Alvin 'Seeco' Patterson

Alvin "Seeco" Patterson (born Francisco Aloysius Willie, 30 December 1930 – 1 November 2021) was a Cuban-born Jamaican percussionist. He was a member of The Wailers Band.

Early life

Patterson encouraged Marley as he began to experiment with singing, as Patterson himself had gained experience in the musical realm playing percussion with famed calypso artist Lord Flea, and with other mento-calypso combos. And it was Patterson who would first take the newly formed Wailers group, consisting of Marley, along with Peter Tosh and Bunny Livingston, at Coxsone Dodd's Studio One for their first audition, in July 1964. The resulting recording session, which took place only after Coxsone's initial rejection of the Wailers, produced the hit single "Simmer Down", the record which launched Marley's career.

While Patterson's role in the original Wailers (that featured Tosh and Livingston) was small, his contributions gradually increased. When the original Wailers went on their first and only tour of the U.K. in 1973, Patterson acted as roadie. When Marley’s association with Tosh and Livingston ended that year, however, Patterson became a core member of the newly formed Wailers band under Marley’s direction, and contributed to every recording and live performance that Marley wound make for the rest of his career. In December 1976, Patterson was rehearsing with Marley at 56 Hope Road when gunmen opened fire on the group, injuring Marley, wife Rita, and manager Don Taylor. In September 1980, Patterson was with Marley when he collapsed jogging in Central Park, and remained with Marley through his cancer treatment both in New York and then at the clinic of Dr. Josef Issels in Rottach-Egern, Germany. Following Marley's death, Patterson continued to play with the Wailers band.

Later life and death

In 1990, Patterson suffered a near-fatal brain hemorrhage, leading to his partial retirement from the music scene. Patterson died on 1 November 2021 at the age of 90, at University Hospital in Kingston. It was stated that Patterson died in his sleep, after developing bleeding on the brain. He is buried in May Pen Cemetery.