Jamaican ska singer Millie Small, RIP

This music video is called Millie Small – My boy lollipop.

Translated from Dutch NOS radio today:

Jamaican singer Millie Small, who had a worldwide hit with the ska song My Boy Lollipop, passed away at the age of 73. She was the first singer from Jamaica to sell millions of records abroad in the 1960s and was one of the founders of the ska genre.

Small recorded the song in a studio in London in 1964. …

The song was in the Netherlands for two weeks in the VARA Time for Teenagers TV show Top 10 and reached a top 3 position in the charts in the US, the UK, Norway and Ireland. In the US, the song was in the lists between greats such as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. …

“It was the first ska song to break through worldwide, and the influence is still visible today,” said Millie Small in a book about the origin of ska. … “One thing is certain: it has opened the doors to all Jamaican artists who came afterwards.”