Archie Lindo asked Hitchman to play a few tunes for his pioneer radio station, "ZQI", on their new equipment.

Soon after that, sound system pioneer Stanley Motta began to operate his studio, where he recorded calypso and mento that were released on 78s.

Tommy McCook heard some ska, but initially resisted Dodd's offers to record and to lead a studio group, because he was a committed jazzman.

In 1962, Dodd released I Cover The Waterfront (Port-O-Jam) with Roland Alphonso and Don Drummond, who did the solo and brass sections.

The Skatalites led sessions with top artists and worked with young talents such as Delroy Wilson, Desmond Dekker, The Wailers, and Lee Perry.

They played their first show in May 1964 at the Hi-Hat club, on Water Lane in Rae Town, which was owned and operated by Orville "Billy" Farnum.

After that word spread like wildfire that the musicians who had been playing all the hit records for so many years had formed a band named The Skatalites.

In April 1967, The Skatalites' ska adaptation of the theme to the film The Guns of Navarone entered the Top 40 of the UK Singles Chart.

[2] The Skatalites' first reunion happened in the studio, during 1974 sessions for bass player Lloyd Brevett's solo album.

After laying down hand percussion tracks at Lee Perry's studio, Brevett was joined by McCook, Alphonso, Sterling, Knibb and Mittoo.

The album, tentatively entitled The Big Guns, was not released at the time, due to a disagreement between McCook and Blackwell, and remains unreleased.

During their 1983 rehearsals for Sunsplash, the band recorded eleven tracks at the newly opened Music Mountain studio, led this time by Jackie Mittoo and under the guidance of producer/promoter Tony Owens.

The Skatalites played seven tunes and also backed Prince Buster on three before closing with a reprise of their theme song, "Freedom Sounds."

In 2004 The Skatalites were featured on the album True Love by Toots and the Maytals, which won the Grammy Award in 2004 for Best Reggae Album, and showcased many notable musicians including Willie Nelson, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Trey Anastasio, Gwen Stefani / No Doubt, Ben Harper, Bonnie Raitt, Manu Chao, The Roots, Ryan Adams, Keith Richards, Toots Hibbert, Paul Douglas, Jackie Jackson, and Ken Boothe.

[12] On 8 February 2012, the band announced a new single and album as well as a US tour starting in Texas and heading to New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, Oregon, California, Washington, and then Canada.

Although not official band members, these musicians worked with the Skatalites extensively during the 1964-65 period in the recording studio, or in the case of the vocalists, at live shows.

[13] Lord Tanamo, Doreen Shaffer, Baba Brooks, and Ernest Ranglin have all worked with the reunited Skatalites at different times, both live and in the studio.