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Bunny Wailer Bunny-Wailer-Smile-Jamaica-2008.jpg
Birth name Neville O'Riley Livingston
Also known as Bunny Livingston
Bunny O'Riley
Born (1947-04-10) 10 April 1947 (age 65)
Kingston, Jamaica
Genres Reggae, roots reggae, ska
Occupations Vocalist, songwriter, percussionist
Instruments Bongo drums, congas
Associated acts The Wailers, Peter Tosh, Bob Marley

Bunny Wailer, (born Neville O'Riley Livingston, 10 April 1947, Jamaica), also known as Bunny Livingston and affectionately as Jah B,[1] is a singer songwriter and percussionist and was an original member of reggae group The Wailers along with Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. He is considered one of the longtime standard bearers of reggae music. He has been named by Newsweek as one of the three most important musicians in world music.

Contents

Early life and the Wailers [link]

Bunny Wailer and Bob Marley were raised in the same household as stepbrothers.[2] Bunny's father Thaddeus "Toddy" Livingston lived with Bob Marley's mother Cedella Booker and had a daughter with her named Pearl Livingston.

As he was by some way the least forceful of the trio, he tended to sing lead vocals less often than Marley and Tosh in the early years, but when Bob Marley left Jamaica in 1966 for Delaware, to be replaced by Constantine "Vision" Walker, he began to record and sing lead on some of his own compositions, such as "Who Feels It Knows It", "I Stand Predominant" and "Sunday Morning". His music was very influenced by gospel and the soul of Curtis Mayfield. In 1967, he recorded "This Train", based on a gospel standard for the first time at Studio One.

As the Wailers regularly changed producers in the late 1960s he continued to be underused as a writer and lead vocalist, although he sang lead on "Riding High", and on one verse of the Wailers' Impressions-like "Keep On Moving", both produced by Lee Perry. By 1973, each of the three founding Wailers operated their own label, Marley with Tuff Gong, Tosh with H.I.M. Intel Diplo, and Bunny Wailer with Solomonic. He sang lead vocals on "Reincarnated Souls", the B-side of the Wailers first Island single of the new era, and on two tracks on the Wailers last trio LP, "Burnin'", "Pass it On" (which had been cut as a sound-system only dub plate five years earlier) and "Hallelujah Time". By now he was recording singles in his own right, cutting "Bide Up", "Arab Oil Weapon" and "Life Line" for his own label.

Bunny Wailer toured with the Wailers in England and the United States, but soon became reluctant to leave Jamaica. He and Tosh became more marginalized in the group as the Wailers became an international success, and attention was increasingly focused on Marley. Bunny subsequently left the Wailers to pursue a solo career, which continues in the present.

Solo career [link]

After leaving the Wailers, Bunny became more focused on his spiritual faith. He identified with the Rastafari movement, as did the other Wailers. He has also written much of his own material as well as re-recording a number of cuts from the Wailers catalogue. Bunny Wailer has recorded primarily in the roots style, in keeping with his often political and spiritual messages. The album Blackheart Man is a good example of his roots reggae style, while "Sings the Wailers" successfully reworks many of The Wailers songs with the backing of top Jamaican musicians, Sly and Robbie. He experimented with disco on his album 'Hook Line & Sinker'. He has also had success recording in the typically apolitical, more pop dancehall style. He has outlived his contemporaries in a culture where death by violence is commonplace.

Bunny Wailer was both the quietest and most spiritually creative of the Wailers. However, he also had a dancehall/Rockers edge that was best exemplified by the album "Bunny Wailer Sings the Wailers" in which he re-interprets some of the Wailers material as a solo Roots singer backed by a solid Sly & Robbie based Roots reggae grouping. The album produced by Bunny Wailer, was recorded at Harry J studios. Some of these tracks are re-worked classic Wailers tracks (e.g. Dreamland - a cover of El Tempos' My Dream Island with slightly reworked lyrics that became Bunny's signature song. This was first recorded in 1966 by Clement Coxsone Dodd, and later in 1970 with Lee 'Scratch" Perry, then, released as a 7" in 1971 with a U-Roy version on the B -Side). Another classic is Dancing Shoes, first recorded in the mid 1960s as a driving Ska/Soul classic with Bunny Wailer as lead vocal.

Bunny Wailer has won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album in 1991, 1994 and 1996.

Today, Bunny resides in Kingston and on a farm located in the interior of Jamaica (Saint Thomas), according to Bob Marley's official website. Bunny Wailer and Beverley Kelso are the only surviving members of the original Wailers. In recent years, Bunny has attracted controversy for his outspoken views on women and homosexuality.

