Sly & Robbie

Forming a partnership that reshaped musical terrain across Jamaica and far beyond, drummer Sly Dunbar and bassist Robbie Shakespeare established what amounted to the quintessential collaborative bond in the field. Although promotional exaggeration often accompanies the union of gifted performers, this particular alliance between the two proved genuinely transformative. Countless tracks, along with their assorted remixes, versions, and dub iterations, drew upon the propulsive grooves they supplied. In their capacity as producers, the pair embodied an innovative force at the forefront of contemporary expressions in dub, ragga, and dancehall. From the middle of the 1970s onward, they lent their skills to virtually every prominent Jamaican performer while also supporting international figures in rock, pop, and hip-hop such as the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Serge Gainsbourg, and KRS-One. The year 1987 marked their notable entry on British pop listings via Rhythm Killers, an adventurous fusion of funk and dance crafted under the guidance of the similarly industrious and innovative Bill Laswell. Extending their activity deep into the new millennium, they created successful tracks for No Doubt, issued dub collections including Underwater Dub from 2014 alongside diverse projects like Red Hills Road in 2020, and partnered with a broad spectrum of creators ranging from British reggae vocalist Bitty McLean to Finnish electronic innovator Vladislav Delay.

Dunbar and Shakespeare first united in 1975, by which point each had already secured a foothold on the Jamaican music circuit. Lowell Charles Dunbar earned the nickname Sly through his admiration for Sly Stone, and during his teenage years he launched his career in the late 1960s by performing in studio ensembles. For a period he belonged to the RHT Invincibles, a unit directed by Father Good'un that featured talents including Lloyd Parks, Bertram McLean, and Ansell Collins. The group issued several singles, yet none achieved notable success. Dunbar found greater traction through studio sessions and made his recorded debut with the Upsetters on the single "Night Doctor." Producer Lee Perry, clearly impressed by the young drummer, employed him regularly in the studio. Nevertheless, Dunbar maintained outside commitments, joining Skin, Flesh & Bones, an outfit led by Al Brown that included his former associate Lloyd Parks. In 1974, drummer and bandmate Ranchie McLean established a brief-lived label called Taxi, which concentrated chiefly on material from the group and its members. Shakespeare, meanwhile, was likewise building recognition. He too had begun as a session musician in his teens, and by the early 1970s he had become part of producer Bunny Lee's house band the Aggrovators.

Inevitably the two young musicians encountered one another during this era, since both had been born and raised in Kingston and differed in age by only a single year. Over time each had performed with nearly every major and minor artist on the island. Producer JoJo Hookim ultimately brought them together when they joined his studio band the Revolutionaries separately in 1975. Their partnership developed gradually, with their initial joint effort appearing on Jimmy Cliff's Follow My Mind that same year. Curiously, the duo were also invited to produce the established French singer Serge Gainsbourg's 1975 album Aux Armes et Cætera. Though an unusual match for all involved, the sessions proved so fruitful that the pair not only produced the singer's subsequent album but also agreed to join him on his French tour.

The year 1976 proved even more eventful. Sly & Robbie guided Culture's landmark Two Sevens Clash album, one of the defining releases of the roots period. Their productions were gradually attracting global notice, and accompanying superstar DJ U-Roy's backing band on his U.K. tour added further visibility. Before the year ended, the duo had also contributed to Peter Tosh's Natty Rebel album, beginning a four-year association that took them on tours with the former Wailer across the United States and Europe. At the same time their session work for Hookim in Jamaica proceeded steadily, while Shakespeare continued performing with the Aggrovators. Their growing stature is evident on Leroy Smart's 1977 Super Star album, whose credits proudly list Robbie Shakespeare & the Aggrovators and Sly Dunbar & the Revolutionaries. The Heartbeat label later issued two compilations highlighting the Revolutionaries' exceptional work for Hookim's Channel One label. 1989's Hitbound! The Revolutionary Sound of Channel One contains some of their most celebrated recordings, featuring artists such as Horace Andy, Junior Byles, the Mighty Diamonds, the Meditations, and Black Uhuru. The Mighty Two, presented as a collection of Errol Thompson's and Joe Gibbs' finest productions, likewise showcases the group at peak form, backing the likes of Peter Tosh, Dennis Brown, Prince Far I, Culture, and many others. 1978 brought the historic One Love Peace Festival, where the Revolutionaries supported Tosh's powerful performance. The set was preserved and released in 2000 by the JAD label.

After working tirelessly over the preceding years, Sly & Robbie had saved sufficient funds to launch their own label, Taxi, adopting the name from Dunbar's earlier short-lived venture. A studio requires a house band, and they assembled one logically around members of the Revolutionaries. The Taxi All Stars (also known as the Roots Radics) included guitarist Rad Bryan, percussionist Sticky Thompson, and keyboardists Ansel Collins and Winston Wright. The label debuted with Black Uhuru's "Observe Life," initiating another significant association. Taxi quickly secured its first chart success with Gregory Isaacs' classic "Soon Forward." From that point the label became a dominant presence on the Jamaican scene. The Island compilation Present Taxi presents a dozen of the label's early singles and features Junior Delgado's standout "Fort Augustus" and the hit "Merry Go Round," as well as the Wailing Souls' "Sweet Sugar Plum" and "Old Broom," together with essential tracks from Dennis Brown, Gregory Isaacs, the Tamlins, former Unique Jimmy Riley, DJ General Echo, and additional artists. Notable exclusions include the duo's recordings with Max Romeo and Prince Far I.

