Third World brings a taste of Jamaica to Rohnert Park fest

Stephen “Cat” Coore, co-founder and lead guitarist of the band Third World, is a classically trained cellist whose father was Jamaica’s deputy prime minister - not the typical background of a reggae star.

But Coore, whose band co-stars July 29 at the Reggae Sunfest with Maxi Priest in Rohnert Park, said classical training has served him well.

“It was very important because I really learned a lot of things musically very young which served me very well through the years,” Coore said in a phone interview.

Coore still plays the cello at the band’s concerts: for example, seguing from original compositions into Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song.”

Known for reggae classics such as “96 Degrees in the Shade,” about an 1865 civil rights uprising in Jamaica, Third World has been together for more than 40 years.

The band is about to release its latest single, “Eyes Are Up On You,” produced by Damian Marley.

For most of its career, Third World was fronted by Coore and William “Bunny Rugs” Clarke. But Clarke battled cancer in 2013, causing him to miss some of the band’s 40th anniversary tour, and he died in 2014.

Clarke’s uplifting vocals on songs such as “96 Degrees” were inimitable, but Coore and other band members have capably taken a larger vocal role.

It was hard for Coore to go on after Clarke died, but he said he believed Bunny, as he was known to fans and friends, would not have wanted the band to quit.

“That gave us the strength to continue,” Coore said.

“I realized that the overall band is bigger than any one individual, so keeping that legacy going is really, really important.”

Third World’s sound ranges beyond reggae to rhythm and blues, soul and classical arrangements.

Some have criticized the band for straying from standard reggae, but that’s never deterred the group from creating the music they wanted to make.

“Well, if you look at the name Third World, I think it’s a little bit more open-minded than just reggae,” Coore said in a Jamaican accent.

“I fail to understand the thinking that says we should just stick to reggae,” he added.

“So the people who criticize us, I don’t think they’re being as open-minded as they could be.”

Coore was born just a few years after Bob Marley and cited the reggae legend as a seminal influence. But James Brown, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye have also contributed to the band’s sound.

As a guitar player, Coore looked to Carlos Santana and Jimi Hendrix for inspiration.

In 1989, Third World released a song called “Reggae Ambassador” with the lyric: “How can a big music come from a little island?”

Asked if he viewed the members of Third World as ambassadors for reggae, Coore said not early in their career.

“The humility factor was very big at that time,” Coore said. “We were very young … even with the success of ‘96 Degrees,’ it was a shock.”

As a youth in the 1960s, he said, he didn’t think he could make a living as a musician because there were few reggae successes. That was before Marley put reggae on the world’s musical map.

“There was no Jamaican rushing the charts every minute,” he said. “In those days it was kind of like, if you were to go into music, you would have a fallback in case anything goes wrong. But that’s all changed now, hey? Bob Marley changed all that.”

Coore said his parents never put pressure on him to go into government service or any other career.

“My parents weren’t those kind of people,” he said. “Nobody was pushing me in any direction. And my mom was very big into music - she was a music teacher. She always said, ‘Whatever you do, you do it good.’?”

Also on the bill at the festival are the Sonoma County band Sol Horizon and San Francisco’s Native Elements, giving the show a lineup with roots in Northern California, England and Jamaica.

“It just goes to show that reggae is a form of music,” Coore said. “It’s not something that is limited to Jamaican people.”

Michael Shapiro is author of “A Sense of Place.” He writes about travel and entertainment for national magazines and The Press Democrat. Contact: www.michaelshapiro.net