Reggae Legend And Drummer, Sly Dunbar, Dead At 73

The legendary reggae drummer has died at age 73, creating performances that defined the genre while also influencing the wider world of popular music.

LONDON – MAY 26: Sly Dunbar performs on stage to celebrate 50 years of Island Records at Shepherds Bush Empire on May 26, 2009 in London, England. (Photo by Gus Stewart/Redferns)

Redferns

Lowell “Sly” Dunbar exerted the type of global impact attained by few. Apart from performing on several landmark reggae and dancehall records, his work with Bob Dylan and Grace Jones, among others, took his creative skills to other audiences in the international music arena. With his bass playing recording and touring partner Robbie Shakespeare (d. 2021), Dunbar also formed the Taxi Records production company, securing a consistent pipeline of both work and entrepreneurial revenue with prominent reggae acts.

The exact number of recordings on which he played is unknown, although one estimate cites over 200,000. Dunbar was awarded Jamaica’s Order of Distinction, and the Musgrave Gold Medal in 2015, while also receiving the University of Minnesota’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2025. The drummer and producer had been ill recently and his wife found him unresponsive this morning. No cause of death has been provided.

Reggae Highlights

Dunbar’s passing occurs in the wake of recent high profile transitions in the reggae world. Singer-songwriter Jimmy Cliff died at the end of November 2025, while the death of veteran Third World guitarist Stephen “Cat” Coore was announced on January 19.

Drumming professionally from his teenage years, Dunbar played on the Dave and Ansil Collins single, “Double Barrel” that unexpectedly topped the British charts in 1971. He was sixteen and recalled that it was made on a basic two-track machine, and that he borrowed a drum kit for the session since he did not actually own one at the time. He later became part of the influential Aggrovators produced by Bunny Lee, and Channel One Studios’ Revolutionaries session bands, both of whom made recordings that shaped and helped define the roots reggae apex of the 1970s.

In collaboration with Shakespeare, he helped develop the dynamic “rockers” rhythm, adding syncopation to the dominant “one drop” reggae sound.

Dunbar was part of the dynamic rhythm section that backed the vocalists of Black Uhuru on the Anthem album released by Island Records that claimed the first-ever Grammy Award for Best Reggae Recording in 1985, although his recordings with the band long preceded that landmark achievement.

He co-produced Black Uhuru on its 1979 Showcase LP, that included the classic track, “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” after which the album was renamed in some territories. Dunbar’s role in conjunction with Shakespeare was so crucial that he also appeared on the color cover of the North American version of the record, with his roles on the then cutting edge Simmons electronic drums credited in bold type.

He was also a member of original Wailers member Peter Tosh’s Word, Sound & Power band filled with A-list reggae session players that opened gigs for the Rolling Stones in 1978 when Tosh was signed to the custom label of the rock veterans.

International Impact

As part of the influential session band recording at Chris Blackwell’s Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas, he helped shape the emerging pop crossover sound of Jamaican singer Grace Jones, with her 1981 Nightclubbing album creating another style of international reggae, while still retaining the characteristics of heavy bass and dub spatiality.

Jones’s “Walking in the Rain” typified the atmospheric reggae-inflected soundscapes that benefitted from Dunbar’s broad sonic vocabulary. Both Dunbar and Shakespeare later played critical rhythmic roles on Jones’s vastly underrated Hurricane album in 2008.

The drummer expressed disbelief when he and Shakespeare received a call inviting the duo to play on Bob Dylan’s Infidels album (1983) that included the deeply reflective song, “I and I.” Dylan had been a musical hero to Dunbar, so performing with him represented a new summit. The pair also appeared on Dylan’s 1985 release, Empire Burlesque.

The eclectic versatility of the Sly & Robbie duo extended across the globe with their performances on Japanese guitarist Kazumi Watanabe’s 1984 Mobo album providing one crucial example among many. That record displayed the progressive edges and flexibilities of the drum and bass pair. In the same era, Dunbar and Shakespeare appeared on Mick Jagger’s 1985 solo debut album, She’s the Boss.

Unrestricted in their creativity, the duo carried Taxi Productions into the dancehall era, with hits including the ubiquitous Chaka Demus & Pliers single “Murder She Wrote” that became a hit in Britain in 1994 while charting in many other territories. His hit production work includes international releases by No Doubt.

Sly Dunbar was able to employ influences from other rhythm-centered genres including disco’s featured hi-hat cymbal and to successfully integrate them into reggae frameworks. The Sly & Robbie duo made a series of eclectic albums for their own Taxi imprint and other labels including Island, ensuring that they would transcend reggae’s parameters while always remaining in musical touch with their Jamaican roots.

When many drummers felt intimidated by the waves of digital technology, Dunbar embraced the changes and was one of the few whose programming skills rivaled his live performance capability. His creative energy and stylistic versatility will be missed within and beyond the reggae world, as evidenced by his thirteen Grammy Award nominations.