by Howard Campbell
[TORONTO, Canada] – Jo Jo Bennett, a pioneer of reggae in Canada, died in a Toronto hospital on August 3 at age 81.
Reuben Kincaid, his friend of 40 years, said the flugelhorn/trumpeter and founder of The Sattalites Band, was admitted to hospital one month ago and died peacefully of natural causes.
Bennett was born in Kingston, Jamaica and attended the Alpha Boys School. A nursery for the country’s leading musicians including trombonist Don Drummond and saxophonist Tommy McCook.
After leaving Alpha, he joined The Celestials band then Byron Lee and The Dragonaires. It was while performing with the latter at the 1967 World’s Fair Expo in Montreal, that he decided to settle in Canada.
He made his mark on his adopted home’s reggae scene during the early 1970s, playing in The Fugitives band. Bennett later formed The Sattalites, which contained several of his former students from The Sattalites Music School he started in Toronto in the 1980s.
The Sattalites recorded seven albums including Sattalites which was partially recorded in Kingston in 1986.
They also won two Juno Awards, Canada’s equivalent of the Grammy Awards.
Jo Jo Bennett is survived by seven children, 11 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
