Lowell ‘Sly’ Dunbar – the ‘Drumbar’ of destiny

The Verse

Lowell Fillmore ‘Sly’ Dunbar’s passing is not just the loss of a musician. It marks the silencing of a core pulse in modern Jamaican music.

Reflecting on our many tours, my presence at recording sessions, and shared social moments, I recall Sly at many of Peter Tosh’s and Word, Sound, and Power concerts, at their finales. After he and Robbie extend the measures of Legalize It into a dub dialogue – a live, improvised musical conversation made from repeated, fragmented, and transformed musical phrases with effects and interplay – Robbie holds his bass with his left hand, raising his right palm aloft. Sly stands from the low seat behind the drums, stage lights illuminating him. His sweat-soaked sticks rise high after a climactic crescendo, leaving a cymbal crash that echoes through the night. This echo seems to capture and suffuse a nation’s breath, much like the aroma of the audience’s herb smoke. Such moments – combining Robbie’s bass and Sly’s poly-rhythms, his ability to play multiple complex rhythms at once – create a legacy that transcends time and genre, but also as lived experience.

The Melody: Sly Dunbar the Architect of ‘Rockers’

Modern Jamaican music history often highlights singers, but its heartbeat is rhythm. By joining Peter Tosh’s band, Word, Sound and Power with Robbie Shakespeare, Sly Dunbar became half of the “Riddim Twins”. Together, they shaped Tosh’s vision, focusing on groove and beat, a pivotal moment in reggae history. Previously, reggae drumming used the ‘one-drop’ meter, but in 1976, Sly introduced the ‘Rockers’ style. He brought a steady kick drum to every beat, revolutionising the genre’s rhythm and appealing to rock and disco audiences while remaining distinctly Jamaican. This creative transition, evident in tracks like Stepping Razor, emerged from onstage experimentation.

Sly recalls: “The first album I did with Peter was Equal Rights, but Peter wanted it one drop only. I said, ‘No problem,’ because my drum style had started to take over Jamaica. Peter wanted the one-drop, but onstage, the pattern had to change because sometimes with one-drop you don’t get the same power. We had to adjust our style onstage because the energy was different live. That’s truly when the ‘rockers’ style began.”

This shift changed performances as audience energy peaked and people danced to the pounding tempo. Live, ‘Rockers’ drum and bass delivered intensity that the ‘one drop’ rhythm lacked. The ‘Rockers’ style quickly set a new standard within the reggae circles. For Sly, live performance demanded flexibility beyond the studio’s boundaries. “That’s [a chance] for playing my style, if you get some energy onstage. So he [Peter] didn’t say anything, and then we were free to just record what we [wanted] to play any sound for Peter.”

Akin to the drums in Jamaican plantation days, in the Word, Sound and Power era, with Tosh’s defiant and militant sociopolitical and anti-colonial messages, Sly’s drums served as instruments of liberation. He ignited both body and mind. His replacement of the established “one-drop” rhythm with the militant ‘Rockers’ style restructured reggae’s core. Peter Tosh voiced the “Word.” Sly and Robbie delivered “Sound and Power.” They became creative anchors, not mere backing musicians. Robbie reliably held the rhythm. Dunbar called this period one of reggae’s most experimental. The genre began “opening up” into new territories, a shift even Bob Marley sought to emulate by inviting Sly to record on Punky Reggae Party.

With Tosh, Sly reached global audiences and built the elite “Sly and Robbie” Riddim Twins. They provided the rhythmic potency in important live concerts worldwide, including the Anti-Apartheid concerts in Europe and the USA (1977-1981); Youth Consciousness concerts at Ranny Williams Centre and Hellshire Beach (1978); No Nukes Concert at Madison Square Garden (1979); Reggae Sunsplash Montego Bay (1979) and Kingston (1980); and The One Love Peace Concert at the National Stadium (1980).

Sly’s influence continued to grow, making him a sought-after collaborator for international artistes. He worked with French artiste Serge Gainsberg, Cameroonian Manu Dibango, and Dutch composer Chris Hinze, as well as with Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan, the individualistic Sinéad O’Connor, and genre-crossing Grace Jones.

The Bridge: Black Uhuru: The Grammy Milestone

After his breakthrough with Peter Tosh, Sly’s work with Black Uhuru marked a shift to digital production. As players and producers under their Taxi label, Sly and Robbie propelled the group to global prominence in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Amid Jamaica’s turbulence, Black Uhuru’s militant rhythms became a timely voice for change. The Black Uhuru collaboration produced iconic tracks like General Penitentiary, Plastic Smile, and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. These songs used a heavy, driving drum-and-bass sound. They anticipated digital production and the dancehall explosion. This innovative style led to the Black Uhuru album, Anthem, winning the first Grammy Award for Best Reggae Recording in 1985.

