RIP: Sly Dunbar, Sly and Robbie reggae drummer, dead at 73.

Lowell “Sly” Dunbar, the Jamaican drummer for the former reggae group Sly & Robbie, has died. He was 73.

Dunbar’s wife, Thelma, confirmed the news to Jamaican newspaper The Gleaner on Monday.

“About seven o’clock this morning I went to wake him up and he wasn’t responding, I called the doctor and that was the news,” Thelma said, though she didn’t confirm the cause of death.

“Yesterday was such a good day for him,” Thelma continued. “He had friends come over to visit him and we all had such a good time. He ate well yesterday … sometimes he’s not into food. I knew he was sick … but I didn’t know that he was this sick.”

Dunbar’s daughter, Natasha, told TMZ the musician passed away at his home in Kingston, Jamaica. Like Thelma, Natasha also did not disclose the cause of death.

“As one half of Sly & Robbie, Sly helped shape the sound of reggae and Jamaican music for generations. His extraordinary talent, innovation, and lasting contributions will never be forgotten,” read a statement from the family, per TMZ. “Sly’s music, spirit, and legacy touched people around the world, and we are deeply grateful for the love and support during this difficult time.”

Dunbar was such a prolific session drummer in the 1970s that Brian Eno said, perhaps with only slight exaggeration, in his famous 1979 speech turned 1983 Downbeat article, “The Studio As Compositional Tool,” “when you buy a reggae record, there’s a 90 percent chance the drummer is Sly Dunbar. You get the impression that Sly Dunbar is chained to a studio seat somewhere in Jamaica, but in fact what happens is that his drum tracks are so interesting, they get used again and again.”