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Jamaican born singer Desmond Dekker was best known for creating several musical hits in the ska and reggae genres.
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Play NowDesmond Dekker. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 04:34, Jun 19, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/desmond-dekker-20903699.
Desmond Dekker. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/desmond-dekker-20903699 [Accessed 19 Jun 2013].
"Desmond Dekker." 2013. The Biography Channel website. Jun 19 2013, 04:34 http://www.biography.com/people/desmond-dekker-20903699.
"Desmond Dekker," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/desmond-dekker-20903699 [accessed Jun 19, 2013].
"Desmond Dekker," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/desmond-dekker-20903699 (accessed Jun 19, 2013).
Desmond Dekker [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 Jun 19] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/desmond-dekker-20903699.
Desmond Dekker, http://www.biography.com/people/desmond-dekker-20903699 (last visited Jun 19, 2013).
Desmond Dekker. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/desmond-dekker-20903699. Accessed Jun 19, 2013.
Dekker moved to England in the early 1970s and signed with Staff Records, an influential new-wave label. Throughout the 1970s, Dekker toured regularly and continue to produce hits. Among them was his version of Jamaica reggae star Jimmy Cliff's "You can Get It If You Really Want It.?"
As the public's music tastes changed, interest in Dekker faded and he declared bankruptcy in 1984. Still, he continued to tour regularly, re-recorded old singles,
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participated in several collaborations and worked with a ska revival band, The Specials, on an album. Dekker died of a heart attack on May 25, 2006, at his home in Surrey, England, one week before he was set to begin a European tour. He was 64 years old at the time. Dekker was divorced and survived by two children, a son and daughter.
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Reggae Artists
View groupFrom Babylon to Zion, they are the international artists who have revolutionized reggae, a musical genre that originated in Jamaica in the 1960s. At that time, the genre took on a more pop-based sound. Over the past several decades, however, reggae music has transformed to include various sub-genres such as rocksteady, roots reggae and steppa. Our list of Reggae Artists includes musicians of various styles and experiences, from Rastafarians to raggamuffins to sapps, to everyday mon; read about world-renowned musicians like Toots Hibbert, Peter Tosh, Judge Dread, Alton Ellis and Bob Marley.
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