Lowell “Sly” Dunbar, the Jamaican drummer who reshaped reggae a number of occasions over as half of the duo Sly & Robbie, has died. “About seven o’clock this morning I went to wake him up and he wasn’t responding, I known as the physician and that was the information,” Dunbar’s spouse, Thelma, mentioned in an announcement to The Jamaica Gleaner right this moment, January 26. She didn’t disclose a explanation for dying, however shared that Dunbar had been sick for a while. He was 73.
Dunbar was born on Could 10, 1952 in Kingston, Jamaica. As Sly & Robbie, he and bassist Robbie Shakespeare—who died in 2021—have been one of the crucial sought-after rhythm sections of their day. They performed on traditional reggae data together with Peter Tosh’s Legalize It, the Mighty Diamonds’ Proper Time, and Black Uhuru’s Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, and backed up the likes of Bob Dylan, Grace Jones, Mick Jagger, and Serge Gainsbourg. Sly & Robbie additionally performed a formative position within the evolution of dancehall, creating the Bam Bam riddem that turned the muse for a number of the style’s earliest hit singles. Dunbar and Shakespeare received the Grammy for Finest Reggae Album (then known as Finest Reggae Recording) in 1985, the award’s inaugural yr, for his or her work on Black Uhuru’s Anthem, and once more in 1999 for the Sly & Robbie album Buddy.
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