The drummer half of the influential duo Sly & Robbie, Dunbar, a two-time Grammy winner, helped shape modern reggae for decades.
Lowell 'Sly' Dunbar, the Jamaican drummer whose work in the rhythm section of Sly and Robbie built the backbone of modern reggae, has died. He was 73. Several Jamaican newspapers, including the Jamaican Observer, reported Dunbar's death in Kingston, and his daughter Natasha released a statement to media, including to TMZ.
'As one half of Sly & Robbie, Sly helped shape the sound of reggae and Jamaican music for generations. His extraordinary talent, innovation, and lasting contributions will never be forgotten. Sly’s music, spirit, and legacy touched people around the world, and we are deeply grateful for the love and support during this difficult time,' Dunbar's family said in a statement. Born Lowell Fillmore Dunbar in 1952 in Kingston, Jamaica, Dunbar was a teen drum prodigy who played on Lee “Scratch” Perry and the Upsetters’ 1969 single “Night Doctor” and Dave and Ansel Collins’ LP 'Double Barrel,' whose title track topped the U.K. singles chart. After meeting bassist Robbie Shakespeare in 1972, the pair built distinct rhythms such as the insistent 'Rockers' groove that bolstered canonical reggae tracks. Their enormous catalog includes work from Peter Tosh , Burning Spear, Bunny Wailer and Gregory Isaacs. Dunbar's drums hold down such genre-defining classics as Junior Murvin’s “Police and Thieves” and The Mighty Diamonds’ 1976 'Right Time,' as well as the 12-inch version of Bob Marley's 'Punky Reggae Party.' Locally, Sly & Robbie founded an influential label, Taxi Records, in 1980 and performed in the house band at Jamaica’s formidable Channel One studio. Dunbar played on the first winner for reggae recording at the Grammys, Black Uhuru’s 'Anthem,' and Sly and Robbie — who released their first LP together, 'Sly and Robbie Present Taxi,' in 1981 — won the 1999 reggae album Grammy for 'Friends.' Yet they were also influential in pushing reggae into modernity, using digital instrumentation on Chaka Demus & Pliers' 1993 smash “Murder She Wrote' and grafting their textures into the Fugees' bestselling LP 'The Score.' The pair's rhythm work is among the most sampled in all of hip-hop, believed to have been used on hundreds of thousands of songs, and ventured well beyond reggae on sessions with Bob Dylan for three 1980s LPs along with records by the Rolling Stones, Jackson Browne, Grace Jones Sinead O’Connor and Herbie Hancock. They also contributed to No Doubt's 2001 singles “Hey Baby” and “Underneath It All,” and Dunbar's drumming topped the Hot 100 twice, appearing on Maxi Priest’s “Close to You” in 1990 and Omi’s “Cheerleader” in 2012.
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