How Garnett Silk Influenced Luciano To Become A Rastafarian
Veteran sound system selector Ricky Trooper has recounted details of the night in the 1990s when the late Reggae singer Garnett Silk influenced his Manchester compatriot Luciano, who was embracing Christianity at the time, to become a Rastafarian.
According to Trooper, at that time, he was the lead selector at Kilimanjaro, to which Garnet Silk was connected. He said he had been trying to orchestrate a dubplate special collaboration featuring Garnet Silk and Capleton, who was aligned to the African Star sound, but, despite his best efforts, he was unable to get the two men in the studio together due to scheduling conflicts until one fateful Friday.
“I will neva figet, one Friday Garnett deh a di studio and Capleton come deh. Suh mi call Boxer and seh ‘Boxer, Capleton deh a di studio enuh’. And him forward. And wi deh yah and wi a voice. But anytime it touch six o’ clock, yuh know seh voicing haffi done, because him (Garnett Silk) a Rasta. Him Sabbath a start,” Trooper told Reggae Interviews.
“Suh wi have dem inna di studio till about seven o’ clock and Garnett seh, ‘yow it’s against mi principles’ (working on the Sabbath). An Garnett seh: ‘no man naw guh home!’ Him seh all a wi a guh up a him house guh read bible,” he continued.
According to Trooper, all the men at the studio, including Luciano, who was a “bald head” at the time, obeyed Garnett’s directive and headed to the singer’s house, where the Kingly Character artist evangelized them until daybreak.
“Suh me, Capleton, two yute weh forward wid Capleton, Luciano, mi bredrin name Muggy and Keith weh used to play Jaro wid wi… di whole a wi guh up a Garnett house. An when Garnett start preach bout Selassie I, Luciano – dem man deh a bible man, dem man deh believe inna Jesus Christ dem time deh enuh. An every time him ask Garnett suppm bout Selassie, Garnet either show him di truth inna di bible or him show him pan one a dem VHS cassette deh. Caw Garnet tdid have a whole heap a cassette bout Selassie enuh,” Trooper reminisced.
“Suh inna di morning, when Satday morning come out and day light out, from dah day deh Luciano become a Rastafari. Right deh suh. Luciano guh tun Rastafari and mi next bredrin weh name Pedley, dem man deh guh turn Rasta from dah morning deh,” he added.
Trooper, whose given name is Garfield McKoy, said that from that Sabbath morning, not only did Luciano sever all ties with Christendom, but that Capleton followed closely behind.
“Luciano start locks; yuh can’t tell him nuttn bout nuh Jesus from deh suh, seen. Yeh. An suh when Luciano guh suh boom and guh locks di Satday, Capleton an di whole a who did up deh – Capleton get more deeper inna di Rasta ting, you know,” he explained.
Garnett Silk died in a house fire in Mandeville on the night of December 9, 1994, at age 28.
According to The Gleaner, records say that the Splashing Dashing singer was “sitting with a couple of friends at his mother’s house in Mandeville” when “a gun accidentally misfired, hitting a propane tank and setting the house ablaze”.
Garnett, his friends, and his two brothers had escaped the blaze, but the singer ran back inside in an attempt to rescue his mother. Both perished in the blaze, according to the publication.
In January this year, Luciano recalled how distraught he was when he learned of Garnett Silk’s death.
“I drop off a me bed, and I cried for days…,” he recounted.
The Lord Give Me Strength singer also said that even a month later, he was still overcome by grief that he could not even perform at an event for which he was booked.
“There was road show I had to do in May Pen and I couldn’t sing. I go on the show and I couldn’t sing, it just came right up for me,” told The Gleaner.