ASTON "FAMILY MAN" BARRETT, 1946-2024

Aston "Family Man" Barrett, whose deep, steady bass grooves helped launch Bob Marley and the Wailers to the forefront of the reggae revolution, died 2/3 at the age of 77.

"This morning, the world lost not just an iconic musician and the backbone of the Wailers but a remarkable human being whose legacy is as immense as his talent," his son Aston Barrett Jr. wrote on Instagram. No cause of death was announced.

The younger Barrett eloquently saluted his Kingston-born father's immense musical achievements, which included playing on every Wailers album from 1970 until Marley's death in 1981—a feat he shared with younger brother and Wailers drummer Carlton. Beyond serving as the Wailers' de-facto bandleader, Aston Barrett made his mark in the control room, engineering the iconic 1973 Wailers LP Catch a Fire and enjoying a mixing credit on 1977's Exodus.

Name a Wailers classic and you're hearing Barrett's signature bottom end propel it forward, from "No Woman, No Cry" and "Get Up, Stand Up" to "Could You Be Loved" and "I Shot the Sheriff." He went on to play the band's beloved catalog live in various incarnations for decades, inspiring a younger generation of Jamaican musicians like Robbie Shakespeare, who later formed the hitmaking duo Sly & Robbie.

"Aston's feel and style has inspired me and so many others," wrote Ziggy Marley. "We will continue to study his genius for generations and miss his physical presence. Still, his spiritual energy and teachings endure."

Barrett also played in such foundational reggae bands as King Tubby's and The Upsetters with Lee "Scratch" Perry and on recordings by Peter Tosh, Burning Spear, Horace Andy, Augustus Pablo and I-Roy.

About the nickname "Family Man," it was bestowed (prophetically) on Barrett long before he fathered 41 children.

Jah bless for keeping it forever irie, Family Man. Toke 'em if you got 'em.