REGGAE STALWART MIKEY CHUNG, DIES AT 71!

Reggae lost another of its stalwarts on December 28 with the death of Mikey Chung, a talented multi-instrumentalist who played on numerous hit songs. Chung, who was 71, died at the University Hospital of the West Indies in Kingston. He had cancer and suffered renal problems in recent times, said his brother Charlie.

He was the older brother of Geoffrey Chung, considered one of reggae’s most creative producers. Like Mikey, Geoffrey, who died in 1995, played guitar, bass and keyboards.

They were members of the Now Generation Band, a prolific session unit that played on hits such as Breakfast in Bed by Lorna Bennett, Silhouettes by Dennis Brown and Life Is Just For Living by Ernie Smith.

Mikey Chung also played on Peter Tosh’s Mawga Dog, I Man A Grasshopper by Pablo Moses and Party in Session by Black Uhuru. He was a member of Tosh’s Word Sound And Power band and Sly and Robbie’s Taxi Gang.

He is the latest reggae casualty in 2021. The music has lost legends in Bunny Wailer, U Roy and Lee “Scratch” Perry. In the last month, drummer Mikey Boo Richards, Chung’s colleague in Now Generation, singer Garth Dennis of the Wailing Souls and bassists Robbie Shakespeare and Phil Chen, have died.
Mikey Chung is survived by a daughter and three brothers.