The latest Hit That Never Was features the great Dennis Brown, the sadly departed reggae artist, Brown was loved by his legions of fans, including Bob Marley who dubbed him the “Crown Prince of Reggae“. Dennis Brown had a prolific career which began in the late 1960’s when he was aged eleven. Brown recorded more than 75 albums and was one of the major stars of Lovers Rock, a sub-genre of reggae. After long successful but often tumultuous career, Browns’s health began to deteriorate in the late 1990’s. He had developed respiratory issues, probably exacerbated by longstanding problems with drug addiction, namely crack cocaine. On the evening of 30 June 1999, he was rushed to Kingston’s University Hospital, suffering from cardiac arrest. He died the next day, the official cause of his death was a collapsed lung.

Dennis Brown’s vast body of work includes superb covers of internationally
well-known songs, not least of all is his impassioned version of Peter Green’s, Black Magic Woman. A major figure of the British Blues movement and founder of Fleetwood Mac, Green has often been lauded by the likes of Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page and was 38th in Rolling Stone’s list of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time”. Norman B had the honor of going to high school with Peter Green.

The Life Elsewhere Podcast is available here