The Skatalites (JM)
From Kingston
Popularity
The Skatalites has no upcoming shows in the Netherlands right now. Leave your email address and we’ll tell you the moment a date is announced.
Is The Skatalites coming to the Netherlands?
Last show in the Netherlands: July 26, 2026 at 013, Tilburg.
About
Also known as: Lester Sterling & The Skatalites, Skatalites, The Ska-Talites, The Skatalists, The Skatalites And Friends, The Skatalities, The Skatilites
Few bands can claim they helped invent a genre, but the Skatalites genuinely did. These Kingston session players were the engine room of early Jamaican music, recording the foundational ska tracks between 1963 and 1965 that shaped everything that followed. Their own instrumental take on the Guns of Navarone film theme cracked the UK Top 40, making them one of the first Jamaican acts to reach European charts. Along the way they backed Bob Marley and The Wailers on "Simmer Down", played on Prince Buster records, and worked with a young Desmond Dekker and Lee Perry. The band fell apart in 1965 after trombonist Don Drummond, one of the most prolific composers in the group with over 200 tunes to his name, was arrested following the death of his girlfriend and later died in psychiatric care. The surviving members regrouped in 1983 and kept going, carrying the ska flame across decades and continents. Their 2016 release Platinum Ska shows the band still firmly committed to the sound they helped create.
