{"id":259090,"date":"2026-01-26T22:50:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T22:50:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/259090\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T22:50:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T22:50:06","slug":"sly-dunbar-legendary-reggae-drummer-on-tracks-by-bob-marley-bob-dylan-dies-as-73","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/259090\/","title":{"rendered":"Sly Dunbar, legendary reggae drummer on tracks by Bob Marley, Bob Dylan, dies as 73"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two-time Grammy Award-winning<\/a> reggae drummer Sly Dunbar, who fueled countless tracks from Bob Marley to Bob Dylan and was one-half of the influential reggae rhythm section Sly & Robbie, has died. He was 73.<\/p>\n

Dunbar\u2019s wife, Thelma, announced the death to the Jamaica Gleaner.<\/a><\/p>\n

Dunbar and bassist Robbie Shakespeare \u2014 Sly & Robbie, also known as \u201cThe Riddim Twins\u201d \u2014 played on reggae classics by Black Uhuru, Jimmy Cliff and Peter Tosh and would garner attention far from Jamaica, from the likes of Grace Jones and the Rolling Stones.<\/p>\n

Sly & Robbie played on three of Jones\u2019 albums \u2014 \u201cWarm Leatherette,\u201d \u201cNightclubbing\u201d and \u201cLiving My Life\u201d \u2014 as well as four albums by Serge Gainsbourg and three by Dylan, 1983\u2019s \u201cInfidels,\u201d 1985\u2019s \u201cEmpire Burlesque\u201d and 1988’s \u201cDown in the Groove.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWords cannot describe how heartbroken I am to hear of the passing of my friend and legend,\u201d singer Ali Campbell of UB40<\/a> posted on Facebook. \u201cModern day beats simply wouldn\u2019t be what they are without the influence of reggae and dancehall riddims that Sly single-handedly pioneered.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cSly & Robbie were undisputed masters of the art, bringing a nuanced, unhurried and rock-solid rhythmic approach,\u201d Rolling Stone magazine wrote in tribute. Shakespeare died in 2021.<\/p>\n

Dunbar played with the Revolutionaries, the house band for Jamaica\u2019s Channel One studio, while also touring, and played on Junior Murvin\u2019s \u201cPolice and Thieves,\u201d Maxi Priest’s \u201cEasy to Love,\u201d Dave and Ansell Collins\u2019 classic \u201cDouble Barrel\u201d and Marley\u2019s \u201cPunky Reggae Party.\u201d <\/p>\n

Nominated 13 times for a Grammy, he won twice \u2014 when Black Uhuru’s \u201cAnthem\u201d nabbed the inaugural Grammy for best reggae recording in 1985 and when Sly & Robbie’s \u201cFriends\u201d won best reggae album in 1999.<\/p>\n

In 1980, Sly & Robbie co-founded Taxi Records, which has nurtured such artists as Shaggy, Shabba Ranks, Skip Marley, Beenie Man and Red Dragon.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you buy a reggae record, there\u2019s a 90% chance the drummer is Sly Dunbar,\u201d producer Brian Eno told the New Music New York festival in 1979. \u201cYou get the impression that Sly Dunbar is chained to a studio seat somewhere in Jamaica, but in fact what happens is that his drum tracks are so interesting, they get used again and again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two-time Grammy Award-winning reggae drummer Sly Dunbar, who fueled countless tracks from Bob Marley to Bob Dylan and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259091,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[136778,127,727,146,122,52559,85,46,55852,126],"class_list":{"0":"post-259090","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-136778","9":"tag-article","10":"tag-celebrity","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-general-news","13":"tag-grammy-awards","14":"tag-il","15":"tag-israel","16":"tag-reggae","17":"tag-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}