The Skatalites perform their '60s hit "The Guns of Navarone" at the Glastonbury Festival in 2007.

Knibb died Thursday in the company of his friends and family, the Jamaica Observer reported. After being told he had three days to live he asked to be flown home to Jamaica from the U.S. Only bassist Lloyd Brivette and alto saxophonist Lester Sterling remain among the original members who started the group fifty years ago.


Knibb's influence on Jamaican music can hardly be overstated. He was the father of pop drumming in Jamaica. "Lloyd Knibb is a very, very important musician when it comes to the unfolding of Jamaican music because he was really into the whole tradition of the music," said Herbie Miller, director of the Jamaica Music Museum.