Sly Dunbar, the incredibly prolific Jamaican drummer who was one half of the legendary reggae rhythm section and production duo Sly & Robbie, has passed away. According to DancehallMag, Dunbar passed away this morning. Dunbar had reportedly been suffering from health issues for the past decade, though no cause of death has been reported. He was 73.
Lowell Fillmore Dunbar grew up in Kingston, and he started playing drums in local groups as a teenager, and he made his first on-record appearance at 18, playing on Dave and Ansel Collins' 1970 single "Double Barrel." That song crossed over around the world, reaching the US top 40 and topping the UK pop chart. Two years later, Dunbar got to know bassist Robbie Shakespeare when they played together in the Revolutionaries, the house band at Kingston's Channel One Studios. After a few years, they split from that studio and started Taxi Records, their own production company. Together, they played on iconic records from people like Peter Tosh, the Mighty Diamonds, Culture, and Gregory Isaacs. Dunbar also released a few solo albums, starting with 1978's Simply Slyman.
In the early '80s, Sly & Robbie moved into a more digital production style that anticipated the coming arrival of dancehall. They also increasingly worked outside of the reggae world. Island Records founder Chris Blackwell built his Compass Point Studios in Nassau, and he built the Compass Point All-Stars house band around Sly & Robbie. Together, they worked on records from stars like Grace Jones, Robert Palmer, Bob Dylan, Herbie Hancock, Serge Gainsbourg, and the Rolling Stones.
Soon enough, Sly & Robbie were so established as sidemen that they put out their own records, starting with the 1981 compilation Sly & Robbie Present Taxi. Their biggest success was probably the all-star 1987 dance-funk LP Rhythm Killers. Their single "Boops (Here To Go)" reached #12 in the UK. Their 1989 LP Friends won the Grammy for Best Reggae Album.
Sly & Robbie were early adapters to dancehall in the '90s, and they co-wrote and co-produced Chaka Demus & Pliers' essential 1992 single "Murder She Wrote." They worked with virtually every big star in the dancehall world, and they continued to work with international stars, co-producing No Doubt's dancehall-inflected 2001 hits "Hey Baby" and "Underneath It All." Dunbar had a hand in two reggae songs that reached #1 in the US, Maxi Priest's "Close To You" and Omi's "Cheerleader." Robbie Shakespeare died in 2021.
Below, check out some of Sly Dunbar's work.
