Lieutenant Stitchie

Cleveland Laing worked as a biology teacher at Spanish Town School before pursuing music. He began deejaying on sound systems in the mid-1980s, first as "Ranking Citrus" (or "Citchie," a nod to his love of citrus fruit) on the Django sound system, before moving to the Stereo One sound system, where a misprinted record label credit gave him the name Stitchie, later expanded to Lieutenant Stitchie.

In 1986 he began working with producer Prince Jammy, recording "Wear Yuh Size," and followed with his 1987 debut album Great Ambition. His single "Natty Dread" topped the Jamaican charts for fourteen weeks, and his commercial success led to a deal with Atlantic Records in 1988 — making him one of the first dancehall artists, after Yellowman, to sign with a major international label, releasing albums including The Governor and Wild Jamaican Romances.

Following a serious car accident, Laing underwent a spiritual conversion and in 1997 shifted his career from secular dancehall to gospel reggae, taking on the persona "Dr. Stitchie" and devoting his subsequent work to Christian themes.

He has continued to record and tour as a gospel artist for decades since, and has received honorary academic recognition for his ministry and music, remaining a respected figure bridging dancehall's golden age and Jamaica's gospel-reggae scene.