Cat Coore

Stephen "Cat" Coore was born on April 6, 1956, in Kingston, Jamaica, into a household steeped in both public life and music. His father, the Honourable David Hilton Coore, was a noted Jamaican scholar, lawyer, and politician who served as the country's Deputy Prime Minister, while his mother, Rita Angela Innis Coore, was a music teacher who nurtured his early classical training, including on cello. At age 12 he fell in love with the guitar and his mother bought him his first one; he progressed quickly enough that he was soon playing with a group called the Alley Cats — the likely source of his "Cat" nickname — before joining the popular Inner Circle Band as lead guitarist at the remarkably young age of 13.

In 1973, at 17, Coore left Inner Circle together with keyboardist Michael "Ibo" Cooper and several other musicians to found Third World, a band built around fusing reggae with soul, funk, pop, and rock influences rather than staying within roots reggae's traditional lane. That fusion approach — unusual and, at the time, somewhat risky for a Jamaican band — became Third World's defining break, distinguishing them from strictly roots-oriented contemporaries and opening doors to international audiences and major international touring circuits from the mid-1970s onward.

As Third World's guitarist, cellist, and musical director for more than 50 years, Coore helped steer the band to nine Grammy nominations and a catalogue of enduring reggae-fusion classics, including "Now That We've Found Love," "96 Degrees in the Shade," and "Try Jah Love," making Third World one of Jamaica's longest-running and most commercially successful bands on the world stage. In recognition of his contribution to Jamaican music and culture, he was awarded the national honour of the Order of Distinction (OD) in 2005, and he also received honorary keys to several U.S. cities along with lifetime-achievement recognitions from major Caribbean music festivals and industry organizations over his career; at least one published list of great guitarists ranked him among the top 100 of all time, citing his expressive lead playing and his role adapting the guitar to reggae in ways that influenced players beyond the genre.

Coore died suddenly on January 18, 2026, at age 69, prompting an outpouring of tribute across Jamaican and Caribbean media, from the Jamaica Gleaner and Jamaica Observer to Stabroek News and Global Voices; available reporting confirms the death was sudden but does not specify a cause. Within reggae culture, he is remembered as one of the architects who helped carry Jamaican music beyond strict roots reggae into a globally accessible fusion sound, elevating the electric guitar — and, unusually for the genre, the cello — as expressive lead instruments, and mentoring or performing alongside generations of musicians during Third World's more than five decades of continuous activity.