Drugs, death and Michael Jackson - tragic story of band behind Pass The Dutchie

dailystar.co.uk:

Michael Jackson also took a shine to the boys.Jackson invited the boys round to his house where they met his chimp Bubbles and pet snake Muscles.They also met many other superstars including Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, James Brown and Prince and made a film with 1980s acting legend Mr T.It is 40 years since Pass The Dutchie was released to great acclaim and much has happened to the band along the way.It is a story which started so brightly but the Musical Youth flame was to burn out quickly and the band had gone their separate ways within three years.Musical Youth were made up of brothers Patrick and Freddie "Junior" Waite and Kelvin and Michael Grant, with Dennis Seaton rounding off the group.The boys, aged between 11 and 15, formed their band at school in Birmingham.They all came from musical families and began by playing mostly in West Indian working men’s clubs.

But it was the release of Pass The Dutchie which catapulted them to worldwide fame.Musical Youth had signed to MCA records in 1982 after being talent-spotted.

The single was a version of the Mighty Diamonds' Rastafarian anthem Pass the Kouchie, with the lyrics and title famously altered to avoid any reference to marijuana.Speaking to The Guardian back in 2018 Dennis Seaton said: "When we played the Mighty Diamonds' song Pass the Kouchie at Heaven in London while supporting Culture Club, 3,000 people went crazy."It was a song about a big marijuana bong, so the record company asked us to do something about the lyrics.

We changed kouchie to dutchie, which is a West Indian cooking pot, and switched 'How does it feel when you’ve got no herb?' to 'got no food;."Pass the Dutchie entered the UK charts at number 26 on September 25 in 1982.