The 1980s musician was behind the 1 hit 'Pass the Dutchie', which was recently featured on 'Stranger Things', and has been known to a wide audience for his music for several decades.
Frederick passed away in Birmingham in July, but his band only now officially announced his passing in a statement expressing their own grief. On Thursday, the surviving band members Dennis Seaton and Michael Grant, who have been performing together under this name since 2005 after the band split in 1985, shared a statement on Facebook. It said: "We are saddened to learn of the death of drummer Frederick Waite Jr.by Musical Youth to announce. Our thoughts are with him and his family at this sad time. We have lost a musical legend who has inspired many young musicians over the past 40 years.”
The reggae band was formed in the West Midlands in 1979 by the fathers of Frederick and Patrick Waite and other siblings Kelvin and Michael Grant. They broke through when 'Pass the Dutchie' was released in 1982 and sold five million copies. The band made history by becoming the first black group to play a music video on MTV - even beating Michael Jackson by several months.
