Cocoa Tea

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Jamaican musician (1959–2025)

title: "Cocoa Tea" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1959-births", "2025-deaths", "jamaican-dancehall-musicians", "jamaican-reggae-musicians", "musicians-from-clarendon-parish,-jamaica", "greensleeves-records-artists", "vp-records-artists"] description: "Jamaican musician (1959–2025)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocoa_Tea" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Jamaican musician (1959–2025) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox musical artist"]

Field	Value
name	Cocoa Tea
image	Cocoa Tea at B.B.King in New York on September 14, 2004.jpg
caption	Tea performing in 2004
birth_name	Colvin George Scott
birth_date
birth_place	Rocky Point, Clarendon, Jamaica
death_date
death_place	Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S.
origin	Hayes, Clarendon, Jamaica
instrument	Vocals
genre	Reggae, roots reggae
label	VP Records, Greensleeves, Volcano, Cornerstone, Roaring Lion
years_active	1974–2022
::

Colvin George Scott (3 September 1959 – 11 March 2025), better known as Cocoa Tea, was a Jamaican reggae singer and songwriter.

Life and career

Born was in the fishing village of Rocky Point, Clarendon Parish, Jamaica on 3 September 1959, Cocoa Tea was one of the most popular singers in Jamaica from the 1980s onwards, achieving significant worldwide success in the reggae world.

He made his first venture into the music industry at only 14 years of age in 1974, when he released "Searching In The Hills" for Willie Francis' Little Willie label. When the song failed to hit the young Colvin gave up on the music industry for a while, and spent time working as both a jockey and a fisherman over the next few years. Unable to stay away for too long he gained experience singing live on various sound systems before eventually finding his way to Henry "Junjo" Lawes Volcano label in 1984, where he scored big hits with first "Rocking Dolly" and later "I Lost My Sonia", under the name Cocoa Tea.

From there his career continued to progress, leading to overseas tours and working with many other Jamaican producers. Some of his biggest hits of this period include "Young Lover" and "Children of the Ghetto" for the Jammys label, as well as "Holding On" in collaboration with Home T and Shabba Ranks for Gussie Clarke's Music Works. In 1990 he was released the hit "Rikers Island" on the Mr Doo imprint, inspired by John Holt's 1977 song "Up Park Camp", with re-worked lyrics referencing the Rikers Island prison in New York City as a warning to young Jamaican immigrants of the time. He also voiced a version in combination with Nardo Ranks titled "Me No Like Rikers Island", which featured on the 1991 Columbia/SME Records compilation album, Dancehall Reggaespañol.

His success continued into the 1990s, with songs such as "Bust Outta Hell" again for Junjo, "Tune In" for Jammys, as well as working with new producers such as Philip "Fatis" Burrell on "Good Life" and "She Loves Me Now", and Bobby 'Digital' Dixon for "Moving On", "Heathen" and "No Threat". Many of these productions found their way onto albums released by international labels such as VP Records, Greensleeves and Ras Records. By this stage he had established himself as one of the top singers in the reggae world, and remained a favourite with fans, performing at almost every Reggae Sunsplash.

In 1997 he launched his own label, Roaring Lion Records, which achieved a good deal of success, releasing songs by some of the top artists on the island including Buju Banton, Louie Culture, Capleton, Cutty Ranks, Sizzla and of course "Sweet Sweet" Cocoa Tea himself. He gained notoriety in March 2008 after releasing a song titled "Barack Obama" on the label in support of the US presidential candidate of the same name. Cocoa Tea's song "Jah Made Them That Way" from his 1984 album Rocking Dolly, interpolates "Human Nature" by Michael Jackson and "Answer Mi Question" by Dillinger.

He initiated the annual New Year's Eve events Dancehall Jam Jam in 2003 which ran until 2009. |date=1 October 2014 |title=Cocoa Tea Looks to Sunset in Negril |last=Campbell-Livingston |first=Cecelia |url=http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/entertainment/Cocoa-Tea-looks-to-Sunset-In-Negril_17654370 |work=Jamaica Observer |location=Jamaica |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304054741/https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/entertainment/Cocoa-Tea-looks-to-Sunset-In-Negril_17654370/ |archive-date=4 March 2016

Cocoa Tea died from a cardiac arrest on 11 March 2025, at the age of 65.

