{"id":1531769,"date":"2026-01-26T21:09:33","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T18:09:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1531769"},"modified":"2026-01-26T21:09:33","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T18:09:33","slug":"sly-robbies-lowell-sly-dunbar-dies-at-73","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1531769","title":{"rendered":"Sly & Robbie\u2019s Lowell \u201cSly\u201d Dunbar Dies at 73"},"content":{"rendered":"
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News<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Sly & Robbie\u2019s Lowell \u201cSly\u201d Dunbar Dies at 73<\/h1>\n
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The Jamaican drummer reshaped reggae several times over as half of the sought-after rhythm duo<\/div>\n
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By <\/span>Walden Green<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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Lowell \u201cSly\u201d Dunbar, July 1984 (David Corio\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Lowell \u201cSly\u201d Dunbar, the Jamaican drummer who reshaped reggae several times over as half of the duo Sly & Robbie, has died. \u201cAbout seven o\u2019clock this morning I went to wake him up and he wasn’t responding, I called the doctor and that was the news,\u201d Dunbar\u2019s wife, Thelma, said in a statement to The Jamaica Gleaner<\/em> today, January 26. She did not disclose a cause of death, but shared that Dunbar had been sick for some time. He was 73.<\/p>\n

Dunbar was born on May 10, 1952 in Kingston, Jamaica. He made his first on-record appearance on the title track from Dave and Ansell Collins\u2019 1971 album Double Barrel<\/em>, which reached No. 1 on the UK singles chart. Dunbar and bassist Robbie Shakespeare\u2014who died in 2021\u2014first played together in the Revolutionaries, the house band at Kingston\u2019s Channel One Studios. The pair quickly became one of, if not the most, sought-after rhythm sections of their day. They played on classic reggae records including Peter Tosh\u2019s Legalize It<\/em>, the Mighty Diamonds\u2019 Right Time<\/em>, and Black Uhuru\u2019s Guess Who\u2019s Coming to Dinner<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In 1978, Sly & Robbie toured with the Rolling Stones, and Dunbar put out his debut solo album, Simply Slyman<\/em>. By the early \u201980s, they had started their own label, Taxi Records, and, as members of Chris Blackwell\u2019s Compass Point house band, were backing up the likes of Grace Jones\u2014on her legendary trilogy of Warm Leatherette<\/em>, Nightclubbing<\/em>, and Living My Life<\/em>\u2014Serge Gainsbourg, Mick Jagger, and Bob Dylan.<\/p>\n

Sly & Robbie played a formative role in the evolution of dancehall during the 1990s. The duo created the \u201cBam Bam\u201d riddim that became the foundation for the genre\u2019s early marquee singles, some of which\u2014including Chaka Demus & Pliers\u2019 \u201cMurder She Wrote\u201d and Nardo Ranks\u2019 \u201cThem a Bleach\u201d\u2014they also had a hand in producing. While recording their 2001 album Rock Steady<\/em>, No Doubt asked Sly & Robbie to get behind the boards for a couple of dancehall-influenced songs, \u201cHey Baby\u201d and \u201cUnderneath It All,\u201d which became some of the band\u2019s biggest hits.<\/p>\n

Together, Dunbar and Shakespeare put out more than 30 Sly & Robbie records, the most recent of which was 2019\u2019s Sly & Robbie vs. Roots Radics: The Final Battle<\/em>. They won the Grammy for Best Reggae Album (then called Best Reggae Recording) in 1985\u2014the award\u2019s inaugural year\u2014for their work on Black Uhuru\u2019s Anthem<\/em>, and again in 1999 for their own album Friend<\/em>. Two songs Dunbar worked on\u2014Maxi Priest\u2019s \u201cClose To You\u201d and Omi\u2019s \u201cCheerleader\u201d\u2014reached No. 1 on the Hot 100, in 1990 and 2015, respectively.<\/p>\n

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Source URL: http:\/\/pitchfork.com\/news\/sly-and-robbies-lowell-sly-dunbar-dies-at-73\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

News Sly & Robbie\u2019s Lowell \u201cSly\u201d Dunbar Dies at 73 The Jamaican drummer reshaped reggae several times over as half of the sought-after rhythm duo By Walden Green January 26, 2026 Lowell \u201cSly\u201d Dunbar, July 1984 (David Corio\/Getty Images) Lowell \u201cSly\u201d Dunbar, the Jamaican drummer who reshaped reggae several times over as half of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[54],"class_list":["post-1531769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-pitchfork-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1531769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1531769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1531769\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1531769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1531769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1531769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}