Alton Ellis (1938 – 2008)
Known widely as the “Godfather of Rock Steady,” he had a string of hits, including I’m Just a Guy, Girl I’ve Got aDate and Get Ready Rock Steady. He passed away in 2008 from multiple myeloma, a form of bone cancer.
Desmond Dekker (1941 – 2006)
Dekker rose to prominence after releasing numerous musical hits that introduced Jamaican reggae to the world. His song 007 (Shanty Town) made it onto the soundtrack of the 1972 Jamaica reggae film The Harder They Come. He died of a heart attack in 2006.
This election season, the stakes are higher than usual — and so is the pressure on newsrooms to soften their coverage, stay quiet, or just disappear. Independent reporting, the kind that answers to readers instead of advertisers or political pressure, matters more in a moment like this, not less.
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