Ska legend Lloyd Brevett, the bassist in the original line-up of Jamaican Ska pioneers The Skatalites, died on Thursday in Jamaica age 80, Variety reported on Saturday.
Brevett was in poor health after suffering a stroke in March following the murder of his son in the Jamaican capital Kingston. He suffered further strokes and seizures two weeks ago, according to Skatalites.com.
“To say that Brevett was a creator of both ska and dub is not to use hyperbole,” Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson said.
Brevett was born in Jamaica on August 1, 1931. In June 1964 he formed the Skatalites along with Rolando Alphonso, Lloyd Sterling, Don Drummond, Jackie Mittoo, Johnny Moore, Tommy McCook, Jah Jerry Haines and Jackie Opel.
Brevett was one of the band's most flamboyant figures, thumping hard on his upright double bass to give Ska its characteristic rythym.
Based on the American big-band sound that Jamaicans picked up on radio from the United States, Ska put Jamaica on the world map of popular music, and gradually morphed into blue beat, rocksteady and then reggae.
The Skatalites had a series of huge hits, including Guns of Navarone (which entered the UK Top 40), Malcom X, and Man in the Street.
The group split up at the end of the 1960's but later reformed and are still performing today. Brevett left the band in 2004 over disagreements with new members.
The group has played in Moscow several times, most recently in 2009 and 2011, receiving a rapturous welcome from the city's Ska fans.