During Black Uhuru shows, Sly and Robbie intensified the dub factor but kept the melody intact. Their musicianship was extraordinary. “That’s when it reached overdrive with Black Uhuru,” Sly said. “Now it had momentum and geography, from Negril to Port Antonio, St Thomas to Kingston. We produced songs for bass and drums. On Shine Eye Gal, Robbie plays the bass like a bat. I catch the ball, reshape it, and send it back. We took the bass pattern to high speed five times, leading to the next song, with relief from guitars and keyboards. Steady drumbeats and alternative cymbal patterns, as in Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner.”

As early as 1981, Sly anticipated technological changes that would transform music production. He pioneered the integration of Simmons electronic pads, creating sampled sounds with a mechanical yet human feel, as he eagerly embraced drum machines and welcomed the chance to merge traditional and modern approaches. This innovation marked reggae’s transition into dancehall with Sly’s interpretation of the Toots and the Maytals’ ‘Bam Bam’ riddim that laid the foundation for hits like Murder She Wrote and helped redefine the global pop landscape. By explicitly weaving the riddim’s structure into popular songs, ‘Bam Bam’ became a template for dancehall, underlining its transformative power and solidifying the bridge from the Rockers style to modern pop genres.

Compas Point, Grace Jones and Others

During the mid-1980s, Sly and Robbie became the house band at Chris Blackwell’s Compas Point Studio in Nassau, Bahamas. While recording Grace Jones’ Private Life, Sly recalled, “she was not in the studio ... however, we decided to make the music inspired by Grace’s looks”. Represented by a large photograph of the singer, it yielded a tight, organic performance.

Sly generously attributes his artistry by explaining the vital roles others play in the ensemble. Describing the chemistry between Robbie and himself, he explained that Robbie sometimes relies on authoritative reggae basslines and, at other times, seamlessly integrates opposing tones into a compositional form. For example, in Black Uhuru’s Whole World is Africa, rather than thumping typical bass-heavy notes, Sly notes. “Robbie duplicates the hi-hat patterns, [thereby] creating a stream of consistency and originality ... Robbie demonstrated that bassists do not always have to be anchors, predictable and one-dimensional.”

Beyond his extraordinary drumming and in addition to the scores of local artistes who benefitted from his and Robbie’s productions, Sly fostered a new generation of engineering talent. Sound engineers, including Colin ‘Bulby’ Yorke, Lynford ‘Fatta’ Marshall, and Orville ‘Rory’ Baker, learned the intricacies of recording and mixing directly from the “Riddim Twins”, ensuring their innovative spirit endured in Jamaican music production.

And, Sly Dunbar also believed that those who built the foundation of reggae deserved to live with dignity. He was known for quietly covering medical bills and living expenses for contemporaries who fell on hard times. Sly frequently hired older musicians for session work – even when he or a drum machine could have done the job – simply to ensure they remained active and earned a “session fee”.

On a personal note: During the pandemic, I discussed with Sly my modest assistance to two musicians down on their luck, and he suggested we meet each Friday at the bank where he contributed to the effort. At Sly’s request I’ve never disclosed the source of the increase. I could cite numerous such instances dating back to the mid-1970s.

Sly’s work earned him 13 Grammy nominations and two wins, for Anthem and Sly & Robbie: Friends (1999). He was awarded the Order of Distinction by the Government of Jamaica in 2015 and in October the same year, he and Robbie were awarded the Gold Musgrave Medal by the Institute of Jamaica. Dunbar received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the University of Minnesota in 2025.

The Coda: A Musical Chameleon

Sly Dunbar was a musical chameleon whose creative versatility as a conceptualiser, producer, drummer, recording artiste, and performer enabled him to continually adapt and redefine genres. Sly embodied reinvention, moving seamlessly into various musical contexts and extending the reggae vernacular into languages suggested by his inventive sensibility.

He was a friend everyone should hope to have, a humanitarian whose philanthropy will be remembered with reverence by many and a Jamaican, the global music community mourns. Most significantly, Sly was a husband and father whose responsibility, love, and commitment to family life are exemplary; a study in loyalty and affection. Just as a drummer unites the disparate sounds of a band into one harmonic rhythm, Sly united family, friends, and nation, leaving an indelible pulse that echoes through time. Lowell ‘Sly’ Dunbar’s transition reunites him with Robert ‘Robbie’ Shakespeare as the dynamic duo, Sly and Robbie, the Riddim Twins, to forever Rest in Riddim.

References

(1977) Punky Reggae Party. Wikipedia; (1984) Anthem (Black Uhuru album), Wikipedia; Campbell, H. (November 5, 2025) 40 years after Grammy win, Sly recalls Black Uhuru’s ‘Anthem’ Jamaica Observer; Segall, T (February 4, 2026), Chaka Demus & Pliers: “Murder She Wrote” Track Review, Pitchfork; (1993) Tease Me (Chaka Demus & Pliers song), Wikipedia.