Bunny Wailer

While Bunny Wailer's close ties to Bob Marley and his position as an original member of the Wailers secured his permanent standing in reggae annals, his impact on Jamaican music and society reached far past those beginnings. After dedicating extensive time to shaping the Wailers, he departed the group in 1973 and devoted the remainder of his days to a dynamic and evolving solo path that yielded roots reggae landmarks such as 1976's Blackheart Man together with multiple Grammy-winning releases across the '90s. During the '90s Wailer's energies increasingly centered on politics and activism, yet he persisted with recording and live performances into the 2010s, issuing works like 2000's Communication and taking the stage well into his late sixties.

Neville O'Riley Livingston entered the world on April 10, 1947, in Kingston, Jamaica, though his first years unfolded in the village of Nine Miles in St. Ann's. There he encountered Bob Marley for the first time, and the pair of young children quickly formed a close bond. Both boys grew up in single-parent households, with Livingston raised by his father and Marley by his mother. Their parents shared numerous common experiences and relocated their families together to Kingston in 1952. Nearby resided singer Joe Higgs, who attained prominence in the late '50s both independently and as half of the popular vocal pairing Higgs & Wilson alongside Delroy Wilson. Though still in his early twenties, Higgs actively supported emerging local talent by offering singing instruction in his tenement yard on Third Street. At that location the two boys connected with another duo of equally enthusiastic youths, Peter Tosh and Junior Braithwaite. Marley initially aimed for a solo trajectory, yet a disappointing audition with producer Leslie Kong ended that prospect. Consequently the four boys united forces, joined by backing vocalists Cherry Green and Beverly Kelso, under the name the Teenagers. The ensemble's title underwent multiple alterations before they adopted the Wailers.

Following a successful tryout for Coxsone Dodd, their ascent began swiftly with the debut single, the enduring "Simmer Down." At the outset each of the four contributed material, allowing the Wailers to carry on in Marley's absence after he departed Jamaica in 1966 in search of employment in the U.S. By that juncture the lineup had already contracted to a trio following the exits of Braithwaite, Green, and Kelso, yet the remaining core proved so gifted that the brief absence of one member posed no lasting risk to their standing. Livingston's songwriting input gradually diminished over subsequent years, although any compositions he did produce remained consistently striking. Marley readily assumed greater responsibility for new material. By 1973 the Wailers stood at their zenith as Jamaica's foremost reggae act and stood poised for worldwide recognition when internal strains surfaced. Road life always presents difficulties, yet the musicians had grown accustomed to short journeys between venues across Jamaica, chiefly in Kingston. They now embarked on their first headline outing beyond the island, beginning with a three-month stretch through the U.K. and continuing onward to the U.S. Livingston would not complete that second leg; he scarcely endured the opening portion. Frictions mounted inside the Wailers, heightened by the demands of touring. Livingston reached his limit and, once the ensemble returned to Jamaica, declared he would skip the forthcoming American dates. His precise motivations stayed undisclosed, though he expressed willingness to keep performing with the group inside Jamaica. Whether such an arrangement could have endured long-term became irrelevant: before year's end Tosh clashed physically with Marley and also exited. The Wailers ceased to exist, though they did appear together twice more at benefit events following the formal breakup. Livingston launched a solo career by establishing his own imprint, Solomonic, and issuing the first single under his own name, "Searching for Love," in 1973. The following year brought four additional singles: "Trod On," "Lifeline," "Arabs Oil Weapon" (credited to the Wailers), and "Pass It On," an alternate take of the track from the Wailers' Burnin' album. These efforts culminated in 1976 with his inaugural solo long-player, the landmark Blackheart Man. Tosh and the Barrett brothers—the Wailers' longtime rhythm section—supported him on the sessions, while Marley contributed to a fresh rendition of the earlier Wailers song "Dreamland." Packed with vital tracks, the album generated two landmark singles, "Battering Down Sentence" and "Rasta Man." Protest and Struggle arrived in quick succession over the next two years; together with the debut, the three albums formed a forceful statement of his political and spiritual beliefs. Although Island Records handled distribution for all three via an early agreement with Solomonic and they earned favorable critical notice, none achieved the commercial reach of Tosh's and Marley's contemporaneous releases.

