Two members of acclaimed reggae trio Mighty Diamonds have died

He is survived by his wife, Evandey Henry; his daughters, Samantha Shaw, Josheina Shaw, Ishika Shaw, Dominique Martin, Naomi Campbell and Sapphire Campbell; his sons, Javion Shaw, JahMarley Shaw and Brad Campbell; and five grandchildren.

Fitzroy Ogilvie Matthews Simpson was born on May 10, 1951 in Kingston. His father, Burnett Simpson, moved to England when Fitzroy was young. His mother, Monica Matthews, owned a boutique.

His wife, Sylvia Simpson, died in 2017. He is survived by his sister, Lorna Howell; his brother, Lloyd Howell; his daughters, Ronece Simpson and Rosemarie Simpson; his sons, Allan Simpson and Omar Simpson; and six grandchildren.

Although the members of the Mighty Diamonds all knew each other in school, it wasn’t until later, as young men working in Kingston, that they came together as a group. They were originally called Limelight, but they changed their name and adopted their stage names after Tabby’s mother started calling them the Diamonds.

“Bunny, he lived near me,” Tabby Diamond said in the 2008 interview. “And we thought maybe we could do something together, so we started singing together. Then one night we were passing by and Bunny was singing and the judge heard him and said, “I want to play guitar for this.” So we played a few songs together one night and were like, ‘Yeah, things can work out, things can work out.’

After 40 years of recording and touring, the Mighty Diamonds slowed down in the early 2010s, but they continued to record. They were awarded the Jamaican Government’s Order of Distinction, one of the country’s highest civilian honours, in 2021.