The Jamaican government has announced plans to build a bust of Lee 'Scratch' Perry in his hometown of Hanover.
The announcement was made by the Honourable Olivia Grange, Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment, and Sport, in a tribute read at the cemetery by Tamika Davis, Member of Parliament (MP) for Hanover Western, during the late reggae icon's brief funeral on Thursday.
Perry was laid to rest in Cauldwell, Hanover, in a family plot.
"To his widow, Mirella, (his) children, siblings, and other relatives, it is my intention to honour him with a bust to be erected in Hanover as a fitting tribute to one of the parish's greatest sons, as part of the Jamaica 60 Diamond Jubilee celebrations," Davis stated as part of Grange's tribute to Perry.
Perry was a pioneer in the development of dub music in the 1970s, using remixing and studio effects to create new instrumental or vocal versions of existing reggae tracks.
In 2002, he won a Reggae Grammy for his album 'Jamaican ET.' He was nominated four more times: in 2014 for 'Back on the Controls,' in 2010 for 'Revelation,' in 2008 for 'Repentance,' and in 2007 for 'The End of an American Dream.'
He was also awarded the Order of Distinction at the rank of Officer, a national honor.
Perry, who was born in Kendal, Hanover, lived in Switzerland for several years before returning to Negril, Jamaica in January 2021, declaring that Switzerland was "too cold."
He died in August, at the age of 85, at the Noel Holmes Hospital in Lucea, Hanover, after a long battle with illness.
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