Lowell “Sly” Dunbar, the Jamaican drummer who reshaped reggae several times over as half of the duo Sly & Robbie, has died. “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,” Dunbar’s wife, Thelma, said in a statement to The Jamaica Gleaner today, January 26. She did not disclose a cause of death, but shared that Dunbar had been sick for some time. He was 73.
Dunbar was born on May 10, 1952 in Kingston, Jamaica. As Sly & Robbie, he and bassist Robbie Shakespeare—who died in 2021—were one of the most sought-after rhythm sections of their day. They played on classic reggae records including Peter Tosh’s Legalize It, the Mighty Diamonds’ Right Time, and Black Uhuru’s Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, and backed up the likes of Bob Dylan, Grace Jones, Mick Jagger, and Serge Gainsbourg. Sly & Robbie also played a formative role in the evolution of dancehall, creating the Bam Bam riddim that became the foundation for some of the genre’s earliest hit singles. Dunbar and Shakespeare won the Grammy for Best Reggae Album (then called Best Reggae Recording) in 1985, the award’s inaugural year, for their work on Black Uhuru’s Anthem, and again in 1999 for the Sly & Robbie album Friend.
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