World of Jamaican Music

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

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Lloyd Knibb

Artist. Ska, rocksteady

Active
1960-2011
Sunrise
March 8, 1931, Kingston, Jamaica
Sunset
May 12, 2011, Harbour View, St. Andrew, Jamaica (liver cancer)

Lloyd Knibb OD was the drummer of the Skatalites and the musician most often credited with fixing the ska beat. He played jazz, mento, burru and nyabinghi before ska, and was the session drummer of first call for most of the major Jamaican producers of the early 1960s.

He was born in Portland and grew up in west Kingston, near where a big band, the Jump Sultans Orchestra, rehearsed, and built his first kit from a wooden box, paint cans and plywood, with cymbals and a bass drum pedal made from scrap metal and tin. He did not attend Alpha; he taught himself at home. Like most Jamaican drummers of the 1940s he learned in the jazz bands, including a six-year run with the Val Bennett band, his first professional engagement.

By 1952 he was living in east Kingston and taking part in Count Ossie's grounation sessions in the Wareika Hills, playing repeater and absorbing burru and nyabinghi patterns, and he accompanied the Rastafarian leader Sam Brown at meetings on Spanish Town Road. Around 1953 he joined Eric Deans's Orchestra, whose book ran from Glenn Miller to rumba, cha-cha and bolero, and where he played alongside Tommy McCook, Baba Brooks and Lloyd Brevett. He said the beat itself came to him on the north coast, during a residency with Cecil Lloyd, after hearing a rough version of something new; he took it back to Kingston and cut it in the studio with Coxsone Dodd. What he assembled from those sources distributed the offbeat handclap and tambourine accents across the trap kit and moved the weight off the shuffle's one and three onto two and four.

He recorded for Dodd, Prince Buster, Sonia Pottinger, Duke Reid, Lloyd "Matador" Daley, Leslie Kong and Harry Mudie. The Skatalites formed, played their first engagement at the Hi Hat Club in Rae Town, and broke up in August 1965; they recorded for Treasure Isle, Studio One and the Yap brothers' Top Deck. Knibb plays on "Guns of Navarone," "Freedom Sounds," "Addis Ababa," "Ska La Parisian" and "Latin Goes Ska," on the Wailers' "Simmer Down," the Maytals' "Shining Light" and Jackie Opel's "The Vow." The Star ranked him the island's leading ska drummer in September 1964, when he was thirty-three. P. J. Patterson, who managed the band, credited him with persuading Tommy McCook to take the musical leadership and with refereeing the solo exchanges between McCook and Roland Alphonso so that Lester Sterling and Johnny Moore got their turns.

After the split he continued session work, including with Tommy McCook and the Supersonics for Duke Reid. In the reggae years he seldom recorded, working instead on cruise ships in the Bahamas and in bands on the north coast. Sly Dunbar has named hearing Knibb with the Skatalites as the reason he took up drums, and Leroy "Horsemouth" Wallace and the reggae drummers who followed worked from the same foundation. The Skatalites reformed for Reggae Sunsplash in Montego Bay in July 1983, became a full-time touring band and relocated to the United States in 1985; "Hip Bop Ska" and Greetings From Skamania were nominated for Grammys, and the first world tour, in 1994, took in Russia, China, Japan, the Philippines, Iceland, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and western Europe. Knibb held the drum chair through every lineup change.

He spent his later years in Hull, Massachusetts. His son Dion leads the Boston ska band Dion Knibb and the Agitators. He played his last show in Peru on April 23, 2011, at eighty, fell ill with liver cancer and was treated in the United States, and returned to Jamaica in May; he departed at Harbour View on May 12. He held the Order of Distinction (Officer), the Prime Minister's Award and a Silver Musgrave Medal.

