Robbie Shakespeare, a Jamaican bassist who, as half of the rhythm duo Sly and Robbie, played with and produced some of the biggest names in music while transforming reggae with bold infusions of rock, blues and jazz, died on Wednesday at a hospital in Miami.
Starting in the mid-1970s, Sly and Robbie were among the most prolific musicians in the business, reggae or otherwise.
Both men came up from the creative cauldron of 1970s Kingston, working as session musicians at the famed Channel One recording studio and playing with reggae superstars like Peter Tosh, including on his 1978 tour as an opening act for the Rolling Stones.
The duo were both hard-core reggae aesthetes and radical innovators, never afraid to break with tradition.
That was an apt title, because beyond their musical talents, Mr. Dunbar and Mr. Shakespeare were known for their close personal bond.
“The longest we’ve been apart in the last 25 years is about three weeks,” Mr. Shakespeare told the British newspaper The Independent in 1997.
He drifted at first, getting into trouble but also spending time around his older brother, Lloyd, who sang in a local band.
It was during Lloyd’s practice sessions that Robbie began to learn the guitar — a homemade acoustic one at first.
Robbie did more than that; he went home and practiced all night, and the days and nights after, until his fingers bled.
It was while working in the clubs that he met Lowell Dunbar, known as Sly, already regarded as one of the best drummers in the city.
After working for several years at Channel One, Mr. Shakespeare and Mr. Dunbar went off on their own, working for Mr. Dunbar’s Taxi label.
That same year they played with the French singer Serge Gainsbourg on “Aux Armes et Cætera,” a reggae version of the French national anthem, which became one of Mr. Gainsbourg’s biggest hits.
The pair continued to make music into the 21st century, even as complications of diabetes left Mr. Shakespeare less able to get around.