Bob Marley and the Wailers (previously known as The Wailers, and prior to that The Wailing Rudeboys, The Wailing Wailers and The Teenagers) were a Jamaican ska, rocksteady and
reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...
band. The founding members, in 1963, were
Bob Marley
Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 β 11 May 1981; baptised in 1980 as Berhane Selassie) was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements o ...
(Robert Nesta Marley),
Peter Tosh
Winston Hubert McIntosh, OM (19 October 1944 β 11 September 1987), professionally known as Peter Tosh, was a Jamaican reggae musician. Along with Bob Marley and Bunny Wailer, he was one of the core members of the band the Wailers (1963β ...
(Hubert Winston McIntosh), and
Bunny Wailer
Neville O'Riley Livingston (10 April 1947 β 2 March 2021), known professionally as Bunny Wailer, was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and percussionist. He was an original member of reggae group The Wailers along with Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. ...
(Neville Livingston).
During 1970 and 1971, Wailer, Marley and Tosh worked with renowned
reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...
producers
Leslie Kong
Leslie Kong (20 December 1933 β 9 August 1971) was an influential Chinese-Jamaican reggae producer.
Career
Leslie and his two older brothers Cecil and Lloyd ran a restaurant, ice cream parlour and record shop called Beverley's in Orange Stre ...
and
Lee "Scratch" Perry
Lee "Scratch" Perry (born Rainford Hugh Perry; 20 March 1936 β 29 August 2021) was a Jamaican record producer, composer and singer noted for his innovative studio techniques and production style. Perry was a pioneer in the 1970s development o ...
.
They released four albums before signing to
Island Records
Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...
in 1972. Two more albums were created before Tosh and Wailer left the band in 1974, citing grievances over label treatment and ideological differences. Marley carried on with a new line-up, including the I-Threes that put out seven more more albums. Marley died in 1981.
The Wailers were a groundbreaking ska and reggae group, noted for songs such as "Simmer Down", "Trenchtown Rock", "Nice Time", "
War
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
", "
Stir It Up
"Stir It Up" is a song composed by Bob Marley in 1967 and first recorded by the group Bob Marley and the Wailers that year and issued as a single. It was later covered by American singer Johnny Nash on his 1972 album ''I Can See Clearly Now' ...
" and "
Get Up, Stand Up
"Get Up, Stand Up" is a song written by Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. It originally appeared on The Wailers' 1973 album '' Burnin. It was recorded and played live in numerous versions by Bob Marley and the Wailers, along with solo versions by P ...
".
History
Early years
The band formed when self-taught musician
Peter Tosh
Winston Hubert McIntosh, OM (19 October 1944 β 11 September 1987), professionally known as Peter Tosh, was a Jamaican reggae musician. Along with Bob Marley and Bunny Wailer, he was one of the core members of the band the Wailers (1963β ...
(1944β1987) met the singers
Bunny Wailer
Neville O'Riley Livingston (10 April 1947 β 2 March 2021), known professionally as Bunny Wailer, was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and percussionist. He was an original member of reggae group The Wailers along with Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. ...
(1947β2021) and
Bob Marley
Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 β 11 May 1981; baptised in 1980 as Berhane Selassie) was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements o ...
(1945β1981) in 1963. They developed a
ska
Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...
vocal group called The Teenagers.
The band topped the Jamaican charts with " Simmer Down", which was recorded in 1963 at Studio One with the rhythm section from the studio house band
The Skatalites
The Skatalites are a ska band from Jamaica. They played initially between 1963 and 1965, and recorded many of their best known songs in the period, including " Guns of Navarone." They also played on records by Prince Buster and backed many othe ...
. Simmer down was an overnight hit and played an essential role in changing the musical agenda in Jamaica from imitating foreign artists, to capturing the lives and spirit of Jamaica.
Wailer, Marley and Tosh recorded with
Lee "Scratch" Perry
Lee "Scratch" Perry (born Rainford Hugh Perry; 20 March 1936 β 29 August 2021) was a Jamaican record producer, composer and singer noted for his innovative studio techniques and production style. Perry was a pioneer in the 1970s development o ...
and his studio band
the Upsetters
The Upsetters was the name given to the house band for Jamaican reggae producer Lee "Scratch" Perry. The name of the band comes from Perry's nickname of Upsetter, after his song "I Am the Upsetter", a musical dismissal of his former boss Cox ...
