Guyanese music legend, Johnny Critchlow Braithwaite, M.S., also known as ‘Johnny Braff’ died on Wednesday morning at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation.
Braff, who was a resident at Palms Geriatric Home on Brickdam, Georgetown, died at about 04:00h.
Braff, who was known for the hit song “Stop the music…It Burns Inside”, celebrated his 82nd birthday in July and was feted by the Social Protection Ministry at a special concert held in his honour.
In May, he was given the national award – Medal of Service – by President David Granger.
The music legend has also received a number of honours over the years, among them is the Guyana Folk Festival 2002 Wordsworth McAndrew Award.
The former Kitty, Georgetown resident began singing at the age of 18. At the time, he was working as a plumber at the then bauxite company Demba in the late 1950s.
Since then, he has played to sold-out crowds at Madison Square Garden, New York City; Mexico, Canada, London and across Europe. He left Guyana in the 1970s after recording a number of hits in the 1960s. In 2010, Braff had announced that he would be recording his third album called “Jump on My Wings, Let’s Go for a Ride to Heaven”, under his self-titled label, Braff Recording, in Brooklyn.
Meanwhile, President David Granger extended condolences at the death of Braithwaite.
