Aston “Family Man” Barrett, bassist for Bob Marley and the Wailers, has died aged 77.

The news was confirmed on Saturday by Olivia Grange, Jamaica’s minister for culture, who wrote on X (formerly Twitter): “I share with you my deep regret at the passing of Aston Francis Barrett, popularly known as ‘Family Man’ or ‘Fams’ … He died at the University of Miami Hospital in Florida in the United States early this morning.”

Barrett was born in 1946 and grew up in Kingston, where he would help to lay the foundations for reggae and dub. As a child, he sang along to soul music on the radio before switching over to the bass.

He built his first bass guitar from scratch using plywood, a curtain rod and an old ashtray. 

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