. They also worked with renowned
reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...
producer
Leslie Kong
Leslie Kong (20 December 1933 β 9 August 1971) was an influential Chinese-Jamaican reggae producer.
Career
Leslie and his two older brothers Cecil and Lloyd ran a restaurant, ice cream parlour and record shop called Beverley's in Orange Stre ...
, who used his studio musicians, called Beverley's All-Stars (
Jackie Jackson
Sigmund Esco "Jackie" Jackson (born May 4, 1951) is an American singer best known as a founding member of the Jackson 5, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. Jackson is the second child of the Jackson family, a ...
,
Paul Douglas
Paul Howard Douglas (March 26, 1892 β September 24, 1976) was an American politician and Georgist economist. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a U.S. Senator from Illinois for eighteen years, from 1949 to 1967. During his Senat ...
,
Gladstone Anderson
Gladstone Anderson (18 June 1934 β 3 December 2015), also known by his nickname "Gladdy", was a Jamaican pianist, keyboard player, and singer, who played a major part in the island's musical history, playing a key role in defining the ska sou ...
,
Winston Wright
Winston Wright (19431993) was a Jamaican keyboardist. He was a member of Tommy McCook's Supersonics, and acknowledged as Jamaica's master of the Hammond organ. Winston was born in May Pen, Jamaica on September 5, 1943 and died in Kingston, Jamaica ...
, Rad Bryan,
Hux Brown
Lynford "Hux" Brown (4 December 1944 – 18 June 2020) was a Jamaican guitarist who featured on many successful rocksteady and reggae records in the 1960s and 1970s, and was later a member of Toots and the Maytals.
Biography
Brown was born in ...
) to record the songs that would be released as an album titled '' The Best of The Wailers''.
By late 1963, singers
Junior Braithwaite
Franklin Delano Alexander "Junior" Braithwaite (4 April 1949 β 2 June 1999) was a reggae musician from Kingston, Jamaica and the youngest member of the vocal group, The Wailing Wailers.
Early career
The Wailing Wailers was a vocal group Bob ...
Cherry Smith
Cherry Smith (born Ermine Ortense Bramwell, 22 August 1943 – 24 September 2008) was a backing vocalist for the original Wailers from 1963 to 1966. She was also called Cherry Green (her half-brother Carlton had that surname).
Early beginnin ...
had joined the group. The line-up consisted of
Braithwaite
Braithwaite is a village in the northern Lake District, in Cumbria, England. Historically in Cumberland, it lies just to the west of Keswick and to the east of the Grisedale Pike ridge, in the Borough of Allerdale. It forms part of the civ ...
Tosh
Tosh may refer to:
People
* Tosh (surname)
* Tosh (nickname)
* Tosh Townend (born 1985), professional skateboarder
* Tosh Van der Sande (born 1990), Belgian professional cyclist
Places
* Tosh, Himachal Pradesh, India; a village
* Kiryas To ...
Smith
Smith may refer to:
People
* Metalsmith, or simply smith, a craftsman fashioning tools or works of art out of various metals
* Smith (given name)
* Smith (surname), a family name originating in England, Scotland and Ireland
** List of people wi ...
and or Kelso on backing vocals. Kelso remembered those early recordings fondly:
In 1965, Kelso left the band. Marley, Tosh, Wailer and Braithwaite took turns on lead vocals. Braithwaite left shortly after providing lead vocals for the single ''It Hurts to be Alone'', leaving the band consisting of the trio of Wailer, Marley and Tosh. The band's first full length album, ''
The Wailing Wailers
''The Wailing Wailers'' is the 1965 eponymous debut studio album by the Wailers, later known as Bob Marley and the Wailers. Released on the Studio One label, the album is a compilation of various recordings made between 1964 and 1965 by Nevill ...
'', was released the same year, a compilation of tracks recorded at different times.
In 1966, they created a
rocksteady
Rocksteady is a music genre that originated in Jamaica around 1966. A successor of ska and a precursor to reggae, rocksteady was the dominant style of music in Jamaica for nearly two years, performed by many of the artists who helped establish ...
record label
A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...
Wail N Soul M. Constantine "Dream" Walker provided backing vocals from 1966-67.
In May 1970, the band recorded with renowned
reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...
producer
Leslie Kong
Leslie Kong (20 December 1933 β 9 August 1971) was an influential Chinese-Jamaican reggae producer.
