Jamaica has lost two of the Mighty Diamonds in a single week. Lead singer Donald “Tabby” Shaw, 67, was killed in a drive-by shooting in Kingston on the night of Tuesday, March 29, 2022. On the morning of Friday, April 1, harmony singer Fitzroy “Bunny” Simpson, 71, died in hospital after a long battle with diabetes.

Police told the Jamaica Observer that Shaw was among a group gathered on McKinley Crescent shortly before 10 p.m. when gunmen opened fire from a passing vehicle. He and another man were pronounced dead at hospital; three other people were injured.

Simpson had been unwell for years. The Ministry of Culture said he was taken in for a check-up on Friday morning, admitted, and died later that day, according to Rolling Stone. The group’s former manager Copeland Forbes told the Gleaner that Simpson had not been told of Shaw’s killing before his own death. “To lose two Diamonds in one week is too heartbreaking to put into words,” Forbes said.

“I can’t deal with this… it’s tough. The second one of the Mighty Diamonds to pass away in four days,” Frankie Campbell, chairman of the Jamaica Association of Vintage Artistes and Affiliates, told Observer Online.

Culture minister Olivia Grange called it a “double loss” that is “really devastating.” “It is hard to believe that two members of the Mighty Diamonds would pass within days of each other,” she said in a statement on Friday.

Trench Town harmony

Formed in 1969 in Trench Town, the Mighty Diamonds were Shaw, Simpson and Lloyd “Judge” Ferguson, who is now the trio’s lone surviving founder. Their close harmonies and choreographed stage show drew on Motown vocal groups and on Jamaican rocksteady singers such as John Holt and Ken Boothe. The “Diamond” tag attached itself to each member’s name over the years.

After early singles with producers including Lee “Scratch” Perry, Bunny Lee and Derrick Harriott, the group hit its stride at Channel One and signed to Virgin for Right Time (1976), recorded with Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare in the rhythm section. It remains one of the most celebrated roots albums of the decade. “I Need a Roof,” “Heads of Government” and the title track are still staples of the sound system and the revival stage.

Their most travelled song is one they did not take to the charts themselves. “Pass the Kouchie” (1981) was reworked by Musical Youth as “Pass the Dutchie” in 1982, a worldwide hit that stripped out the original’s herb references. The Diamonds kept recording at close to an album a year through the 1990s and released more than forty albums in all.

In 2021 the group was conferred with the Order of Distinction, Officer Class, in Jamaica’s National Honours and Awards.

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Sources: Jamaica Observer — “Mighty Diamonds lead singer killed in drive-by shooting” (March 29, 2022); Jamaica Observer — “Bunny Diamond is dead” (April 2022); Rolling Stone — “Two Members of Legendary Reggae Act Mighty Diamonds Die in Same Week” (April 2, 2022).

Editor’s note: This story is part of an archive backfill covering Jamaican music news from 2022 to 2026. It is dated to the events it reports.