Compass Point Allstars

The Compass Point phenomenon was designed to be to reggae-based pop/rock music of the 1980s, what Nashville was to country music, or the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section was to soul and R&B in the 1960s: a recording facility animated by in-house sets of artists, musicians, producers and engineers, all dedicated to a specific and highly recognisable sound and style.

Compass Point Studios was built in 1977 in Nassau, Bahamas, by Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records. The core of what would later be called the Compass Point All Stars (sometimes spelled Allstars), stricto sensu, was a recording band that Blackwell put together in 1980, based on Jamaican (reggae) foundation shaped around Sly and Robbie, with Sly Dunbar (drums), Robbie Shakespeare (bass), joined by Mikey Chung (guitar) and Uziah "Sticky" Thompson (percussion), with British rock flavour brought by Barry Reynolds (guitar, of Marianne Faithfull's Broken English fame), spiced up by synth-dominated keyboards from French-African Wally Badarou (of burgeoning Level 42), and Tyrone Downie later (keyboards of The Wailers fame). Together, under Blackwell's direction in person, and building on co-producer Alex Sadkin's skills at engineering and mixing, right from the beginning the recording band managed to deliver a highly praised and distinct sound for what are today viewed as seminal albums by Grace Jones and Joe Cocker. "I wanted a new, progressive-sounding band" said Blackwell, "a Jamaican rhythm section with an edgy mid-range and a brilliant synth player. And I got what I wanted, fortunately".

...
Wikipedia