by Howard Campbell
MIAMI – Reggae Singer Derrick Lara, a longtime member of The Tamlins, died in Miami on February 13. He lost a three-month fight with lung cancer.
Lara, who was 61, joined the harmony trio in 1983 after being a member of the Seventh Extension Band in Jamaica for several years. With The Tamlins (which also included founding members Carlton Smith and Junior Moore), he recorded a number of songs including the hits Go Away Dream and Peek A Boo, which were released in the 1980s.
He was featured vocalist on two of The Tamlins’ albums, I’ll be Waiting and Love Divine.
Lara was from West Kingston, a music-rich area of Jamaica that has produced legendary reggae artists such as Ken Boothe, Stranger Cole and Delroy Wilson.
His career started in the mid-1970s with Seventh Extension, for which he was drummer and singer. In the early 1980s, he joined The Tamlins who are best known for the 1979 hit song Baltimore.
Smith, whose mother recently died, said losing Lara is another personal blow.
“Derrick was a good bredin, good singer. Anybody who know him will tell yuh how him love gi’ joke,” he said.
Derrick Lara is survived by three children and three grandchildren.
