The Sunday Mail
Society Reporter
LEGENDARY Jamaican reggae musician and producer Leroy Sibbles has, to a great extent, contributed to the expansion of the local music industry.
Since 1998, Sibbles, who was the leader of the reggae outfit The Heptones in the 1960s and 1970s, has been working closely with King Isaac, a Zimbabwean musician based in the United States.
A true legend and accomplished bass player, Sibbles, who has been around since the early Wailers days, produced King Isaac’s hit song “The Score”.
On the “The Score”, King Isaac collaborated with another Jamaican reggae legend Chaka Demus, of the “Murder She Wrote” fame.
When it was released some few months ago, the song shot to the top of the Classic 263 Music Chart Show and maintained the position for a couple of weeks.
King Isaac said he has had an amazing working relationship with Sibbles, who, besides being a singer, is also a songwriter and arranger.
“Our working relationship started more than 20 years ago, when I opened up a show for him here in Detroit, Michigan. I then travelled to Jamaica for the first time in 1998 and he was instrumental in the recording of my first song, ‘Keeping It Away’, which made rounds on the reggae scene in Zimbabwe,” said King Isaac, whose latest song “Rova Ngoma” is receiving favourable airplay.
Sibbles has been described by arts critics as an exceptionally talented creative mind.
He has contributed a lot to the development of reggae music by developing great bass lines for many hit songs by almost every major reggae artiste.
King Isaac described Sibbles as a living legend, who is humble and hardworking.
“It is an exclusive honour and privilege to know, let alone work with Sibbles on multiple recordings. He is a humble, nice and kind person. This is despite the fact that he is immensely talented, and is a musical giant,” King Isaac said.
“‘The Score’, with Chaka Demus, was produced by him. We are currently working on an Afro-beat song together, so the relationship continues.”
Sibbles was the creator of the bass lines that made the ace producer Coxsone Dodds’ music famous.
He also produced the bass lines for the Musical Youth’s “Pass The Dutchie”, R and B singer Jazmine Sullivan’s “I Need U Bad” and Beres Hammond’s “Pull Up The Vibes”.
Sibbles also worked on Burning Spear’s “Creation Rebel”, the Abyssinians’ “Satta Massagana” and The Heptones’ “Book of Rules”. He has worked with many other artistes.