Career
Leslie and his two older brothers Cecil and Lloyd ran a restaurant, ice cream parlour and record shop called Beverley's in Orange Stre ...
; producing '' The Best of the Wailers'', which they released later in 1971 as their fourth album. Over the rest of 1970 and 1971, the band worked with Lee 'Scratch' Perry, producing the bands second and third albums, ''
Soul Rebels
''Soul Rebels'' is the second studio album by the Wailers, their first album to be released outside Jamaica. The Wailers approached producer Lee "Scratch" Perry in August 1970 to record an entire album, and the sessions took place at Randy's re ...
'' (1970) and ''
Soul Revolution Part II
''Soul Revolution Part II'' (also known as ''Soul Revolution'') is the third album by Bob Marley and the Wailers. It was produced by Lee "Scratch" Perry. While the name on the album cover for all the original releases was ''Soul Revolution P ...
Carlton Barrett
Carlton "Carly" Barrett (17 December 1950 β 17 April 1987) was a Jamaican musician best known for being the long-time drummer for Bob Marley & The Wailers. Recognized for his innovative style, which featured a highly syncopated, broken tripl ...
(drums) were recruited as instrumental backing for The Wailers.
Signing to Island Records
In 1972, while in London, the Wailers asked their road manager Brent Clarke to introduce them to
Chris Blackwell
Christopher Percy Gordon Blackwell (born 22 June 1937) is an English businessman and former record producer, and the founder of Island Records, which has been called "one of Britain's great independent labels". According to the Rock and Roll ...
, who had licensed some of their
Coxsone
Clement Seymour "Coxsone" Dodd (26 January 1932 β 4 May 2004) was a Jamaican record producer who was influential in the development of ska and reggae in the 1950s, 1960s and beyond.
He was nicknamed "Coxsone" at school due to his talent a ...
releases for his
Island Records
Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...
. The Wailers felt they were due royalties from these releases. Blackwell was not convinced, but he was impressed by their character. He thought they "exudedΒ power and self-possession" despite being poor. Despite not having seen the band perform live, he advanced them Β£4,000 to record an album. He did not even require them to sign anything, feeling they deserved a break.
Jimmy Cliff
James Chambers OM (born 30 July 1944), known professionally as Jimmy Cliff, is a Jamaican ska, rocksteady, reggae and soul musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer, and actor. He is the only living reggae musician to hold the Order of Merit, t ...
, Island's top reggae star, had recently left the label. His departure may have primed Blackwell to find a replacement. In Marley, Blackwell recognized the elements needed to snare the rock audience: "I was dealing with rock music, which was really rebel music. I felt that would really be the way to break Jamaican music. But you needed someone who could be that image. When Bob walked in, he really was that image." The Wailers returned to Jamaica to record at Harry J's in Kingston, which resulted in the foundational tracks what would make up the album ''
Catch a Fire
''Catch a Fire'' is the fifth studio album by the reggae band The Wailers (aka Bob Marley and the Wailers), released in April 1973. It was their first album released by Island Records. After finishing a UK tour with Johnny Nash, they had star ...
''. Primarily recorded on an eight-track, ''Catch a Fire'' marked the first time a reggae band had access to a state-of-the-art studio and were accorded the same care as their rock 'n' roll peers.
The tracks were taken to
Island Studios
An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...
in London and worked on by Blackwell, with Marley supervising. Blackwell desired the tracks to appeal to rock audiences in the United Kingdom and United States, to whom the band would be novel. To this end, he made the tracks sound "more of a drifting, hypnotic-type feel than a reggae rhythm". He restructured Marley's mixes and arrangements. The tracks were overdubbed with the help of
Wayne Perkins
David Wayne Perkins (born 1951) is an American rock and R&B guitarist, singer, songwriter and session musician. According to a 2017 feature about him on the Alabama website AL.com, he is "arguably the greatest guitarist Alabama ever produced."
...
on guitar and John βRabbitβ Bundrick on keyboard. The mix deviated from the bass-heavy sound of Jamaican music, and two tracks were omitted. The album released in April 1973, closely followed by ''Burnin in October 1973.
