b. Neville O'Riley Livingston, 10 April 1947, Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies. Bunny Wailer's relationship with Bob Marley and


Peter Tosh, the two other principal members of the Wailers in the 60s and early 70s, stretched back to his childhood, when Marley and Wailer lived under the same roof in Trenchtown. As teenagers, Peter, Bob and Bunny would spend their evenings practising harmonies, tutored by Joe Higgs of Higgs And Wilson fame. In the early 60s, as the nascent Jamaican recording industry began to gather strength, the trio formed the Wailers, recruiting other friends such as Junior Braithwaite, Beverley Kelso and Cherry Smith into the fold. Possessed of a high tenor, rather in the style of American soul singers of the Curtis Mayfield school, Bunny's role in the Wailers was principally that of harmony singer. However, on occasions his voice was featured as lead on songs such as "Dancing Shoes", "He Who Feels It Knows It" and the beautiful "Sunday Morning", recorded in the early 60s for the band's first producer, Coxsone Dodd. Bunny spent part of 1967 in prison on charges of marijuana possession. It was this experience that prompted him to write the song "Battering Down Sentence", which later appeared on his solo debut, Blackheart Man. The Wailers spent a couple of years recording for other producers, most notably Leslie Kong and Lee Perry, as well as issuing their own self-produced efforts on their Wail 'N' Soul "M" and Tuff Gong labels. During this period, Bunny contributed lead vocals on "This Train", "Riding High", "Brain Washing" and "Dreamland'. In 1972 the Wailers signed to Island Records. With founder Chris Blackwell's understanding of contemporary rock markets, and the emphasis on albums and live shows, the Wailers brought the sound of roots reggae to an international audience with 1973's Catch A Fire and Burnin", the latter featuring two fine songs from Bunny, "Hallelujah Time" and "Pass It On". These albums broke the Wailers outside of Jamaica and its expatriate environs in the USA and Europe, establishing a new worldwide respect and focus for reggae music. However, this success had taken its toll on the group. Peter Tosh resented the way in which Marley appeared to be promoted as leader of the band, and Bunny Wailer, for largely unspecified reasons, seemed reluctant to take part in the endless globetrotting necessary to consolidate their success in Europe and America. By 1974, just prior to the release of Natty Dread, both Tosh and Bunny Wailer left the band to concentrate on their solo careers.
Bunny Wailer inaugurated his own Solomonic label, upon which all his recordings have since appeared in Jamaica. His first solo record, "Searching For Love", had emerged in limited quantities in the early 70s, concurrently with his involvement with the Wailers. His other Solomonic releases, "Life Line", "Bide Up", "Pass It On' (different to the version on the Burnin" album) and "Arabs Oil Weapon", credited to the Wailers, came out in 1975. A year later Island released Blackheart Man to immediate and unanimous acclaim from the world's music press. With tracks such as "Rasta Man", "Reincarnated Souls", "Bide Up", "Fig Tree", "Amagideon" (sic) and the title track, Blackheart Man is still regarded as his masterpiece. His subsequent albums continued in much the same vein, with varying degrees of success, until he adapted to incorporate aspects of the burgeoning dancehall style, finding success with records such as "Riding", an adaptation of the Perry-produced "Riding High" track, "Crucial", "Cool Runnings", "Rock And Groove" and the rootsy "Rise And Shine". An album of Wailers cover versions, Bunny Wailer Sings The Wailers, garnered further critical plaudits, followed by a similar collection entitled Tribute To The Hon. Robert Nesta Marley, in honour of the passing of his old partner. However, as the decade wore on, Wailer, like many of the old-school Rasta artists, seemed increasingly out of step with the digital sound that had taken over in 1986, and he has since relied mainly on the loyalty of existing fans outside of Jamaica. Recent albums have made little impact upon the reggae scene at a grassroots level, despite the acclaim heaped upon the lushly packaged Liberation, seen by many critics as a return to the roots militancy of previous years.



http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/wailer_bunny/bio.jhtml