'Pinky', sister of Dancehall Queen Carlene, dies

Doreen 'Pinky' Prendergast, the elder sister of Dancehall Queen Carlene, has lost her battle with cancer.

Carlene said her sister passed away at an hospice in New York in the United States of America (USA) on Saturday.

A tearful Carlene shared that although she was hopeful that her sister would "win the battle against the disgusting disease", she had a premonition on Saturday that something was going to happen to Pinky. She said that as soon as a sister called, she knew what it was.

"I just couldn't do anything on Saturday ... we were so close, is like I knew she was going to die. When Lorraine called me, I took up the phone and said, 'Pinky's gone.' The good thing is that she died with her sisters, niece and friends by her side," Carlene said.

Pinky, a popular figure on the entertainment scene in the 1990s, was last seen in a celebratory mode at her fundraiser/59th birthday party at MECA on Constant Spring Road in February.

Carlene remembered her sister as her "best friend, protector and a warrior" who, despite the odds, never felt sorry for herself, didn't want pity from anyone, and remained the giving person she had always been throughout her life.

"Cancer didn't start last year for Pinky ... it just got worse," Carlene said. "She was diagnosed from 2018 and had been getting treatment in the USA, where she was living. But then the medics had given up hope on her and we started the holistic treatment. It was working ... her weight, which went down to 93 pounds, went all the way up to 142. But, we didn't have the funds needed to do the full treatment. This is the hardest thing for me."

Pinky, a talented dancer, introduced Carlene to the dancehall. Long before the term 'video vixens' was coined, both Carlene and Pinky were the in-demand 'it' girls who were guaranteed to spice up music videos. They appeared in videos for Beenie Man, whom Carlene was dating, Tiger, and Chaka Demus and Pliers.

"Pinky was a party animal, she loved the dancehall. If it wasn't for Pinky I would not be who I was then and the woman I am now. She started bringing me to dance from I was 14, and during all of my career Pinky was my biggest supporter. She made me who I am in the dancehall and I will always thank her for it. Pinky and I spoke every day, and when she got sick, we would talk five and six times per day. Even in pain, Pinky kept her sense of humour and would turn my tears into laughter," Carlene remembered.