World of Jamaican Music

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An illustrated map of the creators of Jamaican music and how they are connected.

Remembering Derrick Harriott (1939-2026), rocksteady singer and producer. Read his story →

Lester Sterling

Artist. Ska, rocksteady, reggae

Active
1962-2023
Sunrise
January 31, 1936, Kingston, Jamaica
Sunset
May 16, 2023, Florida

Lester "Ska" Sterling, also called Mr. Versatile, was the alto saxophonist of the Skatalites and, on "Bangarang," a participant in one of the sessions named as the beginning of reggae.

He grew up in Allman Town, Kingston, and spent about ten years at Alpha Boys School. All four Sterling brothers went there and all became professional musicians; his younger brother Keith Sterling played keyboards for Peter Tosh and on a great deal else, including Junior Murvin's "Police and Thieves." Sterling began on trumpet, playing in Val Bennett's band from 1957 and joining the Jamaica Military Band in 1960, and worked the studios alongside the men who would form the Skatalites, including in Clue J and His Blues Blasters. His first recordings were made for Coxsone Dodd around 1962.

He was a founding member of the Skatalites and stayed to the end of the band in August 1965, playing alto beside Roland Alphonso and Tommy McCook on tenor. His playing is most exposed on "Latin Goes Ska," "Hot Cargo" and "Indian Summer." The trumpeter Mickey Hanson said, "Lester played some really great solos, once you heard it you knew it was him." Carter Van Pelt also credits him with the flute on Bob Andy's "Too Experienced." After the break-up he freelanced and played trumpet with Byron Lee and the Dragonaires in 1967 and 1968. "Pupa Lick," his own composition recorded with the Soul Vendors for Dodd, was a Jamaican number one in 1967; he also cut "Inez" for Duke Reid and "Soul Voyage" for Bunny Lee.

Late in 1968, at Duke Reid's studio, he recorded "Bangarang" with Stranger Cole for Bunny Lee, with Glen Adams on organ and Lloyd Charmers among the backing singers. The melody is adapted from Kenny Graham and his Afro-Cubists' "Bongo Chant." It went to number one in Jamaica, is one of the records named as the first reggae record, and made Lee's name as a producer. The album Bangarang followed on Pama in 1969, and he recorded further singles in London for Clancy Collins.

He rejoined the Skatalites when they reformed and toured with them for three decades, retiring in 2014. He was awarded the Order of Distinction in 1998. At his sunset he was the last surviving instrumentalist from the founding line-up; the singer Doreen Shaffer survives him.

