Before Bob Marley, there was Alton Ellis, a talented reggae icon whose influence still echoes through the music of today. Ellis pioneered the genre of rocksteady, and is still a source of pride for Jamaicans who remember his long and storied career.

Born in Kingston in 1944, Ellis grew up in a musical family and displayed a natural instinct for music as a child. As a young teenager, he would form a duo with his friend Eddie Perkins called Alton and Eddie. In 1959, they released "Muriel," a single that flooded the airwaves and became a smash hit. Few artists find national such acclaim in their teenage years, but it was to be short-lived. Alton and Eddie broke up, leaving Ellis to seek out a solo career.

His first major hit on his own was "Dance Crasher," a song discouraging violence at dances. "Oo-oo-oo-ooh, dance crasher/Oh no no/Don't break it up/Please don't make a fuss/Don't use a knife," Ellis croons on that.

But his next hit would be the one that would define him and the entire rocksteady movement-"Get Ready, Rock Steady." "Come do rock steady, ooh/You got to do this new dance/Hope you're ready/You got to do it just like uncle Freddy/If you don't know/Just shake your head, rock your bodyline/Shake your shoulders, ev'rything in time," the lyrics go. The song is still a favorite among lovers of rocksteady.

Ellis would be a national star by the late ‘60s, but he was frequently finding his label taking more than its fair share of the pay. In the early ‘70s, he moved to England and started his own label, Alltone. As Bob Marley's star began to rise, Alton found himself in the younger performer's shadow, but he's still highly regarded and his work is still explored. In 2008, Ellis died of cancer in London.