Rocksteady

Rocksteady is the Jamaican popular style that succeeded ska and preceded reggae, dominating the island's dancehalls from about 1966 to 1968. Slowing ska's tempo, it foregrounded melodic electric bass lines, sparse rhythm guitar and piano, and close-harmony vocal groups singing soul-influenced songs of love and rude-boy life. Singers such as *Alton Ellis*, *Ken Boothe* and *Phyllis Dillon* and groups including *The Paragons*, *The Heptones* and *The Techniques* recorded for producers like *Duke Reid* and *Coxsone Dodd*, creating a compact, song-centered repertoire that reggae would soon absorb and transform.