Born Neville O'Reilly Livingstone and dubbed Bunny Wailer, this crucial Jamaican singer and songwriter was raised as Bob Marley's brother from the age of nine. As co-founder of The Wailers (along with Peter Tosh), Bunny gave high chromatic shadings to some of the most exhilarating harmonies ever pressed on wax, the equal of the finest work done by their contemporaries, The Impressions. Bunny's "Pass It On" was one of the standout tracks on the final album The Wailers did together as a trio, 1973's Burning. Three years later, Bunny released his first solo project, one of reggae's most majestic achievements, the roots classic Blackheart Man, which included hymnlike chants with titles like "Dreamland," "Bide Up," and "Rastaman." Bunny's baritone has been showcased in as many as three albums a year, most notably Struggle (1980); Bunny Wailer Sings the Wailers (1980's collection of covers); Rock & Groove (1981 dancehall classics); Live (recorded at his first solo concert in Kingston in December 1982); and Liberation (1988's consciousness-raiser that is the acknowledged peer of his spectacular debut album Blackheart Man). He won a Grammy in 1991 for Time Will Tell, a tribute collection of covers of Bob Marley songs. He has toured abroad twice, trying to overcome his reputation as reggae's most reclusive artist, backed by members of the original Skatalites, Sly & Robbie, and the Roots Radics. A spectacular show at NY's Madison Square Garden (1986) has been released on video. Today Bunny is obsessed with reaching the teenage dancehall crowd, attempting to wean them away from the predominant slackness of the form and back to a recognition of the truth and rights that were reggae's original concerns. He also feels the need to continue the work of his late partners, Tosh and Marley, bringing to oppressed people everywhere the twin messages of hope and the faith to carry on.

-- Courtesy (Roger Steffens, All-Music Guide) --