Tribute To Legend Bunny Wailer
A special three-hour tribute celebrating the music of reggae legend Bunny Wailer, who passed away March 2 at the age of 73, was featured on the March 7 edition of
Strictly Roots.
Born Neville O’Riley Livingston in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1947, there’s no underestimating the range and legacy of Wailer’s musical career as a percussionist, backing vocalist and later as a songwriter, lead singer and label boss.
Wailer played alongside his step brother Bob Marley and their childhood friend Peter Tosh as part of the group that went by a number of names: The Teenagers, the Wailing Rudeboys, the Wailing Wailers and, ultimately, the Wailers. Their first No. 1 single, “Simmer Down,” was produced by the legendary Clement “Coxsone” Dodd and featured the premier ska band The Skatalites providing support.
WMNF
loading.
A Conversation With Chip Jacobs
Share this:
If you are going to write a crime thriller, what are the essential ingredients? Well, how about a big helping of murder, mix in a generous portion of blackmail, spice everything up with a layer of greed, add a dollop or two of 1979 Los Angeles, and sprinkle in a shiny El Camino. Pasadena-based writer,
Chip Jacobs has perfected the recipe with his latest book,
Mr. Jacobs has no option but to admit to – his new crime thriller is true, all of it.
The Darkest Glare reads like a grotesquely macabre fantasy it also has moments of absurd hilarity. Yet despite,
Catch a Fire and
Burnin on Island Records, The Wailers brought roots reggae, their Afro-centric Rastafari way of life (much maligned in Jamaica at the time of their emergence) and their dreadlocked hair, a covenant of that way of life, onto the international stage. The Wailers are to reggae what the Beatles are to rock n roll and pop music, Jamaican music-business veteran Copeland Forbes told NPR. When they walked into Chris Blackwell s Island Records office in London, he saw something special in them and against many warnings, he advanced them £4,000 to make an album.
Forbes, who has worked with some of the reggae industry s biggest names, including Marley, Tosh, Jimmy Cliff and Marcia Griffiths, has a memoir,
Hulton Archive / Getty Images
Originally published on March 5, 2021 2:48 pm
Neville O Riley Livingston, the Jamaican vocalist better known as Bunny Wailer, died on March 2 at Medical Associates Hospital in Kingston, Jamaica, at age 73. A founding member of The Wailers alongside Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, Wailer went on to become a reggae icon in his own right. Wailer traveled and performed sporadically, each appearance a regal occasion befitting a seldom seen reggae monarch.
Through the release of the albums
Catch a Fire and
Burnin on Island Records, The Wailers brought roots reggae, their Afro-centric Rastafari way of life (much maligned in Jamaica at the time of their emergence) and their dreadlocked hair, a covenant of that way of life, onto the international stage.