One of reggae's most influential voices founding member of The Wailers alongside his childhood friend, Bob Marley, has died.
The death of legend, Bunny Wailer, was confirmed by manager Maxine Stowe, and Jamaica's Culture Minister, Olivia Grange. The three Grammys from Kingston, Jamaica, had been in hospital since having a stroke in July 2020.
Jamaica's Prime Minister, Andrew Holness, paid tribute to one of his country’s greatest by calling his death "a great loss for Jamaica and for reggae". Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist, Flea, wrote: "Oh man, god bless Bunny Wailer. What a true rocker and noble man. I love him."
Born Neville O'Riley Livingston, he had been the last surviving member of The Wailers, following Bob Marley's death from cancer in 1981, and Peter Tosh's tragic death in 1987. Together, they achieved international fame with reggae classics like Simmer Down and Stir It Up, before Wailer left to go solo in 1974.
Whilst growing up in Trenchtown in Kingston, the three young men Wailer – Marley, Tosh and got together and formed a vocal group called The Wailing Wailers - because, Bob said: "We started out crying." They then added vocalist Junior Braithwaite and backing singers Beverly Kelso and Cherry Green before shortening their name to The Wailers and joining Coxsone Dodd's Studio One to record their first song Simmer Down, a song Marley had written.
They followed it up with the original version of Duppy Conqueror, before releasing their debut album The Wailing Wailers, in 1965. They release 28 singles between 1966 and 1970, before releasing their second album, Soul Rebels. Their breakthrough soon followed with Catch A Fire - their first record on Chris Blackwell's Island Records.
Commercial success would then come with 1973's Burnin', which featured classic cuts like I Shot The Sheriff, Small Axe and Get Up, Stand Up. He left the band in 1973, saying the touring lifestyle clashed with his Rastafarian beliefs - citing the pressure to eat processed foods and play "freak clubs". He later said fame was the enemy of creativity.
"Music is based on inspiration,” he said “and if you're in an environment where you are up and down, here and there, that's how your music is going to sound.” He went on: "People get taken away in getting themselves to be a star and that is a different thing from getting yourself to be a good writer, musician, producer and arranger."
He left the band and began to work on his solo album Blackheart Man, which included classic songs like Dreamland and Fighting Against Conviction, which was inspired by his stint in prison. He then went on to release several acclaimed albums, including 1981's Rock 'n' Groove and 1980s's Bunny Wailer Sings The Wailers, which saw him revisit some of the band's classic material.
In the 1990s, he won the Grammy award for best reggae album three times - with each of those records extending and preserving the legacy of Marley and the Wailers: 1991's Time Will Tell: A Tribute to Bob Marley, 1995's Crucial! Roots Classics, and the 1997's all-star Hall of Fame: A Tribute to Bob Marley's 50th Anniversary. He was given Jamaica's Order Of Merit in 2017.
He was 73.