Staying based in Jamaica, Livingston found his visibility continually eclipsed by his widely traveled former colleagues. Neither 1980's In I Father's House nor singles from that era such as "Bright Soul," "Rise and Shine," and "Free Jah Children" altered that dynamic or found audiences beyond Jamaica. That same year he recorded Bunny Wailer Sings the Wailers, a tribute revisiting personal favorites from the group, backed by the Sly & Robbie-led Roots Radics. Released later in 1980, the set coincided with Marley's cancer diagnosis; Marley died the following spring. While that project honored the band, the next release paid homage to his departed friend: Tribute to the Hon Nesta Marley drew from the same sessions as Bunny Wailer Sings. Livingston remained committed to preserving the Wailers' heritage, yet he also looked forward, turning to dancehall on his second 1981 album, Rock'n'Groove. He had not fully mastered the emerging rhythms, and 1982's Hook Line & Sinker made limited impact, but his strongest showing that year occurred onstage rather than in the studio. In December he returned to performing for the first time since the Wailers' November 1975 reunion as co-headliners with Stevie Wonder at a benefit for the Jamaican Institute for the Blind. Witnesses to the Kingston concert were astonished he had not been active throughout the intervening period. The intense set was documented for the 1983 live album, with the Roots Radics continuing as his regular backing unit since their initial collaboration on Bunny Wailer Sings. Roots Radics Rockers Reggae appeared in 1985 and gave the band equal billing. Also in 1985 Livingston signed a distribution agreement with the American label Shanachie, inaugurated by Marketplace. The album proved uneven, with the singer clearly uneasy amid its polished electronics and production sheen. Nevertheless he stayed determined to track Jamaica's constantly evolving musical currents.

Although success proved uneven, he refused to retreat into nostalgia and maintained an open stance toward fresh production techniques and rhythms. In 1986 he broke from prior custom by undertaking his first performances outside Jamaica since the Wailers' 1973 outings. His American debut occurred that July in Long Beach, California, while a subsequent New York appearance was filmed for the In Concert video. The following year he issued two new albums, Rootsman Skanking and Rule Dance Hall, both steeped in assured dancehall energy. He had now fully adapted to the style, as evidenced by the chart-topping Jamaican singles "Cool Runnings" and a reworked "Rock'n'Groove." Having achieved that shift, he deliberately reverted to an earlier aesthetic on 1989's equally strong Liberation, dropping dancehall elements for a roots-oriented approach. The album became his most celebrated work of the decade, prompting a world tour backed by the recently reconstituted Skatalites. He opened the new decade with another sincere tribute to his late friend, Time Will Tell: A Tribute to Bob Marley. The collection earned Livingston a Grammy. 1990 also marked his first appearance at the Reggae Sunsplash Festival. Gumption arrived in 1991, another collection of covers drawn from artists including Toots Hibbert and Johnny Clarke. The next year he rebounded forcefully with Dance Massive, a vibrant dancehall set whose driving rhythms often eclipsed the songs themselves. Just Be Nice followed immediately in 1993. Two years passed before the next release: Hall of Fame: A Tribute to Bob Marley's 50th Anniversary, a double album containing 52 tracks that lovingly recreated Marley, Wailers, and solo material. Supported by an outstanding roster of Jamaican session musicians, the project secured the singer another deserved Grammy.

At the same time Livingston directed growing attention toward politics. He developed a special focus on youth concerns and established his own party, the United Progressive Party, whose platform advocated marijuana decriminalization along with wide-ranging educational changes. His deepening political engagement kept him out of the studio for much of the remaining decade, yet he resurfaced in the new millennium with the vibrant album Communication. Bunny Wailer suffered a stroke in July 2020 and required hospitalization. He died on March 2, 2021, at the age of 73.