My uncle who lives in Canada paid a visit recently and it turns out he knew Jackie.
They hung out in the same group, mostly in bars on Nelson Street and Baxters Road. Why those locations? Well those bars had jukeboxes. People would put 25 cents in the jukebox and select 4 songs. If Jackie liked a song he would sing along. According to my uncle, "Jackie would out-sing the jukebox." In other words, he would sing the song better than the artist who recorded it. He would out-sing Jackie Wilson, Otis Redding and all the top singers back then when their songs were playing on the jukebox. Often bar patrons would give Jackie tips after he sang a song.
Interesting bits of information from our conversation:
Jackie did not drink alcohol--usually drank Coke or Pepsi. He did smoke the ganja though.
The night Jackie died a US music executive had seen him perform at the Island Inn hotel and inquired whether Jackie has any tapes/recordings of this songs. Jackie went to his house in Deacons Road (housing scheme) and was on his way back to the Island Inn with a tape when the fatal accident occurred.
More later ...
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Jackie Opel Revisited
In reply to Walco
Thanks bro - keep it coming.
Jackie's car, driven by a female companion, hit the edge of a pillar sticking out in the bend/corner. Jackie was ejected head-first into a triangular wire fence and onto the concrete steps of Harry's Nightery. Jackie head-butt the fence into the concrete and his head split open. If the fence did not stop Jackie's body he might have rolled up the steps and lived.
Female driver was also ejected and she rolled/slid through a gas station on the right. She was only bruised. She apparently was driving too fast, probably excited about getting the tape back to the music executive at the Island Inn. Perhaps it would have been Jackie's big break had he lived.
My uncle was drinking in a bar on Nelson Street the night Jackie died. When the group at the bar heard about the accident, they ran down Beckwith Street towards Bay Street. The Police and ambulance were already there and Jackie's body was still at the scene.
Jackie was singing with the Troubadours at the time of his death and the Troubadours played music at his funeral. The Mighty Charmer said that Jackie should be given a New Orleans style funeral, and he walked in front of the hearse with an umbrella dancing and singing songs.
Jackie was about 5'3" or 5'4" and pigeon-toed. Great stage performer who could dance as good as James Brown.
Jackie would go to Jamaica and make money and go back to Barbados and live like a king.
Jackie was a "little off" "eccentric" "mental" or "slightly touched" 
Not a rasta, but Jackie hung out with that "crowd".
He was a good dominoes player who would cuss his partner when he screwed up. He was very particular about who he would partner with at a dominoes table.
My uncle had interesting things to say about Errol Barrow. He said there would have been a monument to Jackie in Barbados if Barrow had lived longer. Barrow was a man of the people who would show up at bars on Nelson Street and Baxter's road.
Said Barrow was a strange piece of work too. He apparently was paranoid during the time leading up to independence in 1966. Barrow owned a white Mercedes during this time. He would drive to a bar or club to lime and have drinks, but would not leave the bar/club in the car he drove there. He would identify someone he knew at the establishment who owned a black car and switch keys with that person. Barrow apparently was worried that anti-independence forces in Barbados would try to kill him.
Al Gilkes, a friend of Jackie's now a well know local journalist, loved steelpan music. Al would play steelpans at local clubs. Al, like Jackie, did not drink alcohol. His drink of choice was an orange Ju-C.
The stage name Opel came from the car with the same name. Not sure if Jackie came from Jackie Wilson.
In reply to Walco
Barrow was a very progressive leader.
Check out the history with Barrow, Burnham and Pan AM
In reply to Chrissy
Barrow was one of my childhood heroes. As a young boy growing up in Barbados, I decided that I wanted to become a lawyer after learning that Barrow was a lawyer.
Didn’t Barrow, Manley and Burnham go to school together in England?
Nonetheless I found my uncle’s story about switching cars interesting. I did not realize the independence debate was that heated.
In reply to Walco
Sounds like Barrow. It was said when he went into the rumshops to drink with the fellas he would always insist on a new bottle and glass regardless of what was on the table before he got there.
In reply to Walco
Yep - LSE men.
Would not say that Carl Dawkins sounds like Jackie Opel, but I feel the Opel soul in his songs. In fact Carl has done a cover of 'Cry Me a River'.
Jackie and a few friends would row a canoe (dinghy) out to cruise ships anchored in Carlisle Bay. Jackie would row the boat around the ships while singing, and his friends would dive for coins/tips that the tourists threw towards the dinghy--some of which landed in the water.
