Mon | Oct 13, 2025

Farewell to a legend

Jamaican entertainers pay tribute to Allan ‘Skill’ Cole

Published:Monday | October 13, 2025 | 12:10 AMGregory Bryce/Staff Reporter
Stephen Marley represented the Marley family at the thanksgiving service for Alan ‘Skill’ Cole, a former manager and confidante of reggae icon, Bob Marley.
Stephen Marley represented the Marley family at the thanksgiving service for Alan ‘Skill’ Cole, a former manager and confidante of reggae icon, Bob Marley.
‘Dancehall Doctor’ Beenie Man pays tribute in song to Allan ‘Skill’ Cole.
‘Dancehall Doctor’ Beenie Man pays tribute in song to Allan ‘Skill’ Cole.
Adorned in his red, gold and green scarf and epaulettes, Rastafarian crooner Luciano representing the music fraternity and the Rasta community. Skill Cole was a longstanding member of the Twelve Tribes of Israel organisation.
Adorned in his red, gold and green scarf and epaulettes, Rastafarian crooner Luciano representing the music fraternity and the Rasta community. Skill Cole was a longstanding member of the Twelve Tribes of Israel organisation.
Allan ‘Skill’ Cole’s casket is presented at the National Arena during a thanksgiving service on Saturday.
Allan ‘Skill’ Cole’s casket is presented at the National Arena during a thanksgiving service on Saturday.
Saxophonist Dean Fraser performing at the thanksgiving service for Alan ‘Skill’ Cole held last Saturday at the National Arena in Kingston.
Saxophonist Dean Fraser performing at the thanksgiving service for Alan ‘Skill’ Cole held last Saturday at the National Arena in Kingston.
Allan ‘Skill’ Cole, who was born on October 14, 1950, passed away on September 9 at The University Hospital of the West Indies. He was 74.
Allan ‘Skill’ Cole, who was born on October 14, 1950, passed away on September 9 at The University Hospital of the West Indies. He was 74.
1
2
3
4
5
6

While he was most known for his prowess on the football field, Allan ‘Skill’ Cole’s thanksgiving service was attended by several Jamaican musicians at the National Arena on Saturday, as they paid their final respects to the man who played a key role in the growth of reggae music.

A former ‘Reggae Boy’, Cole passed away aged 74 on September 9 at The University Hospital of the West Indies.

His passing was a major loss for Jamaica’s sporting community, as the former Jamaican international was widely regarded as one of the country’s greatest-ever footballers.

It was also a major loss for Jamaica’s music fraternity, as Cole was a close confidante of reggae icon, Bob Marley, and worked as Marley’s tour manager during the 1970s.

The likes of Carlene Davis, Stephen Marley, Beenie Man, Luciano, Tarrus Riley, Junior Reid, Herman ‘Bongo Herman’ Davis, Dean Frazer and Denzil ‘Dipstick’ Williams were all in attendance and performed special tributes for the late Cole.

Dipstick, a close friend of Cole, performed a unique rendition of Joe Higgs’ 1983 song, Ah so it go. Whereas the original song was critical of the Jamaican government, Dipstick changed the lyrics of the chorus into a heart-wrenching message of moving on after the death of a loved one.

“I choose this song because one of Bob Marley’s teachers, Joe Higgs, he was the person who did that song. It resonated with me so much that I believed it would fit the occasion,” Dipstick explained.

“I changed it up to make it accommodating for this event and the people loved it. I feel really good that I made a proper choice to sing that song, because overall, when all is said and done, life has to go on.”

Dipstick recalled his interactions with Cole throughout the years, and described him as man of great character who stood among the legends of reggae music.

“I born and grow in Trench Town,” he said. “So I was always around and he [Cole] used to come there and check a man name Mortimer Planno who would eventually become Bob’s mentor.

“Where he was, that was the mecca of the music ... that’s in Trench Town ... Joe Higgs, Alton Ellis, Lascelles Perkins, the Heptones, Toots, Jimmy Cliff, Ken Boothe, Mighty Diamonds, the list goes on. All of them were there. So, when Bob hear that Skill was in Trench Town, he wanted to get associated with him and he did, and so they set up a relationship where Skill became Bob’s manager,” shared Dipstick, who made his name with the harmony trio, Wadadah.

Cole and Marley would remain friends until Marley’s passing in 1981, and was credited as a songwriter on Marley’s 1976 song, War.

Cole was the person who caught Marley when he collapsed while jogging in New York City in 1980, and carried him back to the hotel.

The former footballer was also revered for his fight against the discrimination of Rastafari and his infamous confrontation with RJR, when they refused to play Bob Marley and the Wailers’ 1974 single Rebel Music (3 O’Clock Roadblock) on the radio stations.

Kay Osborne, former general manager of Television Jamaica, recalled the incident in her tribute at the service.

“Back in the day, the Jamaican establishment feared the Rastafari movement,” she said.

“No radio station would play a tune that glorified the Natty Dread. But as the Wailers manager, and immersed in Wailers music, Skill knew he had to attack the system, knowing that the Wailers was vital and the sound was essential to the uplifting of the entire world.”

“Allan ‘Skill’ Cole made it his mission to break through the impenetrable barriers the radio stations erected,” Osbourne said.

Cole is survived by widow Sharon Cole and his six children.

gregory.bryce@gleanerjm.com