“I have no words for what had happen,” read a post on Lee “Scratch” Perry’s Instagram page on Aug. 30, written by his wife Mireille.
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In a series of posts, Perry suggested that the reggae and dub pioneer was not sick when he died at Noel Holmes Hospital in Lucea, Jamaica on Aug. 29 and that his death could have been avoided.
“Nobody was expecting something like that because he was not sick,” she wrote in the post. “Lee had so many plans that he was looking forward to. So many different projects, shows, art, designs, Community….”
Perry said she could not share any additional details at this time but insisted that those responsible for his death would be brought to justice.
“I’m not allowed to give any details for the moment, but I could just say that Lucea hospital didn’t have anything to do with his tragic pasting [sic]away or did something wrong,” she said.
She added, “The people responsible for his death are not going to get away with his passing. We have 100 percent evidence that he would still be alive if they had not done what they did, also out of money and greed.”
In honor of Perry, his wife also said that she was moving ahead with the building of his LSP Paradise Community, a creative art house the late artist wanted to open in December, following a UK tour in November.
Prior to his death, Lee Perry also called out to volunteers to work on land for the project, while he was in Europe. “If you are right now in Jamaica I would love to get some help in cleaning the land and planting some trees,” he said, “so they could grow while Im gone to Europe.” Perry was working on remixes and several projects, which he posted about regularly, before his death.
“He had a very clear picture of how he wanted it to look,” Perry’s wife said, regarding the art community. “So the plans for volunteering are still valid. I’m going to go through your messages as soon as I recover a little from the terrible shock. It will be me now who will post and let you know what’s going on. Much love and blessings to you all.”
We will update this story as more information becomes available.
Read more on ‘Tributes Pour in for Reggae, Dub Pioneer’ here.
Read Perry’s full interview with American Songwriter in 2020 here.