Last updated November 5, 2026

Connections

Notes

  1. The Rough Guide calls the question of the first reggae record "debatable" and says Larry & Alvin's "Nanny Goat" and the Beltones' "No More Heartaches" "are the records most frequently cited"; Bradley names the same two. Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 87; Lloyd Bradley, This Is Reggae Music: The Story of Jamaica's Music (New York: Grove Press, 2001), 200. Max Romeo, quoted by Van Pelt, called "Bangarang" "the launching of the whole change of beat from rocksteady," and Bunny Lee called it "the first Reggae tune that was done in Jamaica." Carter Van Pelt, "Remembering Lester 'Ska' Sterling," VP Records, accessed October 2, 2026, https://vprecords.com/remembering-lester-ska-sterling/; Liner notes to Lester Sterling, Sterling Silver (Echo, 2002), reproduced as "Annotation from Sterling Silver by Lester Sterling," Tallawah, accessed October 2, 2026, http://tallawah.com/liner-notes/linernotes3/.
  2. The liner notes say he was raised in Allman Town and "was a student for 10 years" at Alpha. Liner notes to Sterling Silver. The Rough Guide names him among the Alpha old boys who became Skatalites. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 8.
  3. The liner notes say all four Sterling brothers went to Alpha and became professional musicians, and that Keith "has played with Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer." Liner notes to Sterling Silver. The Rough Guide lists Keith Sterling among Bunny Lee's session keyboard players. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 153.
  4. The liner notes give 1956 for Val Bennett's band and 1960 for the Jamaica Military Band; Wikipedia, citing Billboard, gives 1957 and Clue J and His Blues Blasters. Liner notes to Sterling Silver. "Lester Sterling," Wikipedia, accessed October 2, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lester_Sterling.
  5. Van Pelt says he "first appeared on recordings as early as 1962 for Coxson Dodd (with Herman Sang's City Slickers)." Van Pelt, "Remembering Lester 'Ska' Sterling." The liner notes, however, date his "Whalebone," cut at Federal while he was in the Military Band, to 1961, and the Rough Guide has him on Rico Rodriguez's "Cuban Blockade," made just before Rico left for Britain. Liner notes to Sterling Silver. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 46.
  6. The Rough Guide says the band "were officially formed in June 1964" and played their farewell show shortly after the Independence Day celebrations of August 1965, naming McCook, Alphonso, and Sterling as its saxophonists. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 42. Bradley places the band's formation in 1963, and the liner notes in May 1964. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 94, 100; Liner notes to Sterling Silver.
  7. Van Pelt names these three as the Skatalites instrumentals on which "he came to the fore as alto saxophonist." Van Pelt, "Remembering Lester 'Ska' Sterling."
  8. "Farewell, Lester," Jamaica Observer, July 18, 2023, https://jamaicaobserver.com/2023/07/18/farewell-lester.
  9. Carter Van Pelt, "Remembering Lester 'Ska' Sterling," VP Records, accessed November 5, 2026, https://vprecords.com/remembering-lester-ska-sterling/.
  10. The liner notes say he returned to the trumpet "by 1967" as one of the Dragonaires' three trumpeters, and resigned from the band in the spring of 1972. Liner notes to Sterling Silver.
  11. The liner notes call "Pupa Lick" his "first #1 hit in Jamaica," in 1967, and quote him on the title: "Pupa Lick is what we used to call it when divers spin." Liner notes to Sterling Silver. Van Pelt lists "Inez" for Duke Reid, "Pupa Lick" for Dodd, and "Soul Voyage" for Bunny Lee. Van Pelt, "Remembering Lester 'Ska' Sterling."
  12. The liner notes date "Bangarang" to late 1968 and credit the backing vocals to Stranger Cole, Lloyd Charmers, and Max Romeo; Sterling recalled telling the organist, Glen Adams, to "mek the organ go Reggae." In the same notes Bunny Lee says it "was done in 1968 in Duke Reid's studio." Liner notes to Sterling Silver. Katz also names Adams on organ. David Katz, "Glen Adams Obituary," Guardian, January 6, 2011, https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/jan/06/glen-adams-obituary.
  13. The Rough Guide: "an adaptation of a UK jazz tune named 'Bongo Chant' by Kenny Graham's Afro-Cubists." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 103.
  14. The Rough Guide calls it Bunny Lee's "first big reggae hit." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 103. The liner notes call it "Another Jamaican #1." Liner notes to Sterling Silver.
  15. Bradley credits Pama with "Lester Sterling's 'Bangarang'." Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 244. The Rough Guide notes his "Forest Gate Rock," "named after the district of London where he stayed on his first visit to the UK." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 80. The Pama album and the Clancy Collins singles are from Wikipedia. "Lester Sterling."
  16. Van Pelt says he took part in the Skatalites' revival "from the 1980s to his retirement in 2014." Van Pelt, "Remembering Lester 'Ska' Sterling." Wikipedia dates the reformation to 1975 and the Gleaner to 1983. "Lester Sterling." Yasmine Peru, "Lester Sterling of Skatalites Fame Has Died," Jamaica Gleaner, May 17, 2023, https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/entertainment/20230516/lester-sterling-skatalites-fame-has-died.
  17. Wikipedia gives 1998; the Gleaner says 1988. "Lester Sterling." Peru, "Lester Sterling of Skatalites Fame Has Died."
  18. The Gleaner reported his death in the United States on May 16, 2023, at 87, and called him "the last remaining member of the original Skatalites hornsmen." Peru, "Lester Sterling of Skatalites Fame Has Died." Wikipedia notes that Doreen Shaffer survives. "Lester Sterling."

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