by Howard Campbell
[ATLANTA] – Denroy Morgan, the Jamaican whose funky hit song I’ll do Anything For You, made him a star in the summer of 1981, died in Atlanta, Georgia on March 3.
His son, Lukes, confirmed his death at age 76. Morgan was patriarch of Morgan Heritage, the Grammy-winning band that included five of his children.
The Morgan family acknowledged their father’s role in their personal and professional development in an Instagram post.
“It is out of sincere love that we share that our beloved father and patriarch Honorable Bishop Ras Denroy Morgan has ascended. Daddy has been our source of love and joy all our lives,” read the post in part.
Denroy Morgan was from Clarendon parish in central Jamaica. He migrated to the United States in the mid-1960s, living first in Florida before settling in New York City.
It was in the Big Apple that his music career began during the early 1970s in bands like The Black Eagles. One of the persons he met while playing in clubs was Bert Reid, an American-Jamaican who wrote I’ll do Anything For You.
The song initially took off in the tri-state area, then found its way to pop radio. It eventually earned Morgan a deal with RCA Records.
He did one album, Make my Day, for that label. It was released in 1984.
I’ll do Anything For You remains Morgan’s biggest hit. Last year, in celebration of its 40th anniversary, he spoke to South Florida Caribbean News about its endurance.
“I’ll do Anything For You” give me a name in the American music industry. That song put mi out there in a big way,” he said.
Although he remained active musically, Denroy Morgan was known in the past 25 years as head of the expansive Morgan clan which spawned family acts like Morgan Heritage, LMS and Jemere Morgan.
