Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broad sense to refer to most types of popular Jamaican dance music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that evolved out of the earlier genres like Ska and Rocksteady. The shift from Rocksteady to reggae was illustrated by the organ shuffle pioneered by Jamaican musicians like Jackie Mittoo and Winston Wright.
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Songs that compete for being among the first reggae songs include
The beat was distinctive from rocksteady in that it dropped any of the pretensions to the smooth, soulful sound that characterized slick American R&B, and instead was closer in kinship to US southern funk, being heavily dependent on the rhythm section to drive it along.
Other significant reggae pioneers include Prince Buster, Desmond Dekker and Ken Boothe and Millie Small, Small was a Jamaican singer-songwriter, best known for her 1964 blue-beat/ska cover version of "My Boy Lollipop" which was a smash hit internationally.
Notable Jamaican producers influential in the development of ska into rocksteady and reggae include: Coxsone Dodd, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Leslie Kong, Duke Reid, Joe Gibbs, King Tubby and Chris Blackwell.
- Monty Morris - "Say What You're Saying" (1967). Produced by Clancy Eccles
- People Funny Boy (1968) by Lee "Scratch" Perry
- The Pioneers' 1968 track Long Shot (Bus' Me Bet)
- Larry And Alvin’s ‘Nanny Goat’ (1968)
- Beltones’ ‘No More Heartaches’ (1968)
The beat was distinctive from rocksteady in that it dropped any of the pretensions to the smooth, soulful sound that characterized slick American R&B, and instead was closer in kinship to US southern funk, being heavily dependent on the rhythm section to drive it along.
Other significant reggae pioneers include Prince Buster, Desmond Dekker and Ken Boothe and Millie Small, Small was a Jamaican singer-songwriter, best known for her 1964 blue-beat/ska cover version of "My Boy Lollipop" which was a smash hit internationally.
Notable Jamaican producers influential in the development of ska into rocksteady and reggae include: Coxsone Dodd, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Leslie Kong, Duke Reid, Joe Gibbs, King Tubby and Chris Blackwell.