Aston Barrett, who as the bass player and musical director for the Wailers — both with Bob Marley and for decades after the singer’s death in 1981 — crafted reggae’s hypnotic rhythms and complex melodies that helped elevate the genre to international acclaim, died on Saturday in Miami.
The cause of death, at a hospital, was heart failure after a series of strokes, according to his son Aston Barrett Jr., a drummer who took over the Wailers from his father in 2016.
Mr. Barrett was already well known around Jamaica as a session musician when, in 1969, Mr. Marley asked him and his brother, Carlton, a drummer, to join the Wailers as the band’s rhythm section.
Persons:
Aston Barrett, Bob Marley, —, Aston Barrett Jr, Barrett, Marley
Organizations:
Wailers
Locations:
Miami, Jamaica