Lynn Taitt (June 22, 1934 – January 20, 2010) was a reggae guitarist
born in San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago, closely associated with
Jamaican rocksteady music.
Lynn Taitt, the rocksteady guitarist who played with nearly every
reggae legend and the man widely credited with creating the very
first rocksteady bassline, has died in Canada at the age of 70. A
Trinidadian by birth, Taitt had no problem making Jamaica his home,
where his musical career eventually came into full bloom. In addition
to playing with major ska and early reggae groups like the Skatalites
and the Sheikhs, he founded his own group, Lynn Taitt and the Comets,
in the mid 1960s.
Though many will certainly remember him for his uniquely virtuosic
guitar style and his groundbreaking contribution to rocksteady, Taitt
will perhaps best be known for the work he did to help globalize reggae,
and spread it beyond Jamaica's borders.