Lt Stitchie, dancehall icon who found new calling in gospel, dies at 60

Veteran deejay Lieutenant Stitchie has died.

Observer Online

understands that the entertainer, whose given name was Cleveland “Cleve” Laing, died at hospital on Monday, just one day before he would have celebrated his 61st birthday. The tragic news comes less than 24 hours after the entertainer’s wife, Sophia Laing confirmed that he had been hospitalised with a low blood count and was receiving treatment at the Kingston Public Hospital. READ:

Lt Stitchie hospitalised with ‘low blood count’

The pioneering dancehall entertainer whose career spanned the formative years of the genre before he made a transition to gospel music, had been ailing for some time. His health issued stemmed largely from a debilitating stroke in the first week of September 2024. Stitchie emerged from the competitive sound-system culture of Spanish Town in the early 1980s, working alongside figures including Papa San, Wickerman and Major Worries. His breakthrough came in 1986 with the humorous

Wear Yuh Size

, followed by

Natty Dread

, before his career expanded internationally with a recording deal with Atlantic Records in 1988. But perhaps the most defining chapter of Stitchie's life came when he left secular dancehall behind and devoted himself to ministry after becoming a born-again Christian in 1997. He subsequently built a thriving career in gospel reggae as his transition did little to diminish the respect he commanded within the wider entertainment fraternity. His death is expected to reverberate across both communities, with artistes who shared stages, sound systems and recording studios with him likely to reflect on the contribution of a man who managed to reinvent himself without losing his place in Jamaican music history.