Tosh and Livingston departure and I-Threes
In 1974, Tosh and Livingston left the band due to their refusal to play "freak clubs". The pair believed doing so would violate their
Rastafarian
Rastafari, sometimes called Rastafarianism, is a religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by scholars of religion. There is no central authority in control ...
faith. Tosh believed that producer
Blackwell Blackwell may refer to:
Places
;Canada
* Blackwell, Ontario
;United Kingdom
* Blackwell, County Durham, England
* Blackwell, Carlisle, Cumbria, England
* Blackwell (historic house), South Lakeland, Cumbria, England
* Blackwell, Bolsover, Alfre ...
, whom he unfavorably called "Chris Whiteworst", was responsible for the bad relationship between the band members. He thought Blackwell favored Marley over the rest of the band, giving him more attention and money, and with the decision to release their albums under the name "Bob Marley and the Wailers" instead of "The Wailers".
Marley continued with a new line-up, which included the Aston Barrett (bass), Carlton Barrett (drums),
Junior Marvin
Junior Marvin (born Donald Hanson Marvin Kerr Richards Jr., June 22, 1949), also known as Junior Marvin-Hanson, Junior Hanson, Junior Kerr, and Julian Junior Marvin is a Jamaican-born guitarist and singer best known for his association with Bo ...
Tyrone Downie
Tyrone Downie (20 May 1956 β 5 November 2022) was a Jamaican keyboardist and pianist best known for his involvement as a member of Bob Marley and The Wailers.Foster, Chuck (1999) ''Roots Rock Reggae'', Billboard Books, , p. 66, 116
He studi ...
Alvin "Seeco" Patterson
Alvin "Seeco" Patterson (born Francisco Aloysius Willie, 30 December 1930 β 1 November 2021) was a Cuban-born Jamaican percussionist. He was a member of The Wailers Band.
Early life
Patterson was born as Francisco Willie in Havana, Cuba in ...
on percussion. Additionally, the I-Threes provided female backing vocals. The three I-Three members were Marley's wife
Rita Marley
Rita may refer to:
People
* Rita (given name)
* Rita (Indian singer) (born 1984)
* Rita (Israeli singer) (born 1962)
* Rita (Japanese singer)
* Eliza Humphreys (1850β1938), wrote under the pseudonym Rita
Places
* Djarrit, also known as Rita, a ...
,
Judy Mowatt
Judith Veronica Mowatt, (born 1952) is a Jamaican reggae artist. As well as being a solo artist, from 1974 she was also a member of the I Threes, the trio of backing vocalists for Bob Marley & The Wailers.
Early life
Mowatt was born in Gord ...
and
Marcia Griffiths
Marcia Llyneth Griffiths (born 23 November 1949) is a Jamaican singer. One reviewer described her by noting "she is known primarily for her strong, smooth-as-mousse love songs and captivating live performances".
Biography
Born in West Kingst ...
. Their name is a spin on the
Rastafarian
Rastafari, sometimes called Rastafarianism, is a religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by scholars of religion. There is no central authority in control ...
" I and I" concept of the Godhead within each person.
The album ''
Natty Dread
''Natty Dread'' is the seventh album by Bob Marley and the Wailers, released in 1974. Previously Marley had recorded with Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer as the Wailers, and this was his first record without them.
''Natty Dread'' was most popularly ...
'' was released in 1974, the first without Tosh and Livingston and with the I-Threes.
Perry released two compilation albums for
Trojan Records
Trojan Records is a British record label founded in 1968. It specialises in ska, rocksteady, reggae and dub music. The label currently operates under the Sanctuary Records Group. The name ''Trojan'' comes from the Croydon-built Trojan truck t ...
in 1974, ''
Rasta Revolution
''Rasta Revolution'' is a compilation album by Bob Marley and the Wailers released by Trojan in 1974. It consists of most of ''Soul Rebels'', as well as the 7" version of "Duppy Conqueror", recorded during the album's sessions (although an alte ...
Soul Rebels
''Soul Rebels'' is the second studio album by the Wailers, their first album to be released outside Jamaica. The Wailers approached producer Lee "Scratch" Perry in August 1970 to record an entire album, and the sessions took place at Randy's re ...
'' and ''
Soul Revolution Part II
''Soul Revolution Part II'' (also known as ''Soul Revolution'') is the third album by Bob Marley and the Wailers. It was produced by Lee "Scratch" Perry. While the name on the album cover for all the original releases was ''Soul Revolution P ...
'', respectively, and he was the copyright holder of several songs from these albums. These changes caused a major dispute between Marley and Perry, when the former saw the albums, six months after their publication, in the Half Way Road in England.
