'Reggae music is an offshoot of ska2 that developed in the late 1960s. Reggae was developed out of rocksteady3 music, a music developed by early ska vocalists (e.g. Laurel Aitken, Derrick Morgan, Desmond Dekker4) as audiences demanded a more steady beat and perhaps less all-instrumental music. Note that many reggae stars got their start as ska musicians. Notable examples are Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh, Rita Marley Anderson, Toots and the Maytals, Desmond Dekker. As the fast beat of ska mellowed through rocksteady, it gradually led to the creation of reggae.
As Horace Cambell wrote in Rasta and Resistance,
"The transition from rock steady to reggae was, like the transition from ska to rock steady, an impreceptible process which was both a response to and a reflection of the changing social conditions of the society. Where rock steady had the legacy of singing the sex and romance songs of Jackie Opel and Lord Creator, reggae laid emphasis on Africa, black deliverance and redemption."
Note that reggae has not always been inextricably linked to Rastafarian culture.
