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SLY
AND ROBBIE
 Drummer
Lowell 'Sly' Dunbar (getting his nick Sly from listening to Sly Stone) and
bassplayer Robert Shakespeare meet in the mid seventies. Dunbar already had
quite a reputation as a drummer. He had played on several Jamaican hit records,
a.o. Double Barrel by organist Ansell Collins. His rhythmic innovations to
reggae drumming were becoming a trade mark for Channel One when he got
acquainted with Aston 'familyman' Barrett's youthful protege bassplayer Robbie
Shakespeare. Shakespear had already done a good deal of studio work, like 'Stir
it up' from Bob Marley and some stuff with the Aggrovators. Sly was playing at a
club called Tit for Tat and Robbie was up the street at Evil People. They heard
each other playing on their breaks, and they liked what they heard. It didn't
take very long for them to decide to form a rhythmic drum-'n-bass partnership,
and Sly & Robbie was a fact. In Jamaica they released several albums with
the Revolutionaires, some of which were later released in Europe and the USA.
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| Sly, Peter Tosh and
Robbie |
Their first major project was providing backing for
the late singer/songwriter Peter Tosh in his backing band Word Sound and Power.
In this period they scored their first major worldwide nr 1 hitsingle with Peter
Tosh and Mick Jagger: (Keep on walking) Don't Look Back. They recorded five
albums with Peter Tosh: Equal Rights, Legalize it, Bush Docor,
Mystic Man and Wanted Dread and Alive. While on a world tour with
Peter, they lived on bread and water to save money to be able to start their own
record label: TAXI Productions.
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| Black Uhuru |
When they returned from touring, they indeed raised
the TAXI label. They joined the band Black Uhuru and from there things really
started. Black Uhuru, consisting of singers Ducky Simpson, Puma Jones and lead
singer Michael Rose (now known as Mykall Rose) and Sly & Robbie on drum and
bass turned out to become the most progressive sounding reggaeband of that time.
In this line up 5 (6 with the dub album included) albums were released: Showcase,
Sinsemilla, Red, Chill Out, (The Dub Factor,) and Anthem,
each album being a large step forward towards innovating reggae music. After
Anthem, Michael Rose left the group and was replaced by Junior Reid and two more
albums were produced: Brutal and Positive.
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| Robbie Shakespear |
Another artist with whom they've been recording is
Grace Jones. Sly & Robbie played on three albums. Everybody knows songs like
'I've seen that face before (libertango)' and 'Pull up to the Bumper'. The work
with Grace Jones was the start of a heap international artists wanting Sly &
Robbie to produce and/or provide the drum 'n bass backing for their songs and
albums. Joe Cocker, Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan, Ian Dury, Herbie Hancock, Maxi
Priest, Cindy Lauper, Barry Reynolds, Carly Simon... In reggae they backed and
produced a talented new singer, Ini Kamoze, who's first album was a massive hit
among the reggae audience.
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| Sly Dunbar |
Around 1990 a new turn in reggae music came up:
raggamuffin or ragga. The drum computer became an important ingredient and
started to replace live drumming on studio recordings. The Rhythm Twins released
'The Summit'in 1988, which is a record that contains eight instrumental tracks.
Hard to define whether it's live drums or a drum computer (it is live drums),
and this album can be seen as the last one on which Sly & Robbie play their
instruments. From now on, Sly focuses on drum programming and production (Robbie
still plays the bass), and again they produce a gigantic world wide hit: Murder
she Wrote by Chaka Demus and Pliers.
Since then they have been writing and composing
for Luciano, Beenie Man, more Shaka Demus and Pliers and numerous other, mainly
ragga/reggae artists. Their latest achievement is Drum and Bass: strip to the
bone, of which you can read a review here.
Then, don't they play their instruments anymore
at all? An aquaintance of mine, rapper Rollarocka from Haarlem, Holland, was in
New York with his band, and stepped into a club at night. Inside the club was a
live band playing with an unresistable groove. Sticking out his neck (he is not
so tall) he saw who were playing the drum and bass: Sly & Robbie, still
going strong after a good 25 years.
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