One of the last performances that included Marley was in 1980 at Madison Square Garden. Marley died in 1981.
Later years
The music of Marley, Tosh and Wailer enjoyed considerable success as reggae music continued to gain popularity during 1980s.
Carlton Barrett and Tosh died (both murdered) in 1987.
The Wailers Band
The Wailers Band are a reggae band formed by Aston Barrett in 1989, one of several spinoffs from Bob Marley and the Wailers.
History
After the death of Bob Marley in 1981, the Wailers continued, led by Aston Barrett and Junior Marvin. The ba ...
was formed by
Aston Barrett
Aston is an area of inner Birmingham, England. Located immediately to the north-east of Central Birmingham, Aston constitutes a ward within the metropolitan authority. It is approximately 1.5 miles from Birmingham City Centre.
History
Aston wa ...
in 1989.
Braithwaite was murdered in 1999.
The Original Wailers
The Original Wailers are a reggae group formed by Al Anderson and Junior Marvin in 2008. Both are best known as guitarists for Bob Marley and the Wailers as well as former members of The Wailers Band. In April 2011, Marvin departed the ban ...
was formed by
Anderson
Anderson or Andersson may refer to:
Companies
* Anderson (Carriage), a company that manufactured automobiles from 1907 to 1910
* Anderson Electric, an early 20th-century electric car
* Anderson Greenwood, an industrial manufacturer
* Anderson ...
and Marvin in 2008, Smith died in 2008.
Earl Lindo died in 2017, and Wailer died 2021.
Keyboardist Tyrone Downie died in 2022.
Aston Barrett
Aston is an area of inner Birmingham, England. Located immediately to the north-east of Central Birmingham, Aston constitutes a ward within the metropolitan authority. It is approximately 1.5 miles from Birmingham City Centre.
History
Aston wa ...
are the only surviving members of the group's line-ups.
Legacy
In 2001, ''Catch a Fire'' was reissued as a double album, with the first part being the previously unreleased 'Jamaican' versions of the song without Blackwell's overdubs and the second part being the album as it was released in 1972.
In March 2013, an overview of most of the music made by The Wailers prior to their signing to
Island Records
Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...
was published by the
Roots Reggae Library
The Roots Reggae Library is a website that lists reviews of discographies of reggae artists. It contains detailed written descriptions of albums, songs and the style of the artist. There are currently 33 discographies on the website. The content o ...
.
Band members
*
Bob Marley
Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 β 11 May 1981; baptised in 1980 as Berhane Selassie) was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements o ...
β rhythm guitar, lead vocals (1963β1981; died 1981)
*
Peter Tosh
Winston Hubert McIntosh, OM (19 October 1944 β 11 September 1987), professionally known as Peter Tosh, was a Jamaican reggae musician. Along with Bob Marley and Bunny Wailer, he was one of the core members of the band the Wailers (1963β ...
β lead guitar, keyboard, vocals (1963β1974; died 1987)
*
Bunny Wailer
Neville O'Riley Livingston (10 April 1947 β 2 March 2021), known professionally as Bunny Wailer, was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and percussionist. He was an original member of reggae group The Wailers along with Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. ...
β percussion, vocals (1963β1974; died 2021)
*
Cherry Smith
Cherry Smith (born Ermine Ortense Bramwell, 22 August 1943 – 24 September 2008) was a backing vocalist for the original Wailers from 1963 to 1966. She was also called Cherry Green (her half-brother Carlton had that surname).
Early beginnin ...
Junior Braithwaite
Franklin Delano Alexander "Junior" Braithwaite (4 April 1949 β 2 June 1999) was a reggae musician from Kingston, Jamaica and the youngest member of the vocal group, The Wailing Wailers.
Early career
The Wailing Wailers was a vocal group Bob ...
β vocals (1963β1964; died 1999)
*
Constantine Walker
Constantine most often refers to:
* Constantine the Great, Roman emperor from 306 to 337, also known as Constantine I
*Constantine, Algeria, a city in Algeria
Constantine may also refer to:
People
* Constantine (name), a masculine given name ...
β backing vocals (1966β1967)
*
Aston Barrett
Aston is an area of inner Birmingham, England. Located immediately to the north-east of Central Birmingham, Aston constitutes a ward within the metropolitan authority. It is approximately 1.5 miles from Birmingham City Centre.
