Bunny Wailer, giant of reggae who formed the Wailers with Bob Marley and Peter Tosh – obituary
With his bandmates he spread the reggae gospel around the world, and he went on to a successful solo career as the genre’s elder statesman
Bunny Wailer in 1988
Credit: David Corio/Redferns
Bunny Wailer, who has died aged 73, was with Bob Marley a founding member of the Wailers, who revolutionised reggae music; as the only remaining Wailer (Marley died in 1981 and Peter Tosh, the third member, was shot to death in 1987) he was for many years considered the music’s elder statesman.
He was born Neville Livingston, and it was not until much later that he would take the sobriquet of Bunny Wailer, largely as a marketing device for his clear, ringing tenor voice and percussive arranging. His friendship and work with Marley, and later with Tosh, led to them forming the Wailers, an intensely creative and varied trio who gave reggae an immense international reach. Though it is hard to pul