Stephen “Cat” Coore; cellist, guitarist, composer, arranger, revolutionary, co-founder of the seminal Jamaican reggae band Third World.
He passed away January 18, (2026) at the age of 69. He was a true force of nature.
I’m seeing so many INCREDIBLE remembrances of this man. I’d like to share with you some of my experiences with him and the band. The first time I heard Third World I was blown away because, coming from a jazz background, I never knew you could mix more complex harmonies/melodies, in the reggae idiom. (Cat’s mother was a highly respected Trinidadian music teacher and broadcaster who played a pivotal role in her son’s musical foundation. She studied at McGill University and the Royal College of Music, later becoming a renowned music educator in Jamaica who introduced Cat to the cello at a young age.
His father was the former Deputy Prime Minister of Jamaica.)
Those first 3 albums, “Third World,” “96 Degrees in the Shade” and “Journey to Addis” completely flipped my understanding of reggae and deepened my love for the music exponentially. That acoustic guitar solo on 96 Degrees knocked me out – the tone, the spaciousness, the VIBE. And then to discover what that song was about: The Morant Bay Rebellion which was a massive turning point in Jamaica’s path towards shaking off the British colonial yoke. To this day, I play that song in my Music and Life of Bob Marley class when this part of Jamaican history is the lecture topic. And lyrically, like the Marley song One Love, the chorus is so catchy – “96 degrees in the shade”, you’d think it could be about some idyllic beach spot with an umbrella drink in your hand but then you get hit hard with something much deeper.
The summer of 2018 I was camping on the outer Cape Cod, Ma (USA). It’s a beautiful part of the world and there’s a small indoor/outdoor performance venue called the “Payomet.” It’s not more than 500 capacity and I saw Third World. It’s quite an experience to see such a monumental band in such an intimate space. It’s up close and personal in every way including the audience being about ½ Jamaican as many of the summer time workers out there are from the Island. After the show I wandered out back and was able to catch Cat for more than just a selfie and quick greeting. I asked him about the Smile Jamaica concert (12/5/76), two days after the assassination attempt on Bob Marley. To a crowd of about 80,000 Marley decided to appear even though the gunmen could easily have finished the job as security in those days was not so secure. All of Marley’s band, who had scattered throughout Kingston, hiding for their lives, made it to the stage that night, except for bassie Familyman Barrett. It’s known to many that Cat filled in but I wanted to get his take on it, direct. He said that every musician at that time knew pretty much every Marley tune. Cat knew all the bass lines. He said the vibe on that stage and throughout National Hero’s park was ELECTRIC, and a moment where he had to dig deep and find courage because of the absolute reality that gunmen could have sprayed the stage with bullets. About ½ through the set Familyman did show up and Cat, of course, relinquished the bass chair. Can you imagine having that experience?
Here some footage from the show at the Payomet, including Cat talking a bit of South African history and, with Trump (1) in office telling us that we’re gonna need some FREEDOM FIGHTERS SOON! Also, in the middle of their rocking reggae set the broke ranks with the riddim, Cat pulled out his cello and they play a popular Aria, that’s right, from an OPERA. (I can’t find which one…please someone tell me what this piece is!). Ordinarily if a groove band like this pulls out such a tune, it’s only for a brief moment, perhaps as an introduction, then they launch back into the riddim, but no, they play the WHOLE THING. It slayed me and the crowd! After the show I HAD to talk to the lead singer to find out what that was all about. Turns out AJ Brown (the singer) is fully classically trained and he told me that was his original goal as a musician, to be a pure opera singer. (RIP the band’s long time singer, Bunny Ruggs who passed away in in 2014.
Fast forward to the summer of 2022 and while I was on tour with Groundation, playing big festivals, we were criss crossing stages with Third World. I can’t remember where this festival was but they had two stages side by side and while one band was playing the other was setting up. Third World was performing while we’re like 20 feet away setting up on the other stage. After they played “96 Degrees in the Shade” they launched into “Now That We’ve Found Love” and our bassie, Isiah Palmer starts dancing his butt off with the biggest most infectious smile that no one can resist and everyone, including the stage crew, stops everything and starts dancing. The guys in Third World, mid performance begin to look to their right and see the side stage dance party going on and are hilariously caught between checking us out and then looking out to the 20,000 people in the audience (who could not see the side stage happening going on.) I wish I had some footage of that!
A few days after Cat’s passing I was talking to my friend and colleague Selwyn Brown, keyboardist and founding member of Steel Pulse who knew Cat and his family well. Selwyn was reminiscing about the first time he and the very young Steel Pulse band saw Third World. He spoke of how they were simultaneously frustrated that this band (Third World) had enacted a sound (reggae with jazz and R&B influences) that they were working on but at the same time tremendously inspired by the sound of Third World. No doubt the sound of Steel Pulse was heavily influence by Third World!
That’s my bit of history with Cat Coore. He was a continuously warm and enthusiastic human being who seemed to be in love with what he was doing. A deep Positive Vibration. May you Rest in Power, Rest in Music, Rest in Love Cat Coore!
