Legendary Jamaican Drummer Sly Dunbar Has Died

Two-time Grammy Award–winning drummer and producer Sly Dunbar has passed away at the age of 73. Dunbar was one half of the iconic duo Sly & Robbie, collaborated with some of the world’s biggest and brightest names, including Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Grace Jones, and many others.

Sly Dunbar has passed away at the age of 73.

Legendary Jamaican drummer Sly Dunbar has passed away at the age of 73. The announcement was made on Monday morning, marking the loss of one of the most influential architects of reggae and Jamaican popular music.

Sly Dunbar was one half of the iconic duo Sly & Robbie, alongside his longtime bass-playing partner Robbie Shakespeare. Together, they are widely regarded as one of the greatest rhythm sections in reggae history. Dunbar’s precise, innovative drumming helped define the sound of reggae, dub, dancehall, and digital reggae, seamlessly blending live drums with emerging drum-machine technology.

The iconic duo Sly & Robbie

Over his storied career, he is often credited with playing on tens of thousands of recordings - frequently cited as more than 200,000 sessions, making him one of the most recorded drummers of all time.

Sly & Robbie left an indelible mark on global music, contributing to and remixing records for an extraordinary range of international artists, including Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Grace Jones, Gilberto Gil, Joe Cocker, Serge Gainsbourg, Talking Heads, Sting, Tricky, Ben Harper, Doug E. Fresh, Carlos Santana, and Sinéad O’Connor, among many others.

Working alongside some of the world’s biggest and brightest names.

Dunbar was a 13-time Grammy nominee and a two-time Grammy Award winner. He earned Best Reggae Recording in 1985 for Anthem by Black Uhuru, which he co-produced alongside Robbie Shakespeare, becoming the first reggae album ever to receive a Grammy Award. He later won Best Reggae Album in 1999 for the Friends album by Sly & Robbie.

After relaunching the Taxi label in the late 1970s, originally founded by Dunbar in the early 1970s, the “Riddim Twins” named the imprint after the success of the Taxi Riddim. The label went on to produce a string of hits, including Gregory Isaacs’ "Soon Forward," Jimmy Riley’s "Love and Devotion," and many more.

Paying tribute, legendary selector Rory Stone Love took to Instagram, writing: “It’s a very sad day for reggae music. We lost one of our greats, Sly Dunbar.”

His longtime partner Robbie Shakespeare passed away in late 2021, and with Sly Dunbar’s passing, the curtain closes on one of reggae’s most iconic partnerships. Together, they performed on the world’s biggest stages and were instrumental in bringing Jamaican music to the global forefront, standing alongside and shaping the sound of the genre’s greatest artists.