Remembering Sly Dunbar
Rest In Power to Sly Dunbar.
The revolutionary Jamaican musician and producer Lowell ’Sly’ Dunbar passed away suddenly this morning at the age of 73. Born on 10th May 1952, Dunbar was given the nickname ‘Sly’ by his peers for his love of American music, particularly Sly & The Family Stone. After creating his own drum set using household items as a young boy, self-taught Sly quickly rose through the musical ranks of Kingston’s players, progressing to playing with his first band aged just fifteen and making his recording debut in 1970 on Ansell Colins’ breakout LP Double Barrel. With early guidance from Collins and Lloyd Parks, Dunbar set about playing for several up-and-coming bands, including Parks’ own band Skin, Flesh and Bone. It was during this time that he first met his longtime musical spar, Robbie Shakespeare.
During the 1970s, the ‘Riddim Twins’ Sly & Robbie went on to become the core nucleus of Bunny ’Striker’ Lee’s session band The Aggrovators, before evolving the band lineup into The Revolutionaries, the in-house band at the legendary Channel One studios. As key architects of the classic ‘Rockers’ sound, it was only a matter of time until Sly & Robbie stepped out on their own, forming The Taxi Gang and their own imprint ’Taxi’ – scoring huge hits with Black Uhuru, Gregory Isaacs, Dennis Brown, The Tamlins and many more. The Taxi sound was unbeatable during this time, so much so that Sly & Robbie’s innovative approach to music creation became sought-after by the mainstream, most notably Chris Blackwell and his seminal label Island.
The duo went on to work with a diverse array of artists from across the musical spectrum, including Madonna, Paul McCartney, Britney Spears, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Serge Gainsbourg, Sinead O’Conner and Monty Alexander, to name but a few.
A trailblazer right up until the end, Dunbar’s musical legacy will never be forgotten, and our thoughts are with his friends and family at this difficult time.