The Wailing Souls remember Garth Dennis as humble lion

“My eyes welled up having received the news that my musical brother passed,” said Wailing Souls founding member Lloyd ‘Bread’ McDonald of his reaction to hearing that former bandmate Rudolph ‘Garth’ Dennis had died.

Not only did the reggae recording legends grow up together in the west Kingston community of Trench Town, but they evolved professionally in the music industry.

“I might as well say he is my family. Garth was like a brother, and it was awkward for me, not knowing that he was ill in the first place. A mutual friend of ours broke the news to me that he wasn’t doing well and was in the hospital, and then Marjel McFaddin, who manages Garth and his sons, provided more information,” McDonald told The Gleaner.

He added: “She [McFaddin] told me he wasn’t eating for a long time; he was losing weight rapidly, and his immune system was weak, was on oxygen, and he couldn’t fight whatever it was. I enquired if it was COVID-19, but that’s one of the first tests he did when he was admitted, she said, and it was negative.”

Garth Dennis has the distinct and unique honour of being a member of two of Jamaica’s most loved, classic Reggae groups from Waterhouse, Black Uhuru and The Wailing Souls. The musician wrote, recorded, and toured extensively with both iconic groups. He also had quite a successful solo career. Prior to his music career, he was a cricketer and football player. He formed Black Uhuru in 1972 with Don Carlos and Duckie Simpson, but after the group’s early releases, he left to join The Wailing Souls in the mid-1970s, staying with the Wailing Souls during their successful Channel One era.

McDonald said, “We went to Channel One in 1976 and started recording there. It was a place for the revolutionaries. Sly and Robbie were there, too. Joe [Joseph Hoo Kim] liked when Robbie played the rhythm guitar. In such a short space of time, I had just spoken to Sly about Robbie when he passed, and then Sly had to call me back a couple [of] days later to give condolences.”

Two weeks in hospital

McDonald shared that a call to Garth Dennis on December 2 went unanswered, and he thought, “maybe he was busy celebrating the 72nd birthday with family and would connect later”, but on Saturday, he would find out that the former Wailing Souls member spent two weeks in the hospital. It was also confirmed that Garth Dennis passed away peacefully while sleeping on December 9, 2021, in Ontario, California, after experiencing complications due to pneumonia.

“I only returned to the US from Jamaica recently, currently in Florida and will return to California to spend the holidays – that is where most of my family is – and I suppose I’ll wait to hear more from Garth’s family there. Winston ‘Pipe’ Matthews would have spoken to his wife, so she knows we are here if she needs us,” he said.

In the 10 years of touring and recording as The Wailing Souls (1974-1983), there is solace in the many good memories of Dennis, he said, sharing that he was nicknamed ‘Sancho’, specially by the late musician.

“The memory that stands out the most for me is how humble Garth was. He was always soft-spoken. Sitting there, he would always have a smile on his face. His humility was to be respected,” he said. “Then because I would wear a white felt, sombrero-type of hat, and how I behaved, he thought it was funny to call me ‘Sancho’. Every time we saw each other, he would say, ‘Wah gwaan, Sancho’? That will remain with me because I wear that hat in most images we have together, and it’s on the Wild Suspense album cover.”

Garth Dennis reunited with Black Uhuru along with Don Carlos and Duckie Simpson, and the group reformed in 1989. During that time, the group received four Reggae Grammy nominations for the following releases: Now (1990), Ironstorm (1991), Mystical Truth (1993), and Strong (1994). Black Uhuru won the inaugural Grammy Award for Best Reggae Recording for the single Anthem in 1984.

Garth Dennis is survived by his wife of 38 years, Jenje Dennis, his children, Andrea, Desta, Shaka, Gyasi, Saeed and Zenani, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, as well as siblings Patricia ‘Faithy’ Walker, Paul Walker, Joan Dennis, Franklyn Dennis, and Trevor Dennis. Donations to help with the funeral expenses are being accepted at https://eyesopenfoundation.org/donate/ through Eyes Open Foundation, the non-profit inspired by his song Eyes Open, one of the songs on Garth Dennis’ first solo album released in 2015.

stephanie.lyew@gleanerjm.com