Robbie Shakespeare (September 27, 1953 – December 8, 2021) was a Jamaican bass guitarist and record producer, best known as half of the reggae rhythm section and production duo Sly and Robbie, with drummer Sly Dunbar.
Robert Warren Dale Shakespeare (Robbie Shakespeare) grew up in East Kingston, Jamaica. He had a musical family, such that “his family home was a rehearsal and hangout spot for a variety of upcoming musicians and singers.” His brother Lloyd had a band called the Emotions which rehearsed in the house.
Robbie Shakespeare’s first instrument was an acoustic guitar that was always present in the home. Later, the bass player Aston “Family Man” Barrett came into his yard, as it was near a popular location for selling marijuana. Shakespeare had been trying acoustic guitar and drums, but when he heard Family Man’s bass playing, he was attracted to the deep bass sound and decided that was the instrument for him.
Robbie Shakespeare first went in a music studio when he helped carry Family Man’s brother Carlton Barrett’s drums into the studio and helped to set them up. This developed into sneaking into the studio and waiting outside as bands recorded. Whenever Family Man recorded, Robbie would try to both listen to the session and watch the bass player’s hands, and afterwards at the Shakespeare’s family home, the bassist would show Robbie Shakespeare the basslines that had been recorded.
Sly and Robbie came together in the mid-1970s after Shakespeare had already carved out his own music career from a young age. They collaborated for the first time when they played in the Channel One Studio house band, which was called the Revolutionaries. The pair bonded over their varied taste in music but specifically their interest in reggae production.
Sly and Robbie’s breakout work was on Mighty Diamonds’ 1976 album “Right Time”.
In 1979, Robbie Shakespeare and Sly Dunbar started an independent music production company and record label called Taxi Records.
In the following decade, their status grew as they worked with artists such as Joe Cocker and Grace Jones. They were also responsible for influential shifts in reggae music as it headed to digital, introducing the “Rockers” beat and later working with Chaka Demus & Pliers to create a novel sound that distinguished songs such as Bam Bam and Murder She Wrote.
As a part of Sly and Robbie, Shakespeare worked with various reggae artists such as U-Roy, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer, Dennis Brown, Gregory Isaacs and Black Uhuru. His production work also extended beyond the reggae genre, covering various pop and rock artists such as Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne, Cyndi Lauper, Joe Cocker, Yoko Ono, Serge Gainsbourg, Madonna, Britney Spears and Grace Jones.
In the 2011 documentary “Reggae Got Soul: The Story of Toots and the Maytals”, they were described as “one of the most influential artists ever to come out of Jamaica”.
Perhaps the quintessential Sly and Robbie sound was delivered with Black Uhuru, with whom they played from 1979 to 1986, including on the album “Sinsemilla” (1980), the title track of which showcases the pair in all their glory. That album also began to make them influential in reggae’s move towards digital instrumentation, epitomised by their jagged, staccato treatment of “Murder She Wrote” by Chaka Demus & Pliers in 1993.
Robbie Shakespeare’s switch into working with musicians outside reggae had begun as early as 1980, when he and Dunbar were drafted in to play on Grace Jones’s album “Warm Leatherette”. He subsequently provided a number of memorable bass lines for her songs such as My Jamaican Guy, Pull Up to the Bumper and Private Life, and the association brought in much more work, both as a producer and bass player, with other high-profile artists.
Robbie Shakespeare was involved with three Bob Dylan albums in the mid-1980s, “Infidels”, “Empire Burlesque” and “Down in the Groove”, with Mick Jagger’s 1985 album “She’s the Boss”, and Jackson Browne’s “World in Motion” in 1989’. Among other musicians he recorded with were Ian Dury, Herbie Hancock, Joan Armatrading and Sting.
Sly and Robbie also released six albums of their own between 1985 and 2014, and their musical and personal friendship endured to the end.
Robbie Shakespeare had been nominated for 13 Grammys in his career and won twice, once in 1984 for best reggae recording for “Anthem” and then in 1998 for best reggae album for “Friends”.
Robbie Shakespeare was regarded as one of the most influential reggae bassists and was also known for his creative use of electronics and production effects units.
In 2020, Shakespeare was placed at 17 on Rolling Stone’s greatest bassists of all time list.
Robbie Shakespeare died following kidney surgery in Florida, on December 8, 2021, at the age of 68.
Check out Sly and Robbie on Amazon
