‘They got me good,’ says remarried Ernie Smith of surprise party

The first line of his bio states: “Glenroy Anthony Smith was born in Kingston, Jamaica on May 1, 1945, and raised in St Ann”, and it goes on to give an interesting and detailed history of the singer who thousands have come to know and love as Ernie Smith. What it doesn’t mention, however, is that Wednesday, May 1, 2024, is a day he will never forget.

At 8:25 p.m. the birthday boy walked into the restaurant only to be greeted by a chorus of “Surprise!” from family and close friends who had gathered to “celebrate the young bwoy”. He stopped in his tracks and looked around at all the smiling faces in amazement.

“Totally surprised,” Smith told his guests as they came up to him for photo ops and to personally offer their well wishes. His friends are akin to family. Many present had formed an unbreakable bond while at York Castle High School during the 1950s and ‘60s.

“I thought it was four of us going for dinner,” Smith shared. “They got me good. They tracked down people who I had not seen in years. My school group was there. I wasn’t expecting my son because he had just left Jamaica and there he was.”

The One Dream singer was naturally in a good mood and when the selector played Teddy Prendergast’s When Somebody Loves You Back, he started a slow dance with his partner, Claudette, who quietly announced that the two had actually tied the knot in June last year. As the evening progressed, the newly married couple spoke openly of their love for each other. For Claudette, it was the “joy and a new dimension I didn’t expect” and friends hailed her for “rescuing him” following the passing of his soulmate, Janet, in 2020.

Smith told The Gleaner of his total happiness. “I remarried ... and if anyone had ever told me that I could be this happy at this time of my life, I would never have believed them.”

His manager, Joanna Marie Robinson, was the engine behind the party and she was pleased with the outcome.

“I said since he’s going to be here [in Jamaica] for his birthday I wanted to have a celebration for him that would be a surprise. I told Ernie that me and his wife and Ed [Robinson] my husband, would be taking him for dinner. But somebody called him and said ‘Hey, yuh hear dem planning a ting fi yuh?’ I was like ‘What!’ I couldn’t believe it. Apparently somebody else called him too and apologised for not making it. But, I was able to get around that, and I don’t think Ernie even remembered about the calls. I wanted to do it really subtle. I wanted this to be really special. I don’t think he has ever had a celebration for his birthday,” Robinson explained.

It was an evening on which the birthday boy sang for his well-wishers, opening with the song All for Jesus, which has an interesting story.

“I wrote that song one day back in 1975. It was like a cry for help. I was very hungover that morning,” Smith told The Gleaner of the song which would end up securing a place in the Moravian hymn book and the Anglican Caribbean hymn book.

His stint on stage saw him “paying tribute to the guys who were playing music when I was wearing short pants” and he sang and danced like the “young bwoy” his friends had labelled him earlier. Among his selections were Sammy Plant Piece a Corn, A Little More oil in my Lamp, If I Had Wings Like a Dove, Amen, This Little Light of Mine, and, by popular demand, Duppy Gunman.

Singer Ed Robinson paid tribute in song, while friends thanked Smith for “being an inspiration”, noting that he “sounded just like back in the day”.

“You are an exemplary man of character [and] I love yuh like cook food,” Smith’s son, Peter told him, pointing to the love chapter in the Bible, the first book of Corinthians, chapter 13.

Another high point was the cutting of the huge birthday cake, which had a picture of Smith in the centre.

Ernie Smith, who first savoured chart success with the single Bend Down in 1971, has enjoyed a slew of hits during his career. Among his most known songs are Ride On Sammy, One Dream, Duppy Gunman, and Pitta Patta. In 1972, he won the Yamaha Music Festival in Japan with Life Is Just For Living, a song originally written for a Red Stripe commercial. The beer company’s 2016 Christmas campaign reimagined the iconic 1972 song and commercial, this time around with Ernie Smith in collaboration with Wayne Marshall and Mystic Davis.

He continues to record and perform and is currently working on an album project.

“One of the songs is a lyrical rewrite in tribute to Pluto [Shervington] and another is a lyrical rewrite of the song Nutten a Guh Come Outta Dat,” Smith shared. Veteran singer and songwriter, Pluto Shervington, passed away suddenly on January 24, in Florida.

Ernie Smith is now managed by Da Global Base, headed by Joanna Marie Robinson.

yasmine.peru@gleanerjm.com