Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s.  Reggae is often associated with the Rastafari movement, an influence on many reggae musicians. Reggae lyrics typically deal with subjects like faith, love, relationships, poverty and injustice.

Reggae Origins

Although strongly influenced both by traditional African and Caribbean music and by American rhythm and blues, Reggae owes its direct origins to the progressive development of SKA and Rocksteady in 1960s Jamaica.

SKA music first came into the light in the studios of Jamaica somewhere around 1959 to 1961, being a development of an earlier mento, SKA is characterized by a walking bass line, accentuated guitar or piano rhythms on the offbeat, and sometimes jazz-like horn riffs.  Aside from its massive popularity among Jamaican "rude boy" fashion, it had gained a large following among "mods" in Britain by 1964. According to a man named Barrow, Rude Boys began deliberately playing their SKA records at half speed, preferring to dance to a slower rythum as part of their tough image.

By the mid-60s, many artists had actually began playing the tempo of SKA slower, while emphasizing the walking bass and offbeat. The slower sound had a new name: Rocksteady, taken from a single of the new genre by Alton Ellis. This phase of Jamaican music lasted until about 1968, when the musicians began to slow the tempo of Rocksteady into yet another gear, and add more effects. This was the genesis of the now world-famous sound known as Reggae.

Among these early producers was Chris Blackwell, who founded Island Records in Jamaica in 1959, then relocated to England in 1962, where he continued to promote Jamaican music.

The a 1972 film called The Harder They Come, starred Jimmy Cliff and generated considerable interest and popularity for reggae music in the United States, and Eric Clapton's 1974 cover of the Bob Marley song "I Shot the Sheriff" is thought to signify reggae's acceptance as a global phenomenon by the "white rock world".   In the second half of the 1970s, the UK punk rock scene was starting to take off, and some punk DJs played reggae records during their DJ sets. Some punk bands, such as The Clash, The Slits, and The Ruts, incorporated reggae influences into their music.

At the same time, reggae began to enjoy a revival in the UK that continued into the 1980s, exemplified by groups like Steel Pulse, Aswad, UB40, and Musical Youth.  Other artists who enjoyed international appeal in the early 80s include Third World, Black Uhuru and Sugar Minott.

The Grammy Awards introduced the "Best Reggae Album" category in 1985, which was won that year by Black Uhuru's Anthem LP.  Winners for subsequent years have included albums by Jimmy Cliff, Steel Pulse, Peter Tosh, Ziggy Marley (four times), Bunny Wailer (three times), Shabba Ranks (twice), Inner Circle, Shaggy, Sly and Robbie, Beenie Man, Damian Marley (twice), Lee "Scratch" Perry, Sean Paul, and Toots and the Maytals.