History
Aston wa ...
β bass (1970β1981)
*
Carlton Barrett
Carlton "Carly" Barrett (17 December 1950 β 17 April 1987) was a Jamaican musician best known for being the long-time drummer for Bob Marley & The Wailers. Recognized for his innovative style, which featured a highly syncopated, broken tripl ...
β drums, percussion (1970β1981; died 1987)
*
Earl Lindo
Earl Wilberforce "Wire" Lindo (7 January 1953 β 4 September 2017), sometimes referred to as Wya, was a Jamaican reggae musician. He was a member of Bob Marley and the Wailers and collaborated with numerous reggae artists including Burning Spe ...
β keyboards (1973, 1978β1981; died 2017)
*
Tyrone Downie
Tyrone Downie (20 May 1956 β 5 November 2022) was a Jamaican keyboardist and pianist best known for his involvement as a member of Bob Marley and The Wailers.Foster, Chuck (1999) ''Roots Rock Reggae'', Billboard Books, , p. 66, 116
He studi ...
β keyboards, percussion, backing vocals (1974β1981; died 2022)
*
Rita Marley
Rita may refer to:
People
* Rita (given name)
* Rita (Indian singer) (born 1984)
* Rita (Israeli singer) (born 1962)
* Rita (Japanese singer)
* Eliza Humphreys (1850β1938), wrote under the pseudonym Rita
Places
* Djarrit, also known as Rita, a ...
β backing vocals (1974β1981)
*
Marcia Griffiths
Marcia Llyneth Griffiths (born 23 November 1949) is a Jamaican singer. One reviewer described her by noting "she is known primarily for her strong, smooth-as-mousse love songs and captivating live performances".
Biography
Born in West Kingst ...
β backing vocals (1974β1981)
*
Judy Mowatt
Judith Veronica Mowatt, (born 1952) is a Jamaican reggae artist. As well as being a solo artist, from 1974 she was also a member of the I Threes, the trio of backing vocalists for Bob Marley & The Wailers.
Early life
Mowatt was born in Gord ...
β backing vocals (1974β1981)
* Al Anderson β guitar (1974β1975, 1978β1981)
*
Alvin Patterson
Alvin "Seeco" Patterson (born Francisco Aloysius Willie, 30 December 1930 β 1 November 2021) was a Cuban-born Jamaican percussionist. He was a member of The Wailers Band.
Early life
Patterson was born as Francisco Willie in Havana, Cuba in ...
β percussion (1975β1981; died 2021)
*
Earl "Chinna" Smith
Earl "Chinna" Smith (born 6 August 1955), a.k.a. Earl Flute and Melchezidek the High Priest,Johnson, Richard (2013)The Melchizedek way, ''Jamaica Observer'', 6 October 2013. Retrieved 12 October 2013 is a Jamaican guitarist active since the late ...
β guitar (1975β1976)
*
Donald Kinsey
Donald Kinsey (born May 12, 1953 in Gary, Indiana, United States) is an American guitarist and singer, best known as a member of the Word Sound and Power Band, the reggae backing group for Peter Tosh.
Kinsey is one of three sons of the late ...
β guitar (1975β1976)
*
Junior Marvin
Junior Marvin (born Donald Hanson Marvin Kerr Richards Jr., June 22, 1949), also known as Junior Marvin-Hanson, Junior Hanson, Junior Kerr, and Julian Junior Marvin is a Jamaican-born guitarist and singer best known for his association with Bo ...
β guitar, backing vocals (1977β1981)
Discography
* ''
The Wailing Wailers
''The Wailing Wailers'' is the 1965 eponymous debut studio album by the Wailers, later known as Bob Marley and the Wailers. Released on the Studio One label, the album is a compilation of various recordings made between 1964 and 1965 by Nevill ...
Soul Rebels
''Soul Rebels'' is the second studio album by the Wailers, their first album to be released outside Jamaica. The Wailers approached producer Lee "Scratch" Perry in August 1970 to record an entire album, and the sessions took place at Randy's re ...
'' (1970)
* ''
Soul Revolution Part II
''Soul Revolution Part II'' (also known as ''Soul Revolution'') is the third album by Bob Marley and the Wailers. It was produced by Lee "Scratch" Perry. While the name on the album cover for all the original releases was ''Soul Revolution P ...
