Gospel Veteran David “Kukudoo” McDermott Dies at 56 After Cancer Battle

Jamaica’s gospel fraternity is mourning the loss of David “Kukudoo” McDermott, whose family announced on Friday that he had died.

The confirmation came through posts on his social media pages. McDermott, long regarded as one of the most popular names in local gospel music, had reportedly been fighting non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), a blood cancer. He was 56 and leaves three children.

“It is with a heavy heart that we, the family of David ‘Kukudoo’ McDermott, have to tell the public that he passed this morning…at this time we ask for grace and respect in our time of grief,” the family statement said.

His manager since 2018, Nicholas Marks, said McDermott was diagnosed in late February this year. Marks explained that medical samples were sent to Florida to guide treatment, but the response timeline worked against them.

“The tests were sent to Florida to determine the best course of action to treat him but we never got back the results in time, it was supposed to take six weeks. David was too weak to do chemotherapy…he just ran out of time,” Marks told Jamaica Observer.

NHL develops in the lymphatic system when lymphocytes, including B-cells or T-cells, change abnormally and multiply without control, often leading to tumours in the lymph nodes.

Reflecting on McDermott’s character, Marks said: “He was a genuine person and a passionate person, and you could see that…in anything he put his hand on, he put his all in it, and you saw that with his music.”

Marks said he intends to put out McDermott’s final album, Life’s Journey, a project both men had worked on for years but repeatedly paused because of the singer’s health setbacks.

“This album must have some greater purpose. From we decided to do the album he began to get sick; yuh cyaan tell me it don’t have a purpose,” Marks said.

He noted that after three years in development, only 10 songs were finished for the project. “Many things happened and we had to pause, and this year we decided to go aggressively towards completing it…We wanted to do 12 tracks but only 10 were completed,” Marks explained.

Before music became his full-time profession, McDermott worked as a machine operator at the now-closed Bernard Lodge Sugar Estate. He first built his reputation performing at nine-nights, or “dead yards”, using the name King David.

Marks recounted that on one of those nights, while a church band was playing, an engineer recorded McDermott and pressed the performance to CD. Soon after, tracks including See People Business and Leave It Alone were dominating radio play and could be heard widely in public transport, especially buses and taxis.

From there, his profile grew rapidly and he became a regular act on the annual Jamaica Independence Gala, where audiences embraced his energetic, mento-influenced gospel delivery.

“As a performer, he was loved by many across the world, one who was notable especially in the United States. When you mention any gospel artiste out of Jamaica, Kukudoo has to be part of the conversation, he has to be mentioned. He was a wonderful performer and a genuine individual,” Marks said.

Culture and Entertainment Minister Olivia Grange also reacted to the news, expressing sorrow at McDermott’s passing and describing him as “a cultural force whose work celebrated African-derived spiritual traditions within Jamaican society”.

“Kukudoo was a strong performer who resonated across generations and social backgrounds,” Grange said, adding that his death is “a great loss and he would be sorely missed”.