Pop Reggae

Pop reggae is the crossover form of reggae adapted for mainstream pop audiences, retaining the offbeat skank, one-drop patterns and prominent bass of Jamaican reggae while simplifying song structures and emphasizing melodic hooks and polished presentation. It developed from the late 1960s, when *Johnny Nash* reached international charts with reggae material, and reached its commercial height in the 1980s and 1990s through *UB40*, *Eddy Grant* and *Third World*, whose covers and original songs carried reggae's pulse into pop formats. Later acts from *Shaggy* to *Magic!* renewed the formula, and the style persists wherever reggae's signature is fused with radio-oriented songwriting.