Discography

Albums

Weh Dem A Go Do...Can't Stop Cocoa Tea (1984), Volcano
I Lost My Sonia (1985), Volcano
Settle Down (1985), Corner Stone
Mr. Coco Tea (1985), Corner Stone
Sweet Sweet Coco Tea (1985), Blue Mountain
The Marshall (1985), Jammy's
Cocoa Tea (1986), Jimpy's
Come Again (1987), Jammy's
Rikers Island (1991), VP
Rocking Dolly (1991), RAS
Authorized (1991), Greensleeves
Kingston Hot (1992), RAS
I Am the Toughest (1992), VP
Weh Dem A Go Do - Can't Stop Cocoa Tea (1992), VP
One Up (1993), Greensleeves
Good Life (1994), VP
Sweet Love (1994), VP
Tune In (1994), Greensleeves
Can't Live So (1994), Shanachie
Come Love Me (1995), VP
Israel's King (1996), VP
Holy Mount Zion (1997), Motown
One Way (1998), VP
Unforgettable (2000), Roaring Lion
Feel the Power (2001), VP
Tek Weh Yuh Gal (2004), Kings of Kings
Save Us Oh Jah (2006), VP
Biological Warfare (2007), Minor7Flat5
Yes We Can (2009), Roaring Lion
In a Di Red (2012), VP
Sunset in Negril (2014), Roaring Lion

Split albums

Corner Stone Presents Clash Of The 80's (1986), Corner Stone - Cocoa Tea & Barrington Levy
Clash (1985), Hawkeye - Tenor Saw & Cocoa Tea
Showdown Vol 8 (1986), Hitbound - Frankie Paul & Cocoa Tea
Another One for the Road (1991), Greensleeves - Home T, Cocoa Tea, and Cutty Ranks
Holding On (1991), VP - Cocoa Tea, Shabba Ranks, and Home T, a.k.a. Pirate's Anthem
Sanchez Meets Cocoa Tea (1993), Jet Star - with Sanchez
Legit (1993), Shananchie - Cocoa Tea, Freddie McGregor, and Dennis Brown
Israel Vibration Meets Cocoa Tea (1999), Cactus
Another One For The Road (Greensleeves 30th Anniversary Edition) (2007), Greensleeves - Home T, Cocoa Tea, and Cutty Ranks

Compilation albums

20 Tracks of Cocoa Tea (1991), Sonic Sounds
RAS Portraits (1997), RAS.
In His Early Days (1998), Corner Stone
Best Of (1999), Socadisc
Reggae Legends Vol 3 (1999), Artists Only
Kings of Reggae (2002), Nocturne
Live in Jamaica (2002), Sankofa
Reggae Anthology: The Sweet Sound of Cocoa Tea (2008), 17 North Parade
Reggae Legends (2009), 17 North Parade
The Best of Cocoa Tea (2012), Jammy's
Music is Our Business (2019), VP

In popular culture

His song "We Do The Killing" was sampled in the Pendulum song "Set Me On Fire", which is included on their album Immersion.

References

Huey, Steve. "Biography: Cocoa Tea".
(11 March 2025). "Veteran reggae singer Cocoa Tea has died".
(2003). "[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music". [[Virgin Books]].
"Calvin Scott - Searching in the Hills".
"Cocoa Tea".
"Roaring Lion Records".
Mills, Claude. (11 March 2025). "Reggae Legend Cocoa Tea Dead At 65".
"Cocoa Tea - Rikers Island". Allmusic.
"Cocoa Tea - Authorized". Allmusic.
"Cocoa Tea - I Am the Toughest". Allmusic.
(21 November 1992). "Cocoa Tea - Weh Dem A Go Do - Can't Stop Cocoa Tea". Discogs.
"Cocoa Tea - One Up". Allmusic.
"Cocoa Tea - Good Life". Allmusic.
(21 November 1994). "Cocoa Tea - Tune In". Discogs.
(21 November 1995). "Cocoa Tea - Come Love Me". Discogs.
(21 November 1996). "Cocoa Tea - Israel's King". Discogs.
"Cocoa Tea - One Way". Allmusic.
"Cocoa Tea - Feel the Power". Allmusic.
(21 November 2023). "Cocoa Tea - Save Us Oh Jah". Discogs.
(21 November 1991). "Cocoa Tea - Another One for the Road". Discogs.
(8 September 2019). "Cocoa Tea - Holding On". Discogs.
(21 November 2023). "Cocoa Tea - Another One For The Road (Greensleeves 30th Anniversary Edition)". Discogs.
(21 November 2023). "Cocoa Tea - The Sweet Sound Of Cocoa Tea". Discogs.
(21 November 2023). "Cocoa Tea - Reggae Legends". Discogs.
"Cocoa Tea - Music Is Our Business". Allmusic.

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