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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Third World

Band. Reggae

Active
1973-present

Third World were formed in 1973 by the keyboard player Michael "Ibo" Cooper and the guitarist and cellist Stephen "Cat" Coore, both classically trained, who had played together in the Alley Cats and then in Inner Circle and left it with the singer Milton "Prilly" Hamilton. They recruited the bassist Richard Daley, out of Ken Boothe's band and Tomorrow's Children, the drummer Cornel Marshall, also from Tomorrow's Children, and the percussionist Irvin "Carrot" Jarrett, and played their first shows in 1974.

Their approach was unusual for Kingston: a self-contained band rather than a studio rhythm section, playing their own arrangements, with soul, funk, rock and jazz worked into reggae rather than kept out of it. Their first album, Third World (Island, 1976), included a version of the Abyssinians' "Satta Massagana."

96 Degrees in the Shade (1977) is the record that made them, and the title song is properly "1865 (96 Degrees in the Shade)," about the Morant Bay rebellion and the hanging of Paul Bogle. Bunny Rugs, born William Clarke, who had fronted Inner Circle when Coore, Cooper and Jarrett were in it, had replaced Hamilton in 1976 after a backstage reunion in New York, and his rougher voice against the band's polish is what the album turns on; Willie Stewart, another Inner Circle musician, had taken the drum chair. Sylvan Morris engineered it at Harry J's.

Journey to Addis (1978) carried their biggest seller, a version of the O'Jays' "Now That We Found Love," and "Try Jah Love" (1982) was written and produced for them by Stevie Wonder, after they backed him on "Master Blaster" at Reggae Sunsplash in 1981. They toured relentlessly, were nominated for Grammys repeatedly without winning, and were known for years as the reggae ambassadors.

Cooper left in 1997 and departed in October 2023; he had spent his later years teaching at the Edna Manley College. Bunny Rugs departed in Florida in February 2014. Coore, who stayed with the band from its founding, departed on January 18, 2026, aged sixty-nine. Richard Daley has been in the band since 1973, and it is still working.

Last updated November 2, 2026

Connections

Notes

  1. The Observer says the band "was originally formed in 1973 by Cooper, a keyboardist, and guitarist/cellist Steven 'Cat' Coore," who had played in Inner Circle. "Ibo Cooper dead at 71," Jamaica Observer, October 12, 2023, https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/2023/10/12/ibo-cooper-dead-at-71/. The Alley Cats and Hamilton are from Wikipedia. "Third World (band)," Wikipedia, accessed October 5, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_World_(band).
  2. Wikipedia names Carl Barovier as the first drummer, replaced by Cornell Marshall, and dates the live debut to "early 1974." "Third World (band)." The Rough Guide's list of the "initial" lineup has Willie Stewart on drums, but the 1976 debut album credits Cornell Marshall. Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 148; "Third World - Third World," Discogs, accessed October 5, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/4353523.
  3. The Rough Guide calls them "the best of the self-contained Jamaican reggae bands after the Wailers," and notes that "reggae snobs" dismissed these "sons of the Jamaican middle class" as "a slick crossover act." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 148. Bradley counts their first three albums among the records that moved reggae into new areas "without compromising what it fundamentally was." Lloyd Bradley, This Is Reggae Music: The Story of Jamaica's Music (New York: Grove Press, 2001), 492.
  4. The 1976 Island album opens with "Sette Massgana (Give Thanks)." "Third World."
  5. Wikipedia calls the title song "a reference to the 1865 Morant Bay rebellion." "Third World (band)." The Rough Guide calls 96 Degrees in the Shade "a set they have yet to eclipse." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 150.
  6. The 1977 album credits Bunny Rugs on vocals and Willie Stewart on drums. "Third World - 96° In The Shade," Discogs, accessed October 5, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/663174. Wikipedia says both were former Inner Circle members who replaced Hamilton and Marshall before the album was recorded. "Third World (band)." Katz says Clarke had fronted Inner Circle, when Coore, Cooper and Jarrett were in it, for about two years before leaving for New York; that a backstage reunion there in 1976 led the band to draft him in place of Hamilton; and that his stage name came from his habit of sleeping "on rugs on the floor, without a mattress beneath him." David Katz, "RIP Bunny Rugs, Vocalist of Third World," Red Bull Music Academy Daily, February 10, 2014, https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2014/02/bunny-rugs-rip.
  7. Campbell credits Morris with 96 Degrees in the Shade among the albums of his Harry J years. Howard Campbell, "Engineer Sylvan Morris has died," Jamaica Observer, June 20, 2023, https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/2023/06/20/engineer-sylvan-morris-has-died/.
  8. Wikipedia says the single reached the UK top ten in 1978 and that Journey to Addis made the UK top thirty. "Third World (band)."
  9. Wikipedia credits the song to Wonder and Melody A. McCully. "Third World (band)." Katz says they backed Wonder on "Master Blaster" at Reggae Sunsplash in 1981, which "led to Wonder writing and producing" the song, the hit of their first CBS album, "You've Got the Power." Katz, "RIP Bunny Rugs."
  10. The Recording Academy lists nine nominations and no wins. "Third World," artist page, Grammy.com, accessed October 5, 2026, https://www.grammy.com/artists/third-world/8530/.
  11. The Observer says "Cooper left the band in 1997" and later headed the Caribbean, Latin American and jazz department at the Edna Manley College; it reported his death at 71. "Ibo Cooper dead at 71."
  12. Richard Johnson, "Glowing tributes for Third World's Bunny Rugs," Jamaica Observer, February 24, 2014, https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/2014/02/24/glowing-tributes-for-third-worlds-bunny-rugs/.
  13. Shereita Grizzle, "The 'Reggae Ambassador' Bows Out," Jamaica Observer, January 20, 2026, https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/2026/01/20/reggae-ambassador-bows/, which says he "died on Sunday, January 18, 2026." Yasmine Peru, "Reggae Legend Cat Coore's Passing 'Hard to Process,'" Jamaica Gleaner, January 20, 2026, https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/entertainment/20260120/reggae-legend-cat-coores-passing-hard-process.

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