Don Drummond (March 12, 1932 - May 6, 1969) was a huge part in the creative genius that is the Skatalites. Drummond was an amazing trombone player as well as composer and arranger. His musical career began in the mid-1950s with the Eric Deans All-Stars. He continued into the 1960s with others, including Kenny Williams.
Drummond was an alumnus of the famous Alpha Boys’ School where he developed his musical skills. With the birth of ska, he joined The Skatalites. He became a household name in Jamaica, before suffering mental problems. He was rated by pianist George Shearing to be amongst the world’s top five trombone players.
In 1965 he was convicted of the murder on January 1, 1965 of Anita “Margarita” Mahfood, an exotic dancer and singer with whom he’d recorded the hit “Woman A Come” for Clement Dodd’s Studio One label. He was interned at Belle Vue Asylum, Kingston where he remained until his death. The official cause of death was “suicide”, but other theories remain; some of his colleagues believed it was a government plot against the Kingston musical scene, and some believed that he was killed by gangsters as revenge for the murder of Mahfood. |