Sly & Robbie did not limit themselves to producing others' material, although they maintained outside session work. Before the decade concluded, the "Riddim Twins," as they had come to be known, supplied the driving rhythms for albums by legendary vocalists such as Bunny Wailer, the Mighty Diamonds, and Jacob Miller, along with numerous DJ figures including General Echo, Ranking Dread, and Barrington Levy. This activity still did not satisfy Dunbar, who also issued several solo singles and a pair of solo albums, Simple Slyman and Sly, Wicked and Slick. Yet their most vital work during this period came with Black Uhuru, who recorded a succession of landmark singles for Taxi, among them "Shine Eye Girl" and "Plastic Smile," later compiled on the group's Showcase album. Across the group's powerful releases—Sinsemilla, Red, and Tear It Up—Dunbar's weighty beats and Shakespeare's fluid bass lines, the essence of the Revolutionaries' sound, formed the foundation of Black Uhuru's music, while the duo's pulsing, deeply rooted productions complemented the group's remarkable vocal performances. This collaboration reached a high point on 1982's Chill Out, the album that propelled the Riddim Twins to international prominence and led to a tour opening for the Rolling Stones as part of Black Uhuru's backing band.

As the new decade began, Sly & Robbie secured a distribution arrangement for Taxi with the Island label. Island head Chris Blackwell then engaged the Jamaicans to work with avant-garde singer Grace Jones. The results—a lean, funky, dub-inflected yet mechanical sound shaped by Dunbar's interest in the new Syndrums—ignited dance floors worldwide and influenced the new wave movement. The pair's interest in dub was simultaneously expanding, with their initial forays into the style appearing on single B-sides released in 1981. The following year's Crucial Reggae: Driven by Sly & Robbie gathered an album's worth of instrumentals and incisive dubs onto one disc. This was succeeded in 1985 by the equally powerful A Dub Experience, another collection of formidable rhythms. During the early part of the decade, Sly & Robbie collaborated with an extensive range of artists, including the leading figures among the DJ community. Frankie Paul, Sugar Minott, Charlie Chaplin, and Half Pint all released notable tracks produced by the duo, while their work on Johnny Osbourne's 1983 Osbourne in Dub stands out in particular.

In 1984, the U.K. CSA label assembled this material with Black Uhuru's Love Crisis dub companion, Jammies in Lion Dub Style, which the duo also remixed. Even the re-formed Skatalites approached them, resulting in With Sly & Robbie & the Taxi Gang. Sounds of Taxi, Vol. 1 appeared in 1984 as a label sampler of Taxi singles, B-sides, and dubs; second and third volumes followed over the next two years. The Heartbeat label later released the Taxi Fare compilation, a strong introduction to the world of Sly & Robbie, while Sonic Sounds' Many Moods Of highlights the duo's dubs from this era. Their close ties to the dancehalls and their increasingly experimental electronic textures, combined with Dunbar's near-complete shift from acoustic drums to Syndrums, anticipated the emergence of ragga; in practice, Sly & Robbie's productions supplied the template for ragga and the digital shift. This quality was especially clear on the pair's own instrumentals, credited either to Sly & Robbie or the Taxi Gang and frequently titled with reference to Taxi itself—"Unmetered Taxi," "Taxi Connection," "Maxi Taxi," and the playful "Rent a Car." On these tracks the duo demonstrated their ingenuity, seamlessly merging rocksteady tempos with an entirely modern aesthetic. Dunbar's mechanized beats stood so far removed from prevailing styles as to seem unprecedented, while Shakespeare's supple bass introduced a rich organic dimension. Together they forged a wholly distinctive approach, with rhythms sufficiently taut and intense to dominate the dancehalls yet still sufficiently rooted to resonate with traditional audiences.

The duo moved quickly to support emerging talent, notably Ini Kamoze, and helped facilitate producer Bobby Digital's ascent. Their support likewise aided George Phang's rise: in exchange for a favor, the Riddim Twins provided the producer with a selection of their own rhythms. Working with the duo, Phang created such hits as Barrington Levy's "Money Move," Sugar Minott's "Rydim," Frankie Paul's "Winsome," and numerous others. Sly & Robbie lent their influence and rhythms to many additional producers during the latter half of the 1980s. Gussie Clarke, Phil "Fatis" Burrell, Clive Jarrett and Beswick "Bebo" Phillips, and Myrie Lewis and Errol Marshall all benefited substantially from the duo's potent rhythms, which helped their releases dominate the dancehalls and charts. Nevertheless, the pair continued to attract vocalists. Sly & Robbie played an essential role on Toots Hibbert's Toots in Memphis album and, alongside Bunny Wailer, co-produced Marcia Griffiths' "Fever" single. Their focus was not confined to Jamaican artists, however, and over the years Sly & Robbie have worked consistently with performers well outside the reggae sphere. The two have applied their abilities to such unexpected collaborators as Joe Cocker, Joan Armatrading, Ian Dury, Bob Dylan, Robert Palmer, the Rolling Stones, and Herbie Hancock. The scope of their productions and performances appears limitless.