Last updated November 5, 2026

Connections

Notes

  1. The Rough Guide says his "innovative use of bass-drum 'kick' and snare rimshots had added significantly to the development of ska." Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 37. Bradley credits a new rhythm section including Knibbs, McCook, Brevett, and Mittoo with doing "much to determine the new beat." Lloyd Bradley, This Is Reggae Music: The Story of Jamaica's Music (New York: Grove Press, 2001), 94. Herbie Miller writes that the synthesis "that introduced ska at the Studio One camp" is "credited to Knibb," and Bunny Goodison said Knibb "claimed credit, paternity for creating the ska beat." Herbie Miller, "The Rhythmic Innovation of Lloyd Knibb," Jamaica Gleaner, May 16, 2011, https://old.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110516/ent/ent1.html; Basil Walters, "Original Skatalites Drummer Lloyd Knibb Is Dead," Jamaica Observer, May 13, 2011, https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/2011/05/13/original-skatalites-drummer-lloyd-knibb-is-dead/.
  2. Miller says he played on more than two thousand recordings and "recorded for the best producers, including Dodd, Duke Reid, Prince Buster, Lloyd Matador, Leslie Kong and Moodies." Miller, "Rhythmic Innovation."
  3. Miller says a twelve-piece band rehearsed near his Bond Street home, that its drummer, Donald Jarrett, mentored him, and that he practiced "on a wooden box which served as bass drum, and paint cans, as tom-toms." Miller, "Rhythmic Innovation." Katz says he was born in Portland and raised on West Street, near the Coronation Market, where the Jump Sultans Orchestra rehearsed and its drummer, Donald Jarrett, explained the styles to him: David Katz, "Lloyd Knibb Obituary," Guardian, May 17, 2011, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/may/17/lloyd-knibb-obituary.
  4. Miller says Val Bennett "asked Knibb to fill the vacant chair in his band, an engagement which lasted six years." Miller, "Rhythmic Innovation." Wikipedia calls it his first professional engagement. "Lloyd Knibb," Wikipedia, accessed October 2, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lloyd_Knibb.
  5. Miller: "By 1952, Knibb, now a resident of east Kingston, became part of Rastafarian drummer Count Ossie's granulation sessions in the Wareika Hills," and perfected the patterns "through performances with Rastafarian leader Sam Brown at his Spanish Town Road meetings." Miller, "Rhythmic Innovation."
  6. Miller dates his joining the Eric Dean Orchestra to 1953 or 1954 and names McCook, Brooks, and Brevett. Miller, "Rhythmic Innovation." Carlos Malcolm recalled the orchestra's Friday sessions at the Bournemouth Club. "Lloyd Knibb a Flawlessly Brilliant Drummer," Jamaica Observer, May 19, 2011, https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/2011/05/19/lloyd-knibb-a-flawlessly-brilliant-drummer/. The repertoire is from Wikipedia. "Lloyd Knibb."
  7. Miller mentions the "extended residency with Cecil Lloyd on the north coast" and places the introduction of ska "at the Studio One camp of Clement 'Coxsone' Dodd." Miller, "Rhythmic Innovation." Knibb told the Star in September 1964, as Augustyn reprints it: "I was playing at a north coast hotel when I first heard what sounded like a poor example of a new beat. With this I originated the current beat that we are now hearing"; to Augustyn in 1996 he said, "In the studio, me and Coxsone Downbeat try out a beat": Heather Augustyn, "Lloyd Knibb," SkaBook (blog), June 5, 2015, https://skabook.com/2015/06/05/lloyd-knibb/. In a 1998 interview he told it differently, saying Coxsone Dodd asked him to "find a beat" and that he built it from burru, with "the second and fourth beat" as "the direct beat." Interview with Lloyd Knibb by Carter Van Pelt, March 23, 1998, https://incolor.inebraska.com/cvanpelt/knibb.html.
  8. Miller: "clapping and tambourine punctuations on the offbeat, and the distribution of these diverse patterns across the trap set," with "the accent on the two and four instead of the one and three." Miller, "Rhythmic Innovation."
  9. Miller's list includes Leslie Kong and "Moodies" (Harry Mudie); Wikipedia adds Sonia Pottinger. Miller, "Rhythmic Innovation." "Lloyd Knibb."
  10. The Rough Guide says the band was "officially formed in June 1964, at a meeting in the Odeon Theatre," where Knibb suggested the name "Satellites," and held its farewell show shortly after Independence Day 1965; Bradley places the band's formation in 1963. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 42; Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 94, 100. Miller says it "disbanded after only 18 months." Miller, "Rhythmic Innovation." Wikipedia dates the Hi-Hat Club show, on Water Lane in Rae Town, to May 1964. "The Skatalites," Wikipedia, accessed October 2, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Skatalites. Bradley names "the Yap brothers' Top Deck label," and Tommy McCook said "Top Deck got the best from the Skatalites." Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 102; Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 25.
  11. Miller names "Addis Ababa," "Ska La Parisian," "Latin Goes Ska," "Simmer Down," "Shining Light," and "The Vow." Miller, "Rhythmic Innovation."
  12. The Rough Guide says Knibb "was particularly keen to be in a band led by McCook - in fact it was he who suggested that the saxophonist organize the top players into a group." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 37. McCook recalled picking "myself, Jackie Mittoo, Lloyd Brevett and Lloyd Knibbs" from the Cavaliers. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 25. The Star ranking of September 1964 is reprinted in Augustyn, "Lloyd Knibb." Katz says Dodd and Knibb together "convinced the saxophonist Tommy McCook to lead it": Katz, "Lloyd Knibb Obituary." No source was read for P. J. Patterson's remarks.
  13. Katz says the split "led Knibb to join McCook in the Supersonics": Katz, "Lloyd Knibb Obituary."
  14. Katz: "During the reggae era, Knibb seldom recorded, relying instead on cruise ship work in the Bahamas, and long periods on the north coast with Lloyd and Lennie Hibbert." Katz, "Lloyd Knibb Obituary."
  15. Goodison said "Sly (Dunbar) and others learned at his feet." Walters, "Lloyd Knibb Is Dead." Horsemouth Wallace said of Knibb, "that's who I learned the Jamaican ska from." Angus Taylor, "Interview: Horsemouth Wallace," United Reggae, October 14, 2014, https://unitedreggae.com/articles/n1627/101414/interview-horsemouth-wallace.
  16. Wikipedia says the band reformed in June 1983 for Sunsplash in July and that its core members emigrated to the northeastern United States between 1985 and 1988. "The Skatalites," Wikipedia, accessed October 2, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Skatalites. Hi-Bop Ska! The 30th Anniversary Recording and Greetings from Skamania were nominated for best reggae album in 1996 and 1997. "Skatalites," Grammy Awards, accessed October 2, 2026, https://www.grammy.com/artists/skatalites/8058/. Miller lists Russia, China, the Philippines, Iceland, Greenland, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Japan, and western Europe among their tour stops. Miller, "Rhythmic Innovation."
  17. Wikipedia. "Lloyd Knibb."
  18. Wikipedia. "Lloyd Knibb."
  19. Miller says he fell ill on tour in Brazil, returned to Boston, was "told he had only about four days to live," came home, and died "at his home in Harbour View, St Andrew." Miller, "Rhythmic Innovation." Walters gives liver cancer and "three days." Walters, "Lloyd Knibb Is Dead." Katz confirms his "final live performance in Peru in April 2011": Katz, "Lloyd Knibb Obituary."
  20. Miller lists the Prime Minister's Award, the Order of Distinction, and the Silver Musgrave Medal, presented on October 13, 2010. Miller, "Rhythmic Innovation." Wikipedia gives the Officer class. "Lloyd Knibb."

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