KINGSTON, Jamaica, Dec. 11 (UPI) -- Influential Jamaican record producer Philip Burrell has died of a heart attack in Kingston, his family said.
Burrell, known by the name Fattis, had been hospitalized for a mild stroke the two weeks before his Dec. 3 death, The New York Times reported Saturday. He was 57 years old.
Burrell worked with reggae stars such as Sanchez, Pinchers, Luciano and Sizzla, creating hits for 20 years through his company Exterminator Records.
"You cannot measure his contribution to the reggae industry," fellow producer Donovan Germain told the Times. "Not only as a producer but also a manager. He didn't just seek out the established artists. He was always giving new artists that nobody knew about an opportunity."
Burrell required artists he worked with to follow a higher moral standard and include socially responsible messages in their music, the Times said.
"He's all for cultural music, clean music," his wife Carmelita Bailey Burrell told the newspaper, "because he wants his music to go all around the world and he wants everybody to listen."
