “a pioneer, legend and disciple”; Trojan Records, to whom he was “a great friend over the years that followed its inception in 1968” and BBC 1Xtra’s DJ David Rodigan, who said that “Bunny ‘Striker’ Lee was unquestionably one of the most charismatic and inspirational record producers in Jamaican music with a phenomenal catalogue of hits. He drove the music forward across the decades and will be sorely missed.”

Wong-Lee told The Sunday Gleaner that the family is pleased with the National Indoor Sports Centre viewing and that this is something that her people-loving husband would have wanted. “Mr Lee was the man with the big personality and an even bigger heart. He loved to share what he had, and he had a lot of friends, so he would appreciate this honour. The family appreciates everything that Minister Grange has been doing,” she said.

The viewings will provide an opportunity for family, the music fraternity and the wider public to pay their last respects, as burials are restricted to 15 persons, and funeral services are prohibited. Wong-Lee further disclosed that on November 14, there will be a viewing at Roman’s Funeral Home Chapel from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. with a thanksgiving service in the afternoon.

GRAPPLED WITH GRIEVE

With that chapter set to be closed, the Lee family continues to grapple with their grief. “Some days are good, others not so. We keep telling ourselves that he is in England, where he spent a lot of time travelling to and from Jamaica. Right now, my main concern is Little Striker [the couple’s son]. He still hears his father calling him at 4 o’clock in the mornings, and when he breaks down, is like everybody goes crazy,” his mother said.

Little Striker’s firm bond with his father was well known, and his mother recalled that he was the only child who his father was interested in seeing enter the world. “I remember we were at the hospital and at about 4 o’clock he left to go somewhere, and by 7 p.m. Little Striker was born. He was there. And, it struck me that it’s the same way Striker was with his father at the hospital and left to get something on the road. While he was on the road, his dad passed,” Wong-Lee said, pointing out the uncanny similarity.

Little Striker told The Sunday Gleaner that he and his father went everywhere together. “My father was my earthly god,” he said simply, but he also had loving words for his mother. “Trust me, she is really the rock. My mother is doing an amazing job; she’s a phenomenal woman,” he said.

He fondly recalled the producer’s love for his captain hats, and shared that his father owned more than 100 such caps in various colours. “He had a lot of white ones, because after a while the coloured ones were hard to get. But he had a favourite shop in New York, and after a while, we found a place in Camden, England, that also sold them. I have some of those hats, too, but Gorgon, a him a di star,” Little Striker said.

‘Bunny Striker’ Lee passed away on October 6 after a prolonged illness. He was 79 years old.

yasmine.peru@gleanerjm.com