Steel drum player Robert Greenidge, who made several appearances at the Warren Community Amphitheatre with the Jimmy Buffett tribute band Fins to the Left, died this week at age 76.

Greenidge first played with Buffett on the 1983 album “One Particular Harbor” and became a member of Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band. Buffett’s music had an “island vibe” before Greenidge, but the sound of his steel drums, more melodic than percussive, accentuated that Caribbean influence.

When Buffett died in 2023, only keyboard player Michael Utley had a longer tenure backing the singer-songwriter.

According to a story in the Trinidad & Tobago Guardian, he died following “a prolonged illness.” Greenidge wasn’t in Warren last month or in 2024 — his brother, Roger Greenidge, played in his place — but his smiling face and nimble stick work graced the amp stage on multiple occasions.

Fins’ frontman Shawn Lawless has talked many times about what an honor it was to perform with Greenidge and the other Coral Reefers who’ve played with his band over the years, but his favorite memory was as an audience member.

“I made the trek to Key West on Thanksgiving weekend in 1986 to see Jimmy, and Robert was there with a 100-piece steel drum (band), and it was amazing,” Lawless said.

Sunrise Entertainment President Ken Haidaris, the promoter for River Rock at the Amp, described Greenidge as “a kind soul.”

The first time the Coral Reefer Band members played at the amp, everyone had dinner at Haidaris’ Sunrise Inn, and anyone who knows Haidaris is used to seeing him with a cigar in his mouth.

“The next year when he came to the amp, I’m thinking, ‘These guys won’t remember me. They’re all over the world,'” Haidaris said. “The first thing he (Robert) said to me is, ‘Hey, where’s your cigar?,’ which really hit me. It was funny he would remember something like that. And then we just became great friends.

“Jimmy Buffett put together a great group of people to be around. If you’re going to spend time with somebody, you want them to be quality and nice and no drama, and I don’t think you could find a nicer group of people.”

Haidaris and Lawless often would go see Buffet and the Coral Reefer Band when they were playing nearby and go backstage to talk with the band. Haidaris last saw Greenidge over the winter, when the Coral Reefer Band played in St. Petersburg, Fla.

As arrangements were made for last month’s Fins to the Left concert, Haidaris said they were told Greenidge wasn’t doing well, “But I didn’t know the severity of it.”

While many know him primarily for his work with Buffett, Greenidge had an impressive resume before he met the singer. He toured for several years with Taj Mahal, and his steel drums can be heard on John Lennon’s “Beautiful Boy” from the “Double Fantasy” album released shortly before Lennon’s murder in 1980 and on “Just the Two of Us,” a hit for Grover Washington Jr. and Bill Withers.

The Discogs music database that music buffs use to log their collections lists 185 album credits for Greenidge. He can be heard on recordings by Cher, Brian Wilson, Ringo Starr, Keith Moon, Harry Nilsson, Earth Wind & Fire, Kenny Chesney, Carly Simon, Robert Palmer, Steve Perry, The Temptations and many others.

He also released several albums under his own name and recorded with Utley in a band called Club Trini.

I met Greenidge a couple times at those River Rock shows. I never had an opportunity to interview him but will have many lasting memories of the music.

Andy Gray is the entertainment editor of Ticket. Write to him at agray@tribtoday.com