Frankie Paul is a Jamaican dancehall, lovers rock and reggae singer from Kingston, Jamaica. Born Paul Blake in 1965, he dies in 2017 and is also associated with ragga, rocksteady and roots reggae.

Early life and stage name

Paul is born blind, and as a child has part of his sight partially restored through an operation on a hospital ship. He sings for Stevie Wonder when Wonder visits the school he attends, and that encounter helps prompt his decision to pursue a singing career. He later performs under the name Frankie Paul.

Career

Frankie Paul first finds fame in the early 1980s and records prolifically through that decade and beyond. He works with a very wide range of Jamaican producers and studios, and he is known for releasing several albums in a single year. His recorded work includes Give The Youth A Chance, Freedom Sounds (also issued as Rich & Poor), Pass the Ku-Sheng Peng, Nyam Up, Tidal Wave, Crystal Still Alive, Shut Up Bway, Sara, Warning, Alesha, Fire Deh a Mus Tail, Dance Hall Duo, Slow Down, Frankie Paul at Studio One, Veteran, Reaching Out, Can't Get You Out of My Mind, Detrimental, Get Closer, Start of Romance, Best in Me, Let's Chill, Jamming, Should I, Money Talk, Sleepless Night, Hot Number, Tomorrow, Cassanova, Live & Love, Sizzling, Don Man, Talk All You Want, Hard Work, Time Less, If You Want Me Girl, Come Back Again, Freedom, A We Rule, Live at Maritime Hall, Give Me That Feeling, Freedom Blues, Forever, On, Every Nigger Is a Star!, Remember the Time, I Be Hold, Don't Wanna Get Funky, Sara, Blessed Me, Hardcore Loving, Asking for Love, Who Issued the Guns, Are You Ready, Best of Friends, Tink Say Dem Know Me, and Most Wanted.

Notable songs

Among his best-known tracks are “Sara” and “Worries in the Dance”.

Later life

Paul lives in Gambia from 1994. In January 2016, he undergoes surgery that leads to the amputation of a foot and part of a leg. He dies on 18 May 2017 at the University Hospital of the West Indies in Kingston.

Reputation

He is sometimes referred to as “The Jamaican Stevie Wonder”, and his voice is noted for a distinctive nasal, throaty quality.