Jamaican Singer Ernie Smith Dies Two Weeks Short Of 81st Birthday

Singer-songwriter Ernie Smith, famous for his deep baritone voice and smooth, easy-listening style, passed away on April 16, 2026. He was 80 years old, and would have celebrated his birthday on May 1.

The singer’s wife, Claudette Bailey-Smith, confirmed that he suffered a pair of cardiac incidents at the University of Miami hospital. He died at 7:54 p.m.

He is survived by five children, two sons, three daughters, and one grandchild.

The singer, whose real name is Glenroy Anthony Michael Archangelo Smith, had been admitted to the institution on April 7 and had been in the Intensive Care Unit after undergoing dialysis.

Smith underwent surgery two days after being admitted, and while that procedure was successful, he had remained “heavily sedated” and placed on a ventilator. The medical staff had also done a procedure to clean out mucus from his lungs.

Mrs. Bailey-Smith praised the medical staff at the University of Miami for their ‘excellent care’ of the ailing singer.

In a previous interview, Smith’s wife told DancehallMag that the singer was devoted to his craft and during a recent visit to his neurologist, had seemed anxious “to return to his music”.

She also made an appeal to Jamaican men.

“Don’t take your health for granted. More Jamaican men need to seek out preventive care when it comes to diabetes. Make sure to manage the condition, eat the right foods because sometimes in the middle of your career, you forget to take care of your body. Men need to understand that they need to live their best lives,” she said soberly.

Diabetes is a major health crisis for Jamaican men, representing a leading cause of death and affecting roughly 9-10% of men, with prevalence rising. While prevalence is lower in men than Jamaican women (14.6%), men are less likely to detect it early.

Smith is known for such iconic classics as Pitta Patta, Duppy Gunman and Life is Just For Living. Those songs were recorded during the 1970s at Federal Records where he was the main artiste.

He is known for other major hits I For Jesus and Sunday Coming Down, before migrating to Canada in the late 1970s. Smith returned to Jamaica in the 1990s and became a popular attraction on the live show scene.