While he gained fame as lead singer and chief songwriter for The Heptones, Leroy Sibbles always felt his prowess as a bass guitarist was overlooked. On Saturday, he finally gets overdue recognition at ‘Leroy Sibbles: The Crowning — Celebrating The King of the Reggae Bassline’, at Ranny Williams Entertainment Centre.

The show celebrates Sibbles’ 60th anniversary as an artiste, with him being crowned one of reggae’s most influential “bassie” is extra special.

“There’s a lotta bass man out there who play ska, rocksteady and reggae. Mi gi dem props, but mi have di most popular bass lines,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

Leroy Sibbles sang lead on The Heptones’ biggest hit songs, including Equal Rights, Sweet Talking, Baby, I’ve Got The Handle, Fatty Fatty, and I Shall Be Released. He also played bass on Baby Why by The Cables, Satta Masa Gana, and Declaration of Rights by The Abyssinians, the instrumental Full Up, Queen of The Minstrel by The Eternals, Skylarking (Horace Andy), and Door Peep (Burning Spear).

His bass work was not limited to reggae, he played on Wondering Where The Lion’s Are — a 1979 top 10 hit song for rock singer Bruce Cockburn of Canada, where the artiste lived for many years.

Of all those lines, Full Up remains his favourite.

Recorded at Studio One, it has driven hit singles like Pass The Kutchie by The Mighty Diamonds and Pass The Dutchie by Musical Youth — the latter topped the British national chart in 1982 and peaked at #10 in the United States.

Raised in Trench Town, he joined Earl Morgan and Barry Llewellyn in The Heptones in 1964. Their decade-long run of hit songs at Studio One, and briefly for Harry “Harry J” Johnson, made them, arguably, reggae’s most successful group.

Encouraged to play bass by Studio One keyboard maestro Jackie Mittoo, Leroy Sibbles made his debut on the instrument in 1968 on Baby Why.

Helping the lanky musician celebrate his diamond anniversary will be Etana, Duane Stephenson, and Singing Melody.

After 60 years, he describes himself as “alive and happening” and still happy making music.

“Music is all I do; it’s pleasurable and soothes di soul. It’s a joy dat bring people joy,” said the veteran.