The death of popular reggae artist Randolph Richardson has prompted reflection among local entertainers on the need to revive the music’s once thriving scene in Bermuda.

Mr Richardson, who went by the nickname of “General Bucky” but most recently performed as Randy Rich, was a founding member of the group Conscious Bermuda. His funeral was held on Tuesday after his March 27 passing at the age of 47.

“He loved music — one of the songs he wrote with Conscious was Music Is My Life, and it speaks for itself; it’s really him,” said fellow musician Alfie Fubler, who founded the band with Mr Richardson in 1991.

The group popularised “cultural reggae”, as Mr Richardson himself described the genre, recounting in a 1993 interview how their sound hearkened back to more traditional reggae.

Mr Fubler spoke with The Royal Gazette outside the studio and rehearsal space, the Conscious Music Factory, by his home off Ord Road, where the group shaped their distinctive sound. Conscious opened for major acts such as Steel Pulse, Super Cat and Buju Banton, and in their present incarnation the group performs on alternating Fridays at the Robin Hood Pub.

A devoted keyboardist, Mr Richardson (right) joined ranks with numerous bands from the Island’s reggae scene, including Ital Foundation, Dread Information, Jahstice, Survivors and Decoré.

He took to the keyboard in the footsteps of his father, Cyril Richardson Sr, although the elder Richardson, as a jazz purist, was not enamoured with reggae. In recent years Mr Richardson moved away from performing to pursue a computer science degree at Bermuda College, where he also worked on the IT help desk.

Mr Fubler recalled that his friend, pained throughout his life by sickle cell anaemia, occasionally grew despondent about his condition.

Mr Richardson suffered regular crises brought about by the disease, and died last month while being treated in hospital.

His religious conversion “changed his life — his demeanour was totally different”, Mr Fubler said.

The stage name “Bucky” was replaced with Randy Rich, by which he was introduced when the band last performed with him at Snorkel Park.

Mr Richardson opted to pursue college courses, wanting to do more than music.

That decision may also have reflected the decline in venues from local reggae’s heyday, which Mr Fubler attributed to a combination of expense and, more recently, the spike in gang-related violence.

“It cost a lot for promoters to bring shows in,” he said. “That’s why we don’t have that many international artists coming.

“Certain venues got to be restricted because of the gun violence. A lot of people didn’t want to go out to these functions.

“But for me, from what I’ve heard on the radio and people I know personally, I feel we have talent here.

“If we could get reggae musicians coming together, we could promote our own local scene. We could have performances with a band, as opposed to tracks.”

Born on April 27, 1967, Mr Richardson was the fifth of nine children. His mother Phyllis Gayle now lives abroad.

His musical career began on his father’s Hammond organ.

The nickname of “Bucky” derived from Mr Richardson’s buck tooth, Mr Fubler said, and he had “a bit of a complex over it”.

He had brightened in recent years with his teeth corrected, a hip replacement to fix his limp and new glasses.

Colleagues from Bermuda College spoke warmly of him at his funeral at St John’s Church.

Mr Fubler recalled one incident that summed up his former bandmate.

“Shine Hayward was putting on a performance at the old Inverurie Hotel, a tribute to Bob Marley.

“Conscious Bermuda had agreed to it, but maybe two, three days before it, Randy had a crises from his condition and had to go into the hospital.

“Without him, we couldn’t play. I don’t know how he did it, but Randy talked the doctors into letting him out. He didn’t want to let down the band. He promised that if they okayed it, he would come right back. And he did — and so said, it was done.”