The purpose for the trips out to the ships was not just to sing for tips, but also to promoted the clubs in lower Bay Street. Jackie would invite the ship crews and tourists to visit The Belair Club and Harry's Nightery and other clubs at night. Recall that Jackie died on the steps of Harry's Nightery.
In reply to CWWeekes
Thanks for sharing that info. Did you know Jackie Opel personally? Is there a link to the Dawkins cover of Cry Me a River?
Carl Dawkins to honour heroes
Doing a version of Cry me a River was particularly special for Dawkins. "When I was living at Wild Street in Allman Town he (Opel) lived across the road from me. He was one of my mentors, a dynamite performer," said Dawkins. Opel recorded a number of ska songs while living in Jamaica during the early 1960s. He died in an auto accident in Barbados in 1970.
Found it.
Dawkins Cover of Cry Me a River
Niceness
A horn/bun song 
In reply to Walco
I did not know Jackie. I was a mere lad during his sojourn in Jamaica. I remember seeing him on JBC TV. About 1964-65-66 there was a live show on tv, 'Jamaica Bandstand', and I remember seeing him performing with Tommy McCook and the Supersonics and doing the James Brown split. By the way, 'Cry Me a River" was voted song of the year in JA in 1964.
If you are hearing Carl Dawkins for the first time, please check-out a younger Carl doing "Bumpity Road' in 1973 (sorry I can't post the link), one of my favorite Carl Dawkins song.
Nuff new info here - lovin' dis. 
In reply to CWWeekes
Dis one?
Reality for so many
In reply to Walco
Last Monday night, there was an evening of Jackie's music, on a live show from Facebook.
The show is call The tamarind rod show, Comments (2.1K)
Enjoy the legend
Link Text
In reply to openning
Don't have Facebook but love that big time. Allyuh need to copy to YouTube
In reply to CWWeekes
I was a Dawkins fan as soon as he sang the first line of Cry Me A River. Thought I was listening to Jackie.
Bumpity Road is a top tune.
In reply to Maispwi
Thanks for the link. However, this is an updated version of Bumpity Road. You have to listen to the original recording, which I believe was on the Federal Label, done in 1973,to feel the soulfulness of Carl Dawkins.
Jackie Opel: Barbados Soul Brother
From a February 19, 2018 Jamaica Observer Article
His soul-drenched vocals, comparable to American singers like Jackie Wilson and Wilson Pickett, won him fans throughout the region. It was in Jamaica that he made his biggest impact, working with The Skatalites and producers Clement Dodd and Byron Lee. Lee produced a version of Opel's version of Cry Me A River, a passionate ballad that remains the singer's signature. At Studio One he cut a number of ska sides, including Welcome You Back Home (with Doreen Shaffer), the risquè Push Wood, and Mill Man. On the last, he was backed by none other than Peter Tosh and Bob Marley of The Wailers. Another Wailer, Bunny, is on record as saying Opel is one of the best singers he has heard.
One of the comments to the Observer Article
So learning the aforementioned, I say it's quite possible that the Wailers might have backed him on "Push Wood" also, as there are similarities with the lyrics of that and the Wailers' own "Stir it Up".
Here some of "Push Wood"
I was cooking some Irish Moss for my girl one day
Not long ago
When the mash begin to boil my girl say
Not long ago
She told me put wood in the fire, Jackie
Big wood in the fire, Jackie
Strong wood in the fire, Jackie
Long wood in the fire, Jackie
Fat wood in the fire, Jackie
Good wood in the fire, Jackie ......
Now, a part of "Stir it Up" says;
I push the wood
I blaze your fire
Then I satisfy your your heart's desire .....
Song Review by Jo-Ann Greene [-]
A Time to Cry
Opel's phenomenally soulful performance perfectly captures the sheer emotional exhaustion at the number's thematic core, and is beautifully enhanced by Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh, and Constantine "Dream" Walker's limpid harmonies. Lloyd Knibbs, Lloyd Brevett, Lyn Taitt, and Jackie Mittoo laid down an extraordinarily sympathetic and understated musical accompaniment, with Mittoo's organ welling around the arrangement and conjuring up an almost reverential atmosphere within.
This stellar single from 1966, one of Opel's best, was overseen with great care by Coxsone Dodd.
