Reggae Star, Cocoa Tea Is Dead

Jamaican singer-songwriter Colvin Scott, better known by his stage name Cocoa Tea, has died at the age of 65.

The reggae singer died Tuesday morning at a Florida hospital following a cardiac arrest, his wife, Malvia Scott, told the Jamaica Gleaner.

“I got a call early this morning to say that he had been transferred from the facility to the hospital…which is like five minutes away…because he was vomiting,” Malvia said. “He was initially diagnosed with lymphoma in 2019, but for the last six months he was also struggling with pneumonia.”

“He was definitely very brave,” she added. “He was positive throughout it all. About three weeks ago when he was admitted in the hospital he asked if I was worried and I said, ‘I am always worried.’ He told me not to worry because everything was going to be all right. He was always very hopeful.”

Born on September 3, 1959, in Clarendon Parish, Jamaica, Scott broke out into the country’s reggae scene in 1985 before becoming successful worldwide in the Nineties.