Biography
Cherry Green endures as one of reggae’s most intriguing and underrecognized figures—an original vocalist in the Wailers, the ensemble that later functioned as Bob Marley’s core backing unit. Alongside fellow singer Beverly Kelso, she supplied the distinctive falsetto layers that helped launch the group’s breakthrough recording, “Simmer Down.”
Ermine Ortense Bramwell entered the world on August 22, 1943, in Kingston’s impoverished Trenchtown section. Her light complexion prompted the nickname “Cherry,” the Jamaican term for “red.” Because her half-brother Carlton bore the surname Green, others simply applied that name to her as well, a detail she recounted in a later interview.
At eighteen, Green began harmonizing with fellow Trenchtown youths under the direction of musician Joe Higgs, who, together with vocal partner Roy Wilson, had already issued early reggae singles for producer Clement “Coxsone” Dodd in the first half of the 1960s. Higgs played a central role in forming the Teenagers, the initial version of the Marley-led group that soon became the Wailers. The original lineup also featured Marley’s stepbrother Neville “Bunny” Livingston, Junior Braithwaite, and Peter McIntosh, who would later perform as Peter Tosh.
Late in 1963 the ensemble auditioned successfully for Dodd at Studio One and promptly recorded its first single, “Simmer Down,” an urgent appeal urging Kingston’s so-called rude boys to temper the crime and violence then plaguing the city. The track reached number one on the Jamaican charts in February 1964. By then a single mother with a young daughter, Green found it increasingly hard to reconcile her family responsibilities with the Wailers’ rising schedule; consequently she appears on fewer than a dozen of the group’s earliest sides, among them the hits “Lonesome Feelings” and “There She Goes,” plus a ska rendition of the Tom Jones hit “What’s New, Pussycat?”
Around the time Marley made a brief move to the United States in late 1966, Green departed the Wailers permanently. Three years afterward she relocated to Miami and began working as a nurse. After Marley’s 1976 concert at the Santa Monica Civic Center, Green—then living in Southern California—met the now-celebrated performer backstage. Her own role in the Marley story has nevertheless remained largely overlooked, owing in part to lingering uncertainty about the precise scope of her participation in the Wailers’ earliest recordings. Adding to the confusion, certain sources have listed her as “Cherry Smith.” Following her retirement from nursing, Green made her home in West Palm Beach, Florida, where she died of a heart attack on September 24, 2008.
Ermine Ortense Bramwell entered the world on August 22, 1943, in Kingston’s impoverished Trenchtown section. Her light complexion prompted the nickname “Cherry,” the Jamaican term for “red.” Because her half-brother Carlton bore the surname Green, others simply applied that name to her as well, a detail she recounted in a later interview.
At eighteen, Green began harmonizing with fellow Trenchtown youths under the direction of musician Joe Higgs, who, together with vocal partner Roy Wilson, had already issued early reggae singles for producer Clement “Coxsone” Dodd in the first half of the 1960s. Higgs played a central role in forming the Teenagers, the initial version of the Marley-led group that soon became the Wailers. The original lineup also featured Marley’s stepbrother Neville “Bunny” Livingston, Junior Braithwaite, and Peter McIntosh, who would later perform as Peter Tosh.
Late in 1963 the ensemble auditioned successfully for Dodd at Studio One and promptly recorded its first single, “Simmer Down,” an urgent appeal urging Kingston’s so-called rude boys to temper the crime and violence then plaguing the city. The track reached number one on the Jamaican charts in February 1964. By then a single mother with a young daughter, Green found it increasingly hard to reconcile her family responsibilities with the Wailers’ rising schedule; consequently she appears on fewer than a dozen of the group’s earliest sides, among them the hits “Lonesome Feelings” and “There She Goes,” plus a ska rendition of the Tom Jones hit “What’s New, Pussycat?”
Around the time Marley made a brief move to the United States in late 1966, Green departed the Wailers permanently. Three years afterward she relocated to Miami and began working as a nurse. After Marley’s 1976 concert at the Santa Monica Civic Center, Green—then living in Southern California—met the now-celebrated performer backstage. Her own role in the Marley story has nevertheless remained largely overlooked, owing in part to lingering uncertainty about the precise scope of her participation in the Wailers’ earliest recordings. Adding to the confusion, certain sources have listed her as “Cherry Smith.” Following her retirement from nursing, Green made her home in West Palm Beach, Florida, where she died of a heart attack on September 24, 2008.