Song Review by Jo-Ann Greene [-]
The Mill Man Link Text
Opel's sensational performance, delivering up the suggestive lyrics with an audible wink and a nod, is so exuberant that one's tempted to pick him. However, the bandmembers are having an equal wail of a time, the rhythm section pounding at the wheat with all their might, the rest of the band grinding gleefully away on the riffs. As for the pair of Wailers, their ebullient harmonies are doubly lit up, by both the humor underlying Opel's lyrics and the sheer delight of backing the great singer himself. A ska masterpiece from 1964, overseen by the indomitable Coxsone Dodd.
Worrell's Captaincy
Jackie singing a cricket song
In reply to Walco
Notice how Tait is mentioned (unlike comments in a thread that attempts to divide).
In reply to Chrissy
I'm curious what drew Caribbean artists to Jamaica after independence in 1962. It had to be more than just Independence because Trinidad was independent too.
In reply to openning
Thanks man. I be watching it over the next few days.
In reply to Walco
Re what drove Caribbean artistes to Jamaica - there' a book there.
In reply to Chrissy
Well only one of us is retired
King Dyal, the well known Bajan cricket personality, was also a great dominoes player. A popular game back then was 10 cent pass--you get passed you pay 10 cents to the player who passed you. "They used to play 10 cent pass. You couldn't win King Dyal's money." King Dyal gambled at a shop in Baxter's Road. Inflation later turned 10 cent pass to 25 cent pass
King Dyal the Self-Hater
Dalton Bishop loved Jackie Wilson's styling sand songs and named himself after that performer adding on the name of that popular car of that time. He named a famous Bajan group after his surname hence The Opels consisting some of the best singers ever in Barbados: Midge Springer, Hubert Angel Grant, my friend Bandit and later Clarence Thompson.
I must add his grave was completely remodelled earlier this month with a sparking shiny tomb in commemoration of his death on March 9 1970.
Tribute to Jackie
In reply to analyst-kid/Walco
Great memories from my 2 years working in Barbados at Paradise Beach Club. The Troubadours and The Merrymen
played on Wednesday nights, after work some of us would go to Baxters Road.
Another place would be at Fowler's tailor shop, where you will hear stories
I remember going to Jackie's funeral, with my best friend Darnley,( who is Gail and Sophia"s dad), I left for Canada a few weeks later.
Jackie Opel is a Barbados treasure
In reply to Walco
King Dyal was a character, and witty.
You say something to him and he was back at you
I first met Richard Stoute, when I was watching a match between St Leonards boys School and Parkinson, he knew I was the Captain of St. Matthew's Primary and came over to talk to me, he sounded American .
He may had been the 12th man for St Leonards, throughout his cricketing school life.
Walco's info about Jackie and his girl driving back to get a tape is a story I have not heard since the time he actually died.
I heard about this as a child and then it was lost over time...people bringing up other stories that he and the female driver were arguing...but what Walco did today was stir up childhood memories about Jackie rushing back home for something to return...WOW! Thanks for this reminder!
Richard Stoute talks with an American accent ...something practically all Bajan ballad and r& b singers who started in the 1960s and 1970s did. I always used to wonder why they talked with this American accent.
In reply to openning
They is a story keeps circulating by Andrew Mason that Richard Stoute was the oldest debutant in Barbados Division One cricket. Started playing in his 50s.
Re: Richard Stoute...now this is vague and I don't have the true facts about the regional competition.
Richard insists that Jackie was invited to a regional singing competition in Jamaica and Jackie declined sending Richard in his place.
Jackie died shortly after and Richard Stoute went on to win this competition in Jamaica in 1970.
In reply to Walco
I was cooking some Irish Moss for my girl one day
Not long ago
When the mash begin to boil my girl say
Not long ago
She told me put wood in the fire, Jackie
Big wood in the fire, Jackie
Strong wood in the fire, Jackie
Long wood in the fire, Jackie
Fat wood in the fire, Jackie
Good wood in the fire, Jackie ......
....this song was revived and done in soca by Foreigner Frank aka Frank Coppin in Crop Over 2016
In reply to analyst-kid
Jackie apparently lived with this lady in the Deacons Road housing scheme. I inquired of my uncle whether she might have been driving under the influence and he immediately said that she, like Jackie, did not drink alcohol. He believed that she was in a hurry to get back to the Island Inn because she was excited about the opportunity with the American music executive.
In reply to Walco
Love this and the other JO threads... thks +++
In reply to pelon
Tells me folks read CC.
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