Sly & Robbie
Sly Dunbar (b. Lowell Charles Dunbar, 10 May 1952, Kingston, Jamaica; drums) and Robbie Shakespeare (b. 27 September 1953, Kingston, Jamaica; bass). Dunbar, nicknamed Sly in honour of his fondness for Sly And The Family Stone, was an established figure in Skin Flesh & Bones when he met Shakespeare. They have probably played on more reggae records than the rest of Jamaica's many session musicians put together. The pair began working together as a team in 1975 and they quickly became Jamaica's leading, and most distinctive, rhythm section. They have played on numerous releases, including those by U-Roy, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer, Culture and Black Uhuru, while Dunbar also made several solo albums, all of which featured Shakespeare. They have constantly sought to push back the boundaries surrounding the music with their consistently inventive work. Sly drummed his first session for Upsetter Lee Perryas one of the Upsetters; the resulting Night Doctor was a big hit both in Jamaica and the UK. He next moved to Skin, Flesh & Bones, whose variations on the reggae-meets-disco/soul sound gave them lots of session work and a residency at Kingston's Tit for Tat club. Sly was still searching for more however, and he moved onto another session group in the mid-70s, the Revolutionaries. This move changed the course of reggae music through their work at Joseph ‘Joe Joe’ Hookim's Channel One Studio and their pioneering rockers sound. It was with the Revolutionaries that he teamed up with bass player Robbie Shakespeare who had gone through a similar apprenticeship with session bands, notably Bunny Lee's Aggrovators. The two formed a friendship that turned into a musical partnership that was to dominate reggae music throughout the remainder of the '70s, '80s and on into the '90s. 
Known now simply as Sly And Robbie (and occasionally Drumbar & Basspeare), they not only formed their own label Taxi, which produced many hit records for scores of well known artists but also found time to do session work for just about every important name in reggae. They toured extensively as the powerhouse rhythm section for Black Uhuruand, as their fame spread outside of reggae circles, they worked with Grace Jones, Bob Dylan, Ian Dury and Joan Armatrading among a host of other rock stars. In the early '80s they were among the first to use the burgeoning ‘new technology’ to musical effect; they demonstrated that it could be used to its full advantage without compromising their musicianship in any way. In a genre controlled by producers and ‘this week's star’, reggae musicians have never really been given their proper respect, but the accolades heaped on Sly And Robbie have helped to redress the balance. The fact that both have their feet planted firmly on the ground has ensured that they have never left the grass roots of the music behind, either. At the time of writing Taxi's latest beat/sound is tearing up the reggae world again. Sly And Robbie's mastery of the digital genre coupled with their abiding love and respect for the music's history has placed them at the forefront of Kingston's producers of the early '90s, and their Murder She Wrote cut for Chaka Demus & Pliers set the tone for 1992, while Tease Mi for the same duo, built around a sample from the Skatalites '60s hit, Ball Of Fire, was another significant UK chart success in 1993. Quite remarkable for a team whose successful career has already spanned three decades, with the promise of yet more to come.