Sean Paul’s Beloved Grandmother Georgina Harrison Dies At 101
Sean Paul is mourning the loss of his beloved grandmother, Georgina K. Harrison. She was 101 years old.
The 53-year-old Dancehall superstar shared the sad news on Wednesday (January 28), posting a series of photos honoring the family matriarch, who was just weeks away from her 102nd birthday.
“We are devastated,” he wrote on Instagram. “You’ve seen so much change in our world. Born in 1924 living thru 2 pandemics and World War 2. From live big band music to radio and Internet. Silent films to video, color tv and smart phones. Uve seen it all.”
Born in England, Mrs. Harrison lived a life defined by resilience and adventure, according to Sean Paul. “My grandmother is from Coventry, and when it was bombed during the second world war, she came out of the air-raid shelter to find that her home was one of only three left standing,” he recalled in a 2021 interview with The Guardian.
Harrison began working at just 14 years old, drawing plane parts for the war effort, before meeting Sean Paul’s grandfather, a Chinese-Jamaican student studying in the country. In 1948, at age 24, she left everything she knew in Wolston and Rugby to make Jamaica her home.
“Many hardships were overcome with grace and pride,” Paul added in his tribute on Wednesday. “U mean so much to us all Gran, Your witty sence of humor, poems, gentle life lessons taught we will never 4get.”
Despite spending the majority of her life in the Caribbean, Mrs. Harrison never lost touch with her first home. In the Guardian interview, Sean Paul fondly remembered her cooking him traditional English dishes like “bubble and squeak” during his teenage years and telling him stories about fish and chips served with vinegar in a newspaper.
“When she told me stories about England, it always seemed so far away and we didn’t have the money for me to go there, but when I first went to Brixton it was just like Jamaica: spicy food and music!” he said.
When Sean Paul’s music career skyrocketed, he made sure to give back to the woman who helped raise him by fulfilling one of her lifelong dreams. “She always told me that she would love to go to the pyramids in Egypt, so after I became successful, I made her dream come true. She said: ‘It was hot!’”
The artist and his grandmother shared an often humorous bond. In 2022, Sean Paul sent fans into a frenzy when he recounted a hilarious mishap where his mother and grandmother—then in her 90s—mistakenly consumed his “special” brownies.
Signing off his tribute, the Grammy Award winner expressed his pride in her “crazy innings.”
“I know you’re in THE MOST BEAUTIFUL SUMMER PLACE. You were a humble woman an probably wouldn’t want being put on blast like this But I’m so proud and honored 2 tell the world of my amazing Grandmother! In February u would have bin 102. That’s a crazy innings my Gran. I’ll love you forever. Until we meet again. God keep u safe in his arms.”