DRUM BEAT ROCKERS

Lloyd Knibb, the drummer and a founding member of the Skatalites, has died of liver cancer in Kingston, Jamaica. He was 80 years old.

The Skatalites impact on modern pop music far outweighed their notable commercial success. The band created a sound that influenced generations of musicians from classic reggae artists such as Bob Marley and Toots And The Maytals to '80s English bands like Madness, to American punks and ska-influenced bands such as No Doubt, 311 and the Mighty, Mighty Bosstones. Without them it is hard to imagine styles such as reggae, rocksteady, and dub. Rolling Stone said the group was "Jamaica's answer to the Motown backing bands and Booker T and The MG's all in one."

The band's genesis occurred at the Alpha School in Jamaica, a Catholic-run institution where many of the group's founders first played together in school bands. Many of them played in pop bands and studio recordings before the group fully coalesced in the early '60s with a tight mix of stabby horns, deep groove, and choppy syncopations.