Legendary ska singer Derrick Morgan has shared the story of his relationship with his daughter Queen Ifrica, including their initial connection when she reached adulthood and later falling out over his booking fee for a Rebel Salute performance.
During an exclusive interview with DancehallMag, Morgan, 83, said he first heard that he had a daughter through his good friend, Hopeton Lewis, a reggae singer and promoter.
“I was going to do a show in Montego Bay, and I came to the city, and that is how I first met her in 1995. Hopeton (Lewis) used to tell me, ‘bwoy Derrick, you have a daughter who comes ah mi shop all the while.’ I knew about the girl, but I had never met her,” Morgan said.
Derrick MorganThe In My Heart singer said that he had a ‘one-night stand’ with Ifrica’s mother, who later showed up at his house claiming to be pregnant. “It was a one-time thing.”
“One lick and then, about six or seven weeks later, she comes by and tells me that she’s pregnant, and I ran away, thinking she was joking,” the cheerful Morgan said.
Derick Morgan
Ifrica went to Hopeton Lewis’ shop and told him that her father’s name was Derrick Morgan, and that’s how Hopeton heard about her.
Queen Ifrica made allegations of rape against her father, Derrick Morgan, during an Instagram live stream last August 2022.
The 49-year-old singer, whose real name is Ventrice Morgan, explained that she grew up without knowing her father due to her mother’s efforts to keep them apart. She wanted to establish a connection with him and spend time with him during his visits to Jamaica. She alleged that the incident occurred during a sleepover in Kingston while she was getting to know singer Tony Rebel. Ifrica and Rebel broke up in 2021 after being together for 23 years.
During her Live video, Ifrica mentioned that the alleged experience inspired her to become an activist for abuse survivors and was also a source of inspiration for her 2009 song “Daddy,” which spoke out against sexual assault.
Morgan and his family strongly denied the allegations, stating that he is visually impaired and physically disabled. They have hired an attorney, Charles Ganga-Singh, to pursue legal action against Ifrica.
“It hurts me because a lot of media picked it up, and they bashed me as a rapist; dem ting de hurt me, man,” Morgan told DancehallMag. “This act never happened. Her story doesn’t add up.”
Derick Morgan
According to Morgan, he first met Ifrica when she was about 22 years old. He recalled staying at a hotel in Montego Bay when Queen Ifrica first showed up.
“The security called me and said my daughter is here to see me and if him muss send her up, and I said ‘hold on, I am sending someone down,’ and mi cousin go down and say ‘she looks like mi mother’ and decide to take her up the stairs to me. Mi don’t see her, mi nuh know wah she look like all now. Everybody say she favour me, I take it for granted and say yes, mi daughter’, and that’s how I met her,” he said.
Derick Morgan
From that moment, he said he decided to ‘take her on as a daughter.’
Morgan said he has never done a DNA test to confirm the paternity. “No sah, mi not even know if ah mi pickney all now…and she tells such a lie pon me,” he said.
“Mi come back a Kingston and she come find me and ting and start come look for me frequently. When she come ah my yard, mi always have company. Mi always have a lady name Beverley who cook fi me and mi have three daughters who live on the same road, who always there with me,” he said.
Derick Morgan
Morgan said his daughter would visit him at his home, and occasionally, she would sleep over. He added that Ventrice eventually met with her siblings in the United States years later.
Morgan says he and Ifrica became estranged over his Rebel Salute booking fee.
Years later, Morgan said he became estranged from his daughter Ventrice for six years after a heated conversation over a possible performance at the annual Rebel Salute.
“How me and her fall out, Tony Rebel called me up and said he wanted to put me on his show, Rebel Salute. He asked how much would I charge him?’ I told him $200,000. He said ‘no Derrick, wah yu a gwaan wid?’. I said, well, give me 150, he said no. So I said ‘wah yu have in mind’, and him say ’50’. So I said ‘listen to me, take that and feed your crackhead friend dem’. Same so mi tell him and hang up the phone,” he related.
Derick Morgan
Morgan said that Queen Ifrica called him soon after that conversation.
“She said, ‘daddy yu let me down eh nuh’. I didn’t even know she was at Rebel place’. And she say ‘daddy, yu let me down. How oonu gwaan like yu so big and hype inna life? Yu too hype! One day, we soon get yu offa that.'” “This is a little pickney weh just grow up, she would be my last one.” Added Morgan.
Derick Morgan
Morgan has been married for almost 55 years, fathering six children with Nellie Lee Morgan (sister of producer Bunny Lee), two of whom later died.