What happened to Gully Bop? Real name and age explored as Jamaican artist passes away amid health, financial struggles

Months after struggling with a Kidney disease, Gully Bop, a Jamaican street artist who rose to fame in 2014 with his catchy track, Body Specialist, has reportedly died at the age of 59 at Kingston Public Hospital on Monday, October 30, 2023.

The troubled artist, whose real name is Robert Lee Malcolm, was reportedly struggling with his health before he succumbed to a Kidney disease this week. Bop, who struggled with cocaine addiction, reportedly received a kidney transplant last year. However, despite the new organ, the singer's health worsened, and he was admitted to the hospital months before he died.

According to multiple reports, Bop, who was discovered through a video recording of him deejaying the track Body Specialist on the streets, went viral on social media in 2014. At the time, he was homeless, living in the streets of Grants Pen, St Andrew, before he became an overnight sensation.

However, over the years, the artist was rendered penniless again, prompting social media philanthropist Donna Gowe, popularly known as Aunty Donna, to plead for funds for the entertainer, who was extremely ill in August 2023.

Bop’s pastor, Christopher Tate of El Shaddai Prophetic Ministries, who confirmed to the DancehallMag that the artist had passed away, provided a brief insight into the artist's life shortly before he died.

“When I met Gully Bop, he was doing really bad, and to see how he was living, a part of his organ was out. His situation was deteriorating…I was trying to help him, now God has taken him home from this wicked cruel world.”

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What we know about Gully Bop and his struggles in life

Gully Bop, a popular Reggae Singer born in Jamaica, was living in the streets when he was discovered through a video of him deejaying the track Body Specialist that went viral online in 2014. Shortly after, the dancehall musician, known by the name Country Man in Jamaica, was signed to Claims Records, where he put out a debut EP titled Rags to Riches.

The same year, he closed for Sting at a concert where he performed songs like Dem Nuh Bad Like We, Dream and Body Specialist.

In 2015, Gully Bop left Claims Records and was struggling to work without a manager when he met his now-former fiance, Shauna Chin, who later became his manager. While Chin managed to Steer Bop toward short-lived success, their toxic relationship eventually led to the demise of their partnership, which ended after Chin famously knocked him unconscious with a padlock.

Shortly after, Bop was arrested in 2016 over domestic charges when his new partner, social media personality/artist DJ Amari Mona Lisa, accused him of “running her down with a butcher knife” and stealing her passport and United States Green Card.

While the charges were later dropped, in 2018, he was arrested again and charged with assault occasioning bodily harm after a female accused him of hitting her during a heated argument in the Nuts River district.

In the ensuing years, the troubled artist struggled with substance abuse and was rendered homeless, leading to health issues. In 2022, Gully Bop received a kidney transplant. In August 2023, he was admitted to Kingston Hospital for months over the kidney disease that later claimed his life.