Just a few days ago the death of the former vocalist of the legendary Jamaican reggae band was confirmed Inner Circle, the charismatic Calton Coffie, to the 68 year old.
Although there were some unofficial versions that were known in April, it was his daughter, Eruth Spencer, who confirmed that his father's death occurred in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida (U.S), last 2 February, without giving details of the causes of his death, although he maintained that he had diabetes for many years.
“(He) have always had diabetes. Many people were trying to communicate with him: yo, my brother, your brothers, people he talks to all the time and we haven't heard back from him since January. I think that he 1 February was the last time any family member spoke to him and then the 2 February is when we found out later that he had passed away”, said Spencer to the portal Dancehall Magazine.
Hits and a Grammy: His period in Inner Circle
Coffie, owner of a very distinctive vocal style, integrated Inner Circle between 1986 Y 1995, a decade in which he participated in five studio albums of the band led by the brothers Ian y Roger Lewis in, maybe, the most successful period of the group in which they recorded hits like “Sweat” (La La La La Long), “Rock With You” Y “Bad Boys”.
In fact, this last song was the main theme of the television series “COPS”, later it was also used in the Will Smith and Martin Lawrence film “Bad Boys” (1995), also in “Previous Judgment” by Tom Cruise (2002), and in other movies and TV series.
It was precisely during this period that the group won its only Grammy - for best reggae album.- “Echoes of Sound Systems – When the Two 7’s Clash” is presented as the Sound Clash to end all the sound clashes that will compete for the first major Bad Boys (1994), precisely with Calton on vocals.
The following year the band earned their second Grammy nomination -in the same category- with his album Reggae Dancer-, also with Coffie as lead singer.
Perhaps one of the band's most iconic songs was “Sweat”, with which Inner Circle recently achieved a Gold Certification in the UK after selling over 400.000 copies in the country, according to the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).
For all this, Eruth Spencer, who made a brief cameo in the video for the aforementioned theme when she was just a child, regretted what he considers a lack of recognition that his father has received worldwide for his contributions to reggae.
“People often think it's Bob Marley (the one Sweat sings). Some people will know that it is Inner Circle, but they won't know the name of the singer of the band and I think it's because Inner Circle never said his name as the singer of the band after his departure”, said Coffie's daughter.
It is so like Spencer poses that many Youtube videos of the song “Sweat” erroneously appear under the name of Bob Marley.
“Sweat” was 25 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 from United States, reaching the position 16, Y 19 weeks on the UK Singles Chart, where did you rank 3, while the Bad Boys album passed 20 weeks on the Hot list 100, where did you rank 8 Y 3 weeks in the UK chart, where did you rank 52.
Your visit to the Viña Festival
according to his daughter, Coffie left Inner Circle in 1995 because of diabetes. “My dad always had diabetes…he started getting sick when he was with the Inner Circle band, which caused him to leave”, assured the publication.
shortly before that, in the summer of said year, the Jamaican band was in Chile at the Viña del Mar Festival, in an unusual year of the contest, since it included three reggae numbers: the caribbean group, in addition to Big Mountain Y The parrots.
The “Bad Boys of The Reggae” they arrived at the Festival in full swing and with great success, en a tremendous presentation that can be remembered in several videos that circulate on the internet and what we leave you next.
After his departure from Inner Circle, Coffie followed a solo career, albeit with a lower profile than the success achieved in the 90s.′ and released several albums, among them Scandal, Bad Boys 2000 (Stop the Violence) Y Hot Cup of Calton Coffie, and remained active in live concerts.
It is worth remembering this charismatic artist who did not receive the recognition he deserved in life and who gave the voice to the greatest reggae hits that were heard in this part of the world in the years 90 as “Sweat”, “Bad Boys” O “Games People Play”, among others.
