Sly Dunbar, Jamaican drummer and producer of Sly and Robbie, dies aged 73

Sly Dunbar, the Jamaican drummer and producer who formed half of the production duo Sly and Robbie, has died aged 73. His wife, Thelma, told Jamaican newspaper the Gleaner that she found him unresponsive on Monday morning, with doctors later pronouncing him dead. Other sources close to Dunbar confirmed the news to the Guardian, adding that Dunbar had been unwell for some months.

Born Lowell Fillmore Dunbar in Kingston, he began playing on his school desk and on tin cans and, still in his teens, joined bassist Robbie Shakespeare as the rhythm section of the Revolutionaries (also known as the Aggrovators). His drumming first reached a wide audience on Dave and Ansell Collins' Double Barrel, a UK No 1 in 1971.

Dunbar and Shakespeare later founded Taxi Records and worked across reggae and pop with artists including Black Uhuru, Bunny Wailer, Chaka Demus & Pliers, Grace Jones (Warm Leatherette, Nightclubbing, Living My Life), Serge Gainsbourg (four albums), Mick Jagger and Bob Dylan (Infidels and Empire Burlesque), with Dunbar calling Infidels "one of the coolest sessions that we ever worked on." Dunbar was a 13-time Grammy nominee and won twice.