Language Barrier, supervised by Bill Laswell and featuring guest contributions from Dylan, Manu Dibango, and Afrika Bambaataa, was released in 1985. The Sting and the Taxi Gang's Electro Reggae Vol. 1 followed Language Barrier in 1986. In 1987, Sly & Robbie reunited with Laswell for the funk-oriented Rhythm Killers, supported by another diverse roster of contributors including Shinehead, Henry Threadgill, and Rammellzee. It reached number 35 on the U.K. charts and contained the hit single "Boops (Here to Go)," which peaked at number 12. Taxi Connection Live in London appeared that same year. 1988 brought The Summit, guided by Fattis Burrell, a blueprint for the electronic transformation about to reshape the entire dancehall landscape. The next year's Silent Assassin was equally forward-looking, a potent dub-rap hybrid produced by KRS-One that included a guest appearance from hip-hop artist Queen Latifah.

The new decade opened with DJ Riot, a title that precisely captured the album's purpose. In 1992, Dunbar formed a new production team with Peter Turner and Maureen Sheridan and another with Bedrose & Malvo. With the former grouping he would oversee artists such as Junior Reid and Sabre, while the latter would work with emerging DJ figures including Spragga Benz, Mad Cobra, and Snagga Puss. In a markedly different direction, Dunbar also produced a series of revivalist religious recordings. Yet despite all this additional activity, Dunbar and Shakespeare's partnership remained firm and highly productive. The pair produced some of dancehall's foremost artists, guiding hit singles and albums by Shabba Ranks, Chaka Demus & Pliers, Beenie Man, and Luciano, among many others. 1996's Hail Up the Taxi gathers the finest of the duo's productions and session contributions from the first half of the decade. Their own recordings stayed equally robust. Perhaps as a brief diversion from dancehall, in 1992 the pair released Remember Precious Times, a refined album of covers of roots and reggae classics. The duo continued to collaborate with Laswell on projects such as 1996's Axiom Dub: Mysteries of Creation.

A wave of albums emerged during the remainder of the decade: The Punishers, Mambo Taxi, Babylon I Rebel, Reggae Dancehall, Friends, and Present Taxi Christmas all appeared between 1996 and 1998, as Sly & Robbie explored movie and TV themes, dub, and dancehall, invited their colleagues into the studio, and even marked Christmas. In 1999 they entered a strip club, video camera in hand, for Strip to the Bone, which paired striptease with powerful dub. Dub also provided the entry point for Massive and Dub Fire. From there they moved into jazz when the pair collaborated with Monty Alexander for the Monty Meets Sly & Robbie album. The Riddim Twins have also continued to record regularly, both as the essential foundation for others' work and on their own projects. Another series of Sly & Robbie releases followed in the early 2000s, culminating in 2006's Rhythm Doubles, which received a nomination for Best Reggae Album Grammy. The rest of the decade involved extensive collaboration, with the duo working alongside reggae figures such as Horace Andy as well as in unexpected pairings with artists like Britney Spears and Paul McCartney.

In early 2012, Sly & Robbie returned with Blackwood Dub, their first traditional dub album in some time. Recorded in 2011 and produced in partnership with Alberto Blackwood and Gilroy "Rolex" Stewart, the album was promoted with the phrase "Strictly dub – no vocals." In 2013 they collaborated with French saxophonist Stepper on the album Stepper Takes the Taxi. The follow-up to Blackwood Dub arrived in 2014 when Underwater Dub surfaced with more expansive and relaxed material. In 2015, Sly & Robbie appeared on two albums recorded with the Japanese group Spicy Chocolate, The Reggae Power and The Reggae Power 2. 2017 saw the rhythm section issue albums in collaboration with Brinsley Forde (One Fire Dub) and Junior Natural (Militant). 2018's Overdubbed paired Sly & Robbie with Canadian dub and dance music artist Dubmatix. That same year, trumpeter Nils Petter Molvær, guitarist Eivind Aarset, and electronic artist Vladislav Delay released their album of music created with Sly & Robbie, Nordub. Delay then collaborated with Sly & Robbie on another full-length, 500-Push-Up, which appeared on Belgian label Sub Rosa in 2020. Red Hills Road, named after the strip in Kingston that housed the first clubs where Sly & Robbie performed early in their career, was released digitally in 2020 and issued on vinyl the following year. The duo's long and influential career concluded in December of 2021 when Shakespeare passed away at the age of 68.