Asrat Aemro Sellassie rarely called attention to himself at the Wild Hare reggae club, and first-time visitors to the Chicago music venue could be forgiven for thinking he was just another patron.

That was the case for Syovata Edari, who used to sneak into the Wild Hare in the mid-’90s with her friends. She said she first noticed Sellassie hanging back away from the crowd in a VIP section.

“I admired him from a distance,” Edari said, adding that she would ask people at the venue, “Who is that guy?” She later saw Sellassie perform with his band Gizzae in Madison, Wisconsin, and was immediately struck by his undeniable musical talent.

“I didn’t know anything about him,” Edari said. “I just loved his whole vibe. He was like the Prince of the reggae world. Cool, calm, mysterious and a musical genius.”

What she didn’t know was that Sellassie had already established himself as a reggae legend in the Midwest by that time.

The Ethiopian-born musician recorded with Ziggy Marley’s first band on their Grammy-winning albums and was a co-founder of the Wild Hare, which built a reputation as the mecca of reggae in America.

Sellassie died peacefully at his home in Chicago on Feb. 23. He was 68.

After Sellassie stepped off the stage that day in Madison, he and Edari exchanged numbers. “It was one of those kind of soul-mate type of vibes where not being together didn’t seem like an option,” Edari said. The couple would eventually welcome a baby girl into their lives.

“Asrat was loved and known by many, but lived a pretty reclusive life and despite his life as a musician, he seemed to enjoy his solitude,” Edari said, adding that he kept his reserved nature even when he was managing the Wild Hare.

“His demeanor wasn’t like anybody else’s,” Edari said. “He stayed away from the crowd, just kind of looking over things. He was an entrepreneur, so he was always worried about how things were running.”

The Wild Hare has hosted performances from some of the most important artists in the genre, including Rita Marley, Jimmy Cliff, Toots and the Maytals and Shabba Ranks.

“It was nothing like I’d ever seen,” Edari said. “I’ve been to reggae clubs, even in Jamaica, and I have never seen anything like the Wild Hare. It also provided a stage for new bands to get visibility.”

Sellassie ’s own musical journey began in the late 1970s with the Afro-Reggae band Dallol. The band was forced to leave Ethiopia because of a civil war and eventually landed in Chicago in the early 1980s.

The group began to make a name for itself by playing venues across the country until they got the break they were looking for. In 1982, Rita Marley, Bob Marley’s widow, invited Dallol to play in Jamaica on the first anniversary of Marley’s death. 

It was then that Dallol teamed up with the group Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers. Dallol became the group’s backing band for its two most important records, “Conscious Party” in 1988 and “One Bright Day” in 1989. Both albums won Grammy awards for Best Reggae Album.

Sellassie was the percussionist on the projects, playing bongos, conga, tambourine, cabassa and wood block, and he even added some background vocals.

Ruphael Woldemariam, a Dallol bandmate who played drums, said the sessions for those projects were like magic, especially for “Conscious Party,” which was recorded in New York.

“We ended up recording 13 songs in six days, which was amazing,” Woldemariam said. “Basically what happened in the studio was really magic. Ziggy wrote the songs, and he would have his acoustic guitar and he would play and sing, and everybody just chipped in their ideas. It just became alive.”

“Conscious Party” would go one to become certified platinum, and “One Bright Day” went gold.

The success of those albums allowed Sellassie and Dallol to tour the world with the Melody Makers. It was also during that time that Sellassie, Woldemariam and other band members co-founded the Wild Hare, which was originally across from Wrigley Field, in 1986.

That version closed in 2011, but Sellassie, Woldemariam and two others reopened the venue at 2610 N. Halsted St. in Lincoln Park the following year.

Through all of his accomplishments Sellassie remained true to himself, Edari said.

“He was humble, and that’s why a lot of people don’t really understand the history he holds,” Edari said. “He didn’t tell people much about himself, you had to actually talk to him to learn about him.”

Woldemariam said Sellassie was “a very, very kind, very thoughtful, very smart person. Not even a bad word would come out of his mouth. So many people are going to miss him.”

It’s hard to imagine now. but Sellassie’s life almost went in a completely different direction, Edari said. His family wanted him to be a doctor, and Sellassie was a pre-med student at Illinois Wesleyan University before he decided to pursue music for a living.

“He followed what moved him, he followed his love,” Edari said. “And he wanted to spread it to as many people as he could.”

Sellassie is survived by his daughter, Emayu Edari-Sellassie.