In a 2012 interview with the Jamaica Observer, guitarist Stephen “Cat” Coore recalled visiting the London office of Island Records and hearing Handsworth Revolution, a song by an emerging British band named Steel Pulse.

“When I heard the intro, the arrangement, it blew my mind. I knew they were special,” Coore said.

David Hinds, lead singer and rhythm guitarist of Steel Pulse, told Observer Online that he and his colleagues also admired Third World, the band Coore co-founded in 1973. He described Coore, who died at age 69 on January 18, as a “walking music machine”.

“As a guitarist, especially in the reggae genre, he was all about precision along with experimentation. Come to think of it and strangely so, but I’ve never heard him ever play a bum note on the shows we’ve done together,” said Hinds. “Fingers quick and nimble as in the solo for 96 Degrees in The Shade, and the rock/blues solo that he did in Cold Sweat. Those two songs alone sums up the unique style Cat Coore had.”

Handsworth Revolution, which was also the title of Steel Pulse’s 1978 debut album, was released two years after Third World’s first album which also came out on Island Records.

Coore’s rock-influenced riffs on songs like Try Jah Love and Always Around helped expand Third World’s appeal beyond reggae. His eclectic playing earned him the number 91 slot on Rolling Stone Magazine’s 250 Greatest Guitarists Of All Time, published in October 2023.

“The man was a walking music machine, if you start to count his vocals, his harmonica playing, bass and cello; a human kaleidoscope in that sense,” said Hinds.

Born in Kingston, Coore was the youngest of three sons born to David Coore, a high-profile lawyer who served as deputy prime minister of Jamaica, and the country’s finance minister, during the 1970s. His Trinidadian mother, Rita, was a respected music teacher who taught him cello.

Coore and keyboardist Ibo Cooper started Third World after leaving the Inner Circle band. Cooper died in 2023.