Solo discography [link]

Albums [link]

  • Blackheart Man (1976) Island/Solomonic
  • Protest (1977) Island/Solomonic
  • Struggle (1978) Solomonic
  • Dubd'sco vol.1 (1978) Solomonic
  • In I Father's House (1979) Solomonic
  • Dubd'sco vol.2 (1981) Solomonic
  • Rock 'n' Groove (1981) Solomonic
  • Sings the Wailers (1981) Island/Solomonic
  • Tribute (1981) Solomonic
  • Hook Line & Sinker (1982) Solomonic
  • Roots Radics Rockers Reggae (1983) Shanachie

(international re-release of In I Father's House + 2 extra tracks) [3]

  • Live! (1983) Solomonic
  • Marketplace (1985) Solomonic
  • Rootsman Skanking (1987) Shanachie

(international re-release of Rock And Groove edited version plus 3 extra tracks)

(international re-release of Tribute + 2 extra tracks)

  • Gumption (1990) Shanachie
  • The Never Ending Wailers (1991)
  • Dance Massive (1992)
  • Just Be Nice (1993) RAS
  • Hall of Fame: A Tribute to Bob Marley's 50th Anniversary (1996) RAS
  • Communication (2000) Solomonic/Tuff Gong
  • World Peace (2003) Solomonic
  • Rub A Dub (2007) Solomonic
  • Cross Culture (2009) Solomonic
  • Combinations Vol.1 (2009) Solomonic
  • Blackheart Man (Remastered & Extended) (2009) Solomonic

Compilations [link]

DVDs [link]

  • Live (2005) Video Music, Inc.

Appearances on DVD compilations [link]

  • A Reggae Session (1988) Sony BMG, features "Roots, Radics, Rockers and Reggae" and "Rise and Shine"

References [link]

  1. ^ Bunny Wailer chants support for Rasta Millennium Council
  2. ^ Steffens, Roger "Biography of Bunny Wailer", nutsie.com, Melodeo, Inc.
  3. ^ Retrospective (CD booklet). RAS Records. 2003. p.2. 06076-89600-2. 

External links [link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bunny Wailer
Bob Marley & The Wailers
Studio albums
Live albums
Compilations
Soundtracks
Songs
Tours
Related articles

https://wn.com/Bunny_Wailer

Podcasts:

Bunny Wailer

ALBUMS

Dubd'sco, Volume 1 & 2

Released 1998

Crucial! Roots Classics

Released 1994

Just Be Nice

Released 1993

Dance Massive

Released 1992

Gumption

Released 1991

Marketplace

Released 1991

Time Will Tell

Released 1990

Rule Dance Hall

Released 1987

Roots Radics Rockers Reggae

Released 1987

Sings The Wailers

Released 1981

Struggle

Released 1978

Blackheart Man

Released 1976

1998-05-30: Palookaville, Santa Cruz, CA, USA

Rock and Groove

Hall of Fame: A Tribute to Bob Marley's 50th Anniversary

Rootsman Skanking

Liberation

Retrospective

Email this Page Play all in Full Screen Show More Related Videos
PLAYLIST TIME:

Who Feels It

by: Bunny Wailer

Every man thinks his burdens the heaviest
But it common they know because they feel
And who feels it know it
Who feels it knows it
No don't sit by your window
Gazing at the streets
Sorrying for your self cause you've got nothing to cat
There's a light within you, so let it shine
Git up and move and start trying trying trying.
Just git up and move
Get right in the groove (rep.)
For linger you linger, cry you must cry
Now don't point your fingers and you'll get bye
don't be no moonshine-darling and sit down and cry.
Please don't you give up now before you give it a try
Before you give it a try
Before you give it a try, try, try
And don't you give up now don't give
up now don't give up now. don't you
Give up now before you give it a try
before you give it a try, try, try.
Papa no want, no want no want,
No want, no more bondage
For it's a long time he's been in slavery.
Mama no want, no want no want,
No more pain, pain and worry
For it's a long time now she's been unhappy
And Who feels it knows it
Who feels it knows it
Every night and every day
Who feels it knows it
By their blood and sweat they pay
Who feels it knows it yea
But linger you linger cry you must cry
No don't point you fingers and you'll get bye
don't be no moon-shine darling and sit down and cry
And please don't you give up now before you give it a try
Before you give it a try come on
Give it a try, try, try.
Before you give it a try come on
Give it a try, try, try,
And don't you give up now don't you
Give up now don't give up now
Before you give it a try, before you




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