Alton Ellis

The funeral for singer Alton Ellis is likely to be Monday, November 3, a government spokesman said yesterday.

Colin Leslie of the Ministry of Information, Culture, Youth and Sports said the date for the funeral would be confirmed during this week, when Minister Olivia Grange meets with Prime Minister Bruce Golding.

Ellis, 70, died October 10 at the Hammersmith Hospital in London, England, from lymphatic cancer. He had been diagnosed with the disease 10 months earlier.

The west Kingston-born Ellis was popularly known as the Godfather of Rocksteady, homage to his success in the genre that followed the ska craze of the early 1960s.

Influential pop vocalist

Ellis is arguably Jamaica's most influential pop vocalist and one of the country's most prolific recording artistes.

Ellis started out as a dancer on the Vere Johns Opportunity Hour talent show during the late 1950s and had his first hit record in 1959 with the ballad Muriel, which he did with Eddie Perkins.

During the 1960s, Ellis was rarely off local charts, scoring with a mixture of original and cover songs that included Dancecrasher, Cry Tough, Girl I've Got a Date, I'm Just a Guy and Lord Deliver Us.

Ellis left Jamaica in 1969 for Canada where he lived for over three years, before moving permanently to Britain. He experienced a career resurgence in the 1990s when there was a rocksteady revival in Jamaica and Europe.

Ellis last performed in Jamaica in June.