JACOB Miller was sitting pretty, on top of the world at the dawn of 1980. The previous year he had had a rush of hit songs as a solo act and Inner Circle, the band he fronted, was preparing to start work on a third album for Chris Blackwell's Island Records.

To mark the opening of the company's new offices in Brazil, Blackwell, Miller and Island's star signing, Bob Marley, went to the South American country for promotional appearances in mid-March. Miller returned to Jamaica on March 21; two days later, he was killed when his car crashed into a stop light at the intersection of Hope and Waterloo roads.

One of reggae's brightest stars, who many considered a rival to Marley as the music's king, was gone; he was only 25 years old.

The day before his death, Miller, along with the Third World band and singer Sharon Forrester, had performed at the Tower Street Correctional Facility. The following day he was supposed to appear at the opening of Third World's Zinc Fence studio on Dumfries Road in Kingston.

"He was there and left to buy some cane and when he was coming back he crashed into the stop light," Third World's Ibo Cooper told Legacy. "I never heard 'bout it till I reached Zinc Fence and 'Cat' (Third World guitarist, Stephen Coore) told mi what happen," Cooper added. "Wi went on without him, wi tried not to be sad but dat was very difficult."

In Nassau, where Miller's colleagues in Inner Circle were waiting for Miller to record their latest album, news of his death was numbing. "Is about six years before wi play a next note," said Ian Lewis, the band's bass player.

Jacob Miller covered a lot of ground in his 25 years. The chunky vocalist was as versatile as they come; he was adept at being rootsy (False Rasta), tongue-in-cheek (Standing Firm) or soulful (Delilah), this captured and expressed with a rich, vibrant, expansive tenor voice. On stage, his energetic moves defied his heavyweight frame.

Inner Circle guitarist, Roger Lewis, paid homage to his late colleague in an interview with the Observer two years ago. "He was jus' a great person, never 'fraid fi try nuthin'. Mi si 'Jakes' follow a man an' sing opera one day, him nuh know wha' him a do yuh nuh but him do it good!"

Miller, it seems, was destined to be a performer. He was born in Manchester in 1955 but grew up with his maternal grandparents in the Rousseau Road area of Kingston. As a youth he hung out at producer Clement Dodd's Studio One studio, hoping to follow in the footsteps of Delroy Wilson and Errol Dunkley and become that studio's next child star.

Miller reportedly did three songs for Dodd. One, 1968's Love Is a Message, made some ripples on radio but got a lot of play from the fledgling Rockers sound system owned by the Swaby brothers, Horace (later known as Augustus Pablo) and Garth. Four years later, when the siblings started their label of the same name, Miller became one of its first vocalists.

"When I got to meet him I wanted to do over his tune (Love Is a Message), so what we do was use some of the words and make a new track," Pablo, who died in 1999, told American writer Ian McCann in 1992.

Recorded in 1974 at Dynamic Sounds, Keep on Knocking (Pablo's version of Love Is a Message) was a dancehall hit, and encouraged the young producer to record some more sides with the pudgy vocalist. Pablo brought in master engineer, Osbourne "King Tubby" Ruddock and the cream of reggae's musicians for five additional songs at Dynamic and Randy's; bass players, Aston "Family Man" Barrett, Leroy Sibbles and Robbie Shakespeare; drummer Carlton "Carly" Barrett; guitarists Earl "Chinna" Smith and Alva "Reggie" Lewis and hornmen Richard "Dirty Harry" Hall (saxophone), Bobby Ellis and trombonist Vincent "Don D Jnr" Gordon worked magic on False Rasta, Baby I Love You So, Who Say Jah No Dread, Each One Teach One and Girl Name Pat.

As raw and powerful as the Rockers productions were, Pablo's label did not have the mainstream appeal Miller needed to get on radio. Inner Circle, a band that made a name on the live show scene playing covers of American Top 40 hits, had that and more.

"We wanted a singer and somebody told us about a youth up Red Hills Road who can sing good," Ian Lewis told the Observer in a December, 2001 interview. "Wi went up there and met him and him sey 'mi can sing any music yuh want'. Wi tell him fi check wi 'roun' Chelsea Avenue the next day," Lewis continued. "When 'Jakes' come him show up wid 23 man, horn section, drummer..."

It would be almost one year before Miller and Inner Circle started making waves. Their first hit was Tenement Yard, followed by Tired Fi Lick Weed In a Bush; meanwhile, Miller kept his solo career going, scoring with the Joe Gibbs-produced I'm a Natty and finishing second to Freddie McKay's Dance Dis Ya Festival with All Night 'Till Daylight in the 1976 Festival Song competition.

Inner Circle signed with Capitol Records in 1976, releasing two albums for that major label. Island came into the picture in April, 1978, signing the group after an outstanding set at the One Love Peace Concert at the National Stadium, during which Miller brought rival enforcers, Claudius Massop and Tony Welch on stage for a symbolic peace handshake.

Everything Is Great, Inner Circle's debut Island album, was released in 1979 and spawned an hit single in the disco-influenced title track. Killer Miller, a compilation of Miller's biggest solo hits was released the previous year.

It was while work started on Inner Circle's third album for Island Records that tragedy struck. "Chris was opening this new place in Brazil and 'Jakes', Bob and must be Grace Jones, fly down. Wi neva really interested so wi go Miami," Roger Lewis reported. "We were to meet back in Miami, go to Nassau and continue recording....him come back from Brazil the Friday and dead the Sunday."

According to a report in the Gleaner, Miller's Datsun mtorcar crashed into the utility pole as he was heading towards New Kingston. He was taken by police to the Kingston Public Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Inner Circle relocated to Miami and it would be 13 years before they came back in the spotlight with the Grammy-winning Bad Boys album. The Lewis brothers operate the very successful Circle House studio in Miami, hosting big names like Mariah Carey and Sean "P Diddy" Combs.

Jacob Miller's timeless sounds live on through the reissue market. Over 15 albums of his solo work, and with Inner Circle, have been released in North America, Europe and Japan in the past 20 years. Among the strongest are Who Say Jah No Dread, a compilation of his sessions with Pablo, and Collector's Classics from RAS Records. Chapter a Day: Jacob Miller Song Book, released in 1999 by VP Records, is also recommended.

Taken From: The Jamaican Observer