Beckford was born in 1935 in
Trench Town,
Kingston, Jamaica, the second of three sons. He learned to play piano at the Boys' Town home for indigent boys in west Kingston, initially inspired by
Rosco Gordon and
Fats Domino, Beckford died on 19 February 2001 as a result of injuries sustained from a
machete wound to the head after an argument with a neighbour in the Washington Gardens area of Kingston. He left nine children. ==Albums==