The Ska music genre originated in
jamaica in the late 1950 's . And was the precursor to
rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements Caribbean
mento calypso with
american jazz and rhythm blues. In the early 1960 's it was the dominant music genre of
jamaica and was popular
british mods. Later it became popular with skinheads.
Music historians typically divide the history of ska into three periods: the original Jamaican scene of the 1960s (First Wave), the English two tone ska revival of the late 1970s (Second Wave) and the third wave ska movement, which started in the 1980s (Third Wave) and rose to popularity in the US in the 1990s.