{"id":260052,"date":"2026-01-27T12:38:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T12:38:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/260052\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T12:38:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T12:38:07","slug":"sly-dunbar-pioneering-reggae-music-producer-and-drummer-dies-aged-73","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/260052\/","title":{"rendered":"Sly Dunbar, pioneering reggae music producer and drummer, dies aged 73"},"content":{"rendered":"

By&nbspTokunbo Salako<\/a>&nbspwith&nbspAP <\/p>\n

\n Published on
\n 27\/01\/2026 – 12:35 GMT+1\n <\/p>\n

Sly Dunbar, a pioneering reggae drummer, has died. He was 73. <\/p>\n

Most widely known as one-half of the production and performing partnership Sly & Robbie – along with Robbie Shakespeare – he crafted and played on songs for some of the genres’ biggest acts, such as Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff<\/a>, Peter Tosh and Black Uhuru. <\/p>\n

The pair also added their distinctive “rockers rhythm” touch to music beyond reggae by greats including Grace Jones, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and Serge Gainsbourg<\/a>. <\/p>\n

His death was first reported by his wife Thelma to the Jamaica Gleaner newspaper. <\/p>\n

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

Tributes and toasts<\/p>\n

Sly & Robbie played on three of Grace Jones\u2019 albums \u2014 ‘Warm Leatherette,’ ‘Nightclubbing’ and ‘Living My Life’ \u2014 as well as four albums by Gainsbourg and three by Dylan, 1983\u2019s ‘Infidels,’ 1985\u2019s ‘Empire Burlesque’ and 1988’s ‘Down in the Groove.’<\/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 ‘Police and Thieves,’ Maxi Priest’s ‘Easy to Love,’ Dave and Ansell Collins\u2019 classic ‘Double Barrel’ and Marley\u2019s ‘Punky Reggae Party.’<\/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":"By&nbspTokunbo Salako&nbspwith&nbspAP Published on 27\/01\/2026 – 12:35 GMT+1 Sly Dunbar, a pioneering reggae drummer, has died. He was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260053,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[146,85,46,409,5365,2076,55852],"class_list":{"0":"post-260052","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-israel","11":"tag-music","12":"tag-obituary","13":"tag-pop-music","14":"tag-reggae"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260052","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=260052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}