Reggae Legend Bunny Wailer Has Died

Legendary reggae singer, Neville O’Riley Livingston, otherwise known as Bunny Wailer has died.

Reports are that he died at the Medical Associates Hospital in Kingston this morning. He was 73.

The details surrounding his death are not yet known, but the legendary reggae singer had been ailing for many years. In 2018, Wailer suffered a minor stroke, resulting in speech problems. In July 2020, he suffered a second stroke.

His passing was confirmed by Jamaica’s Culture Minister Olivia Grange.

Known as Jah B or Bunny Livingston, Wailer was the youngest of the three original Wailers. The other two band members were Bob Marley (1945 – 1981) and Peter Tosh (1944 – 1987).

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The group formed in Trench Town during the early 1960’s. They had a number of hit songs in the ska and rocksteady eras such as Simmer Down, Lonesome Feeling and Thank You Lord.

After recording two albums, ‘Catch A Fire’ and ‘Burnin’, Wailer and Tosh left for solo careers in 1974.

Throughout his solo career, Wailer released over 10 albums. He won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album in 1991 for the album Time Will Tell: A Tribute to Bob Marley, 1995 for Crucial! Roots Classics, and 1997 for Hall of Fame: A Tribute to Bob Marley’s 50th Anniversary.

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He was also featured on the album True Love by Toots and the Maytals, which won the Grammy Award in 2004 for Best Reggae Album.

The singer-songwriter and three-time Grammy winner is considered one of the longtime standard-bearers of reggae music.

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In 2012, Bunny Wailer received Jamaica’s fifth highest honour, the Order of Jamaica. Five years later, in 2017, he was awarded the Order of Merit by the Jamaican government, the nation’s fourth-highest honour.

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