‘Diamonds are forever’
Gussie Clarke, industry says Donald ‘Tabby’ Shaw had more to give
Published:Thursday | March 31, 2022 | 12:09 AMStephanie Lyew/Gleaner Writer
Celebrating the rare distinction of being one of the longest performing harmony trios, the Mighty Diamonds truly personified the saying that ‘diamonds are forever’ with over 50 years in the business. The death of the lead singer of the stalwart group, Donald Shaw, more popularly known as ‘Tabby Diamond’, has rocked the industry, leaving many music executives reflective on time shared with the devoted performer.
Renowned music producer and composer Gussie Clarke, whose journey with the Mighty Diamonds started in the early 1980s, appeared troubled by the news of the incident.
“How Tabby met his demise is unexpected and nothing he deserved. He was a man that nothing bothered, very nonchalant, a person of a simple mind. Him nuh quarrel, him nuh fuss,” he told The Gleaner.
Clarke would have worked on more than five albums with the trio of Tabby, Lloyd ‘Judge’ Ferguson and Fitzroy ‘Bunny’ Shaw. These albums included Changes that featured their hit single Pass The Kutchie, The Roots Is There, The Real Enemy, Get Ready and Stand Up. He revealed that there were discussions about another possible production.
The producer recalled the making of Pass The Kutchie, dubbing the session as one where the entertainers “lick over ah riddim” and had a complete track in a short time.
“I had the rhythm; it was a production where I gave them the freedom to write what first came to them. I never knew what they were going to do with it, but when they returned with the track, from I heard the song, I knew it was going to be phenomenal. The rest was history,” he said. “It was one of the few projects I wasn’t involved in the writing of it all, and, at the time, there was so much in society and the media that was anti-weed. We observed an evolution of the times and the music, from being able to do another version titled Pass The Knowledge to educate the people, and then one with Hugh Brown titled Gimme The Music, in 1982.”
The producer expressed the view that the three different personalities making up the Mighty Diamonds “made the group magical,” though Tabby, whose voice was unmissable, had several opportunities to fly solo. He reworked The World (Is Going Up In Flames) in 2020, a song originally recorded by Charles Bradley for Daptones Records in 2011, which became the first single from an album called Cry For Unity. The video for the track, directed by Milagros De La Torre, was shot in Tabby’s childhood playground of Waterhouse. Tabby was involved in making over three albums as part of the trio, and with projects credited to him individually. The solo would have been one more musical treasure the singer contributed to Jamaica’s reggae culture.
“The coming together of the three of them made them work and made them great, and, for me, it was a pleasure to have worked with all of them as a whole, and I looked forward to doing that again,” Clarke said, adding that the Mighty Diamonds have not had a successful project in many years and that he had hoped to revive some of the Pass The Kutchie-magic in recent times.
“The thought of having multiple writers work with them, in a studio … in my mind, Diamonds Are Forever is a classic album title [though already used in the past by the group] or Masterpiece was another idea bouncing around. We hadn’t reached the stage of deciding the direction and had run into an unnecessary roadblock. Plus, they had another set of songs working on for themselves. Tabby had a lot more shine left to give to reggae music lovers across the world. He would just sit there and sing and sing, and when he would sing, he gave his all,” he shared.
As a young writer, Mikey Bennett was invited by Clarke to participate in some of the sessions with the Mighty Diamonds. “I had the pleasure of working with Tabby on a few Music Works projects. I was just an eager observer in the studio and, as it progressed, I started to get more involved with the vocal production, gaining the trust of the producer and the singers. They were the second set of people I’d written for besides my group, so I was more than thrilled to work with this popular group and name-brand singer,” Bennett said.
“Imagine the low morning I had when I awoke to messages about the incident yesterday. Because of the disturbing news of death throughout the pandemic and other things I dread, I have taken on the habit to turn off my phone ringer at night, and I almost held my breath when I glanced at this news. Tabby definitely was a diamond,” he continued.
Entertainment attorney and creative industries consultant Lloyd Stanbury told The Gleaner that the Mighty Diamonds were primarily defined by “the remarkable voice of Tabby Diamond as the lead singer” and described him as one of the leading vocalists of all time.