The Skatalites

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Biography

Jamaica (1964 – 1965, 1983 – present)

The Skatalites are a Jamaican music group that played a major role in popularising , the first truly Jamaican music created by fusing , , , , , and African rhythms. They recorded many of their best known songs, including Guns of Navarone, in the period between 1964 and 1965, as well as played on records by Prince Buster and many other Jamaican artists.

The founding members of the group were Tommy McCook, Roland Alphonso, Lloyd Brevett, LLOYD KNIBB, Lester Sterling, Don Drummond, Jerome “Jah Jerry” Haynes, Jackie Mittoo, Johnny Moore and Jackie Opel.

Trombonist Drummond’s composition, Man In The Street, entered the Top 10 in the United Kingdom. He was not only the Skatalites’ busiest composer, but was the most prolific in all of Ska, with at least 200 tunes to his name by 1965.

On January 1, 1965, Drummond was jailed for the murder of his girlfriend, Anita ‘Marguerita’ Mahfood, and in August that year, the Skatalites played their last show. The break-up resulted in the formation of two supergroups, Jackie Mitto And The Soul Brothers (later the Soul Vendors and finally Sound Dimension) and Tommy McCook and The Supersonics. Drummond died in the Bellevue Asylum on May 6, 1969 at age 37.
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