Sly Dunbar death: Legendary Sly and Robbie reggae drummer dies aged 73

Sly Dunbar, one of the most revered drummers in the history of reggae music, has died. He was 73.

Dunbar and bassist Robbie Shakespeare, known together as Sly & Robbie, worked together as a rhythm section and as a production duo. Shakespeare died in 2021, at the age of 68.

They collaborated on hundreds of songs together, from early reggae recordings with singers Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer through to later collaborations with mainstream pop and rock artists such as Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan and Grace Jones.

Dunbar’s death was announced by his wife Thelma, who told The Jamaica Gleaner: "About seven o’clock this morning I went to wake him up and he wasn't responding, I called the doctor and that was the news.”

She added that he had been experiencing a period of ill health, but that his death still came as a shock. “Yesterday was such a good day for him,” said the drummer’s lifelong partner. “He had friends come over to visit him and we all had such a good time. He ate well yesterday .. sometimes he's not into food. I knew he was sick... but I didn't know that he was this sick."

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Lowell Fillmore Dunbar was born on May 10, 1952 in Kingston, Jamaica. He started playing drums at the age of 15 in a group called The Yardbrooms, and in 1971 appeared on the Dave and Ansell Collins album Double Barrel.

In the mid-Seventies, he teamed up with Shakespeare to become Jamaica’s most prolific and sought-after rhythm section.

Speaking to The Independent in 1997, Dunbar recalled their first meeting and said: “The first time I saw Robbie playing bass I asked, ‘Who's that?’ He just seemed so relaxed. We got talking, and we would just stand and talk about music for hours. We were both obsessed with music. Then I was offered some free time in the studio and I suggested to Robbie that we should start playing together. He said that was a great idea.”

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They played together on seminal reggae records including Peter Tosh’s Legalize It and The Mighty Diamonds' Right Time, and the pair also established themselves as an inventive and genre-defining production duo.

In the Nineties, they produced hits including “Tease Me” and “Murder She Wrote” for Chaka Demus & Pliers. The following decade, they enjoyed further international success as the producers of No Doubt's “Hey Baby” and “Underneath It All.”

Describing their bond, Dunbar told The Independent: “As well as being my colleague, Robbie is my closest friend. We have a very harmonious friendship. It feels like a bond. You adore it and thank God that it happened. It's even more than a marriage. We've never quarreled. We just relax together. There's no ego.

“Robbie is the aggressive one; I'm the quiet one. Sometimes when people meet Robbie they're shy of him, even a little afraid, and they don't want to talk to him. But he's a sane, down-to-earth person really. When he gets aggressive, I can calm him down. I talk to him and say it doesn't make sense to be angry. He nearly always listens to me.”