'' (1971)
* ''
Catch a Fire
''Catch a Fire'' is the fifth studio album by the reggae band The Wailers (aka Bob Marley and the Wailers), released in April 1973. It was their first album released by Island Records. After finishing a UK tour with Johnny Nash, they had star ...
Natty Dread
''Natty Dread'' is the seventh album by Bob Marley and the Wailers, released in 1974. Previously Marley had recorded with Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer as the Wailers, and this was his first record without them.
''Natty Dread'' was most popularly ...
'' (1974)
* ''
Rastaman Vibration
''Rastaman Vibration'' is the eighth studio album by the reggae band Bob Marley and the Wailers, released in April 1976.
Critical reception
Reviewing for ''Rolling Stone'' in 1976, Robert Palmer said that on the album Marley consummately perfo ...
'' (1976)
* ''
Exodus
Exodus or the Exodus may refer to:
Religion
* Book of Exodus, second book of the Hebrew Torah and the Christian Bible
* The Exodus, the biblical story of the migration of the ancient Israelites from Egypt into Canaan
Historical events
* Ex ...
'' (1977)
* ''
Kaya
Kaya may refer to:
People
*Kaya (given name)
*Kaya (surname)
Places
*Kaya, Burkina Faso, a town in Burkina Faso, capital of the department
*Kaya Airport, serving the town
* Kaya Department, a department or commune of Sanmatenga Province in centr ...
'' (1978)
* ''
Survival
Survival, or the act of surviving, is the propensity of something to continue existing, particularly when this is done despite conditions that might kill or destroy it. The concept can be applied to humans and other living things (or, hypotheti ...
'' (1979)
* ''
Uprising
Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority.
A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and ...
'' (1980)
* ''
Confrontation
Confrontation is an element of conflict wherein parties confront one another, directly engaging one another in the course of a dispute between them. A confrontation can be at any scale, between any number of people, between entire nations or cult ...
'' (1983)
Tours
* AprβJul 1973: Catch a Fire Tour (England, USA)
* OctβNov 1973: Burnin' Tour (USA, England)
* JunβJul 1975: Natty Dread Tour (USA, Canada, England)
* AprβJul 1976: Rastaman Vibration Tour (USA, Canada, Germany, Sweden, Netherlands, France, England, Wales)
* MayβJun 1977: Exodus Tour (France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, England)
* MayβAug 1978: Kaya Tour (USA, Canada, England, France, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium)
* AprβMay 1979: Babylon by Bus Tour (Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Hawaii)
* Oct 1979 β Jan 1980: Survival Tour (USA, Canada, Trinidad/Tobago, Bahamas, Gabon, Zimbabwe)
* MayβSep 1980:
Uprising Tour
The Uprising Tour was a concert tour organised to support the album ''Uprising'' by Bob Marley and the Wailers. It was Marley's last tour and the biggest music tour of Europe in that year.
The tour started at the Hallenstadion in ZΓΌrich, Swi ...
(Switzerland, Germany, France, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, USA)
See also
*
The Upsetters
The Upsetters was the name given to the house band for Jamaican reggae producer Lee "Scratch" Perry. The name of the band comes from Perry's nickname of Upsetter, after his song "I Am the Upsetter", a musical dismissal of his former boss Cox ...
The Wailers Band
The Wailers Band are a reggae band formed by Aston Barrett in 1989, one of several spinoffs from Bob Marley and the Wailers.
History
After the death of Bob Marley in 1981, the Wailers continued, led by Aston Barrett and Junior Marvin. The ba ...
*
The Original Wailers
The Original Wailers are a reggae group formed by Al Anderson and Junior Marvin in 2008. Both are best known as guitarists for Bob Marley and the Wailers as well as former members of The Wailers Band. In April 2011, Marvin departed the ban ...
References
Further reading
* Masouri, John (2007) ''Wailing Blues: The Story of Bob Marley's "Wailers"'' Wise Publications
* Farley, Christopher (2007). ''Before the Legend: The Rise of Bob Marley'', Amistad Press
* Goldman, Vivien (2007) ''The Book of Exodus: The Making and Meaning of Bob Marley and the Wailers' Album of the Century'' Three Rivers Press
* Colin Grant (2011) ''The Natural Mystics : Marley, Tosh, Wailer'', Jonathan Cape 978-0-224-08608-0 (U.K.), W.W. Norton & Company (U.S.)