Jamaica Observer’s Entertainment Desk continues its look at the major stories which helped to shape 2021.

Alvin “Seeco” Patterson, a percussionist and key member of Bob Marley’s inner circle, died on November 1 at the University Hospital of the West Indies. He was 90 years old.

Patterson was born in Havana, Cuba, but moved to Jamaica with his family and settled in Trench Town during the 1950s. It was there that he befriended Marley, who was 15 years younger.

According to Marley lore, it was Patterson who set up the audition for The Wailers’ first recording session at Studio One in the early 1960s. Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Livingston (later Wailer) were the group’s core.

Patterson played on Catch A Fire, the 1973 album that launched The Wailers internationally.

Some of his most creative work as a percussionist are on songs like Crazy Baldhead and Jamming from Marley’s Rastaman Vibration and Exodus albums, respectively.

Tomaz Jardim, an associate professor in the department of history at Ryerson University in Toronto, is also a guitarist who played alongside Patterson on What if I Told You, the 1998 album by Canadian singer Andru Branch.

He described Patterson’s role in Marley’s life as pivotal.

“He was like a big brother, a father figure. They had an association that lasted until Bob’s death [in 1981],” said Jardim.