National Geographic Music (National Geographic)

Jamaican singer Alton Ellis passed away last Friday, Oct. 10th. Known to his fans as "The Godfather of Rocksteady," Ellis was a pioneering hitmaker of the 1960s. He succumbed to cancer of the lymph glands on Friday night, according to an annoucement made by officials at London's Hammersmith Hospital on Sunday morning. Ellis died peacefully in his bed after an onstage collapse in August and several weeks in hospital. He was 70 years old.

Ellis was a key figure in the development of Jamaican popular music, helping to usher in the "rocksteady" sound of the mid-1960s with such hits as 1965's "Get Steady – Rock Steady," "Dance Crasher" and "Cry Tuff". Rocksteady was a a successor to ska - the frenetic, horn-driven music that was the soundtrack to Jamaican independence in the 1960s. The rocksteady sound was marked by a slowed-down tempo and emphasis on close harmony singing, paving the way for the first reggae recordings of the late '60s.

Ellis, who was born in 1938, was a veteran of all three eras. He was born in the Trenchtown district of Kingston, and learned to play the piano at an early age. He scored his first local hits in the late '50s with "Muriel" and "My Heaven" as part of the duo Alton & Eddie, recording for producer Coxsone Dodd. When his partner, Eddie Perkins, emigrated to the U.S., Ellis left Dodd's stable to work for his main competitor, producer Duke Reid.

Working for Reid's famous Trojan label, Ellis recorded dozens of ska and rocksteady tracks, including collaborations with Lloyd Chalmers, The Heptones, Phyllis Dillon and his younger sister Hortense. He would also record his most famous sides - including "dance crasher' and "rock steady" - with his backing group The Flames. His 1967 album, Mr Soul Of Jamaica remains one of the milestone recordings of the rocksteady era.

Though he was affliated with the notoriously violent Reid, Ellis was one of the first Jamiacan stars to speak out against the violence that marred the dance halls of the era. Ellis' was the first in a growning chorus of voices to condemn, rather than glorify, the criminal "rude boy" lifestyle. His calls for peace, unity and reconcilliation were prophetic of the "conciousness" that marked reggae music during the 1970s.

In the later '60s and early '70s, Ellis continued to perform and record with such producers as Bunny Lee, Herman Chin Loy and Henry "Junjo" Lawes, while collaborating with reggae artists like Sugar Minott and Janet Kay. After a short stint in Canada, Ellis emigrated to England in 1974, where he ran a record store and his All-tone label in South London.

In the U.K., Ellis' sweet voice, smooth delivery, and reggae-fied covers of soul and r&b hits helped forge the template for the "lover's rock" sound of the later '70s. His own 1967 hit "I'm Still in Love" provided the horn riff for Althea and Donna's smash "Uptown Top Ranking" in 1978 - a crossover hit that reached number one on the UK charts. The instantly recognizable "I'm Still In Love" has proved one of reggae's most enduring riddims - providing the base for innumberable versions and another #1 hit for Sean Paul in 2003.

Though his recording career was largely over by the end of the 1980s, Ellis continued to tour and perform throughout the '90s and the current decade - often backed by bands whose members were half his age. In 1994, he was awarded the Order of Distinction by Jamaica, and in 2006, he was inducted into the International Reggae and World Music Awards Hall Of Fame.

According to a report from the Associated Press, Delroy Williams, a friend and fellow reggae singer, described Ellis's voice as "the sweetest in the reggae world...His music is the reason for a lot of babies — that's how sweet and warm and loving it is."

Ellis is survived by his wife and more than 20 children, including reggae singers Noel Ellis and Christopher Ellis.