A TOP musician has died. Geraldine Connor, of Skelmanthorpe, was the Huddersfield musician, singer and composer who brought us Carnival Messiah.

And she also helped create another hit musical, The Harder They Come.

It was based on the iconic 1970s film that brought reggae music to the world and launched the career of legend Jimmy Cliff.

Ms Connor had been a backing singer for the star as part of a group called The Sunbeams.

The show was performed by an all-Jamaican cast, having been created by a Caribbean team, including Connor and Dawn Reid.

It features massive reggae hits such as You Can Get It If You Really Want It, Rivers Of Babylon and The Harder They Come.

Ms Connor was renowned as a composer, performer, musical director and vocal animator.

She conceived, composed and directed Carnival Messiah, a radical theatrical reinvention inspired by George Frideric Handel’s Messiah.

Carnival Messiah wowed audiences when it was premiered in 2007.

It was presented in a special Big Top arena in the grounds of Harewood House and brought together top musicians, actors, performers, designers and artists along with rising young stars from overseas and Yorkshire.

She also directed an acclaimed premiere co-production between the West Yorkshire Playhouse and Adzido Pan African Dance – Yaa Asantewaa, Warrior Queen – which successfully toured Britain and Ghana in Africa.

Ms Connor died at the weekend of a heart attack.

She arrived in West Yorkshire from the Caribbean and studied music.

She held a Phd in cultural studies and also taught at the University of Leeds from 1992 to 2004. She was also on the board of the West Yorkshire Playhouse.