'ShelShok' loses cancer battle

Posted: 10th Jun 2009

Music producer Sheldon "ShelShok" Benjamin succumbed to Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma yesterday after a valiant battle against a form of cancer which attacks the lymph nodes.

Benjamin was at his Valsayn home under the care of his mother, when around mid-afternoon he began to slip away, not responding to attempts to revive him.

It was thought that he had died then, but when the ambulance arrived the attendants found a pulse and Benjamin was rushed to the nearby Mt Hope Hospital but he eventually passed away.

Benjamin was considered one of the region's most prolific and visionary music producers having entered the arena in 1992 when he produced songs for most of the artistes signed to the Keskidee Karavan label of the Caribbean Sound Basin.

Benjamin was largely responsible for making artistes such as General Grant, Kindred, Black Mayl and Homefront household names in that era. Later on he would go on to produce hit singles for Machel Montano, 3Canal, Rocky, Bunji Garlin, Allison Hinds, Ataklan, Destra and many other local, regional and international acts.

When he became too ill to continue working, Benjamin had produced at least a whopping 307 songs, most being hits that still command respect on radio stations and dancehalls today. It was only Sunday his colleagues in the entertainment industry hosted the "Lifeline" concert at the Zen nightclub with the aim of helping with his medical expenses. Reacting to the news, the staff of the Copyright Organisation of Trinidad and Tobago (COTT) have extended condolences to the family Benjamin.

Its president Lutalo Masimba (Brother Resistance) had this to say-"ShelShok's sudden passing will leave a vacuum which will be very hard to fill. His passing represents a great loss to the new generation of music producers." Benjamin was instrumental in pushing forward that wave of rapso performers from Kindred of the Keskidee experience to the evolution of 3Canal. Funeral arrangements are still to be finalised.