Israel Vibration
Three singers who met through polio rehabilitation turned physical struggle into some of roots reggae’s most resilient harmony. “The Same Song” opened a career that kept returning stronger after splits, migration and loss.
GO DEEPER
Lascelle “Wiss” Bulgin, Cecil “Skelly” Spence and Albert “Apple Gabriel” Craig met while being treated for polio and formed Israel Vibration in the early 1970s. After years singing on Kingston streets, they recorded “The Same Song” with producer Tommy Cowan in 1977, followed by an album whose Rastafari themes and fragile, interlocking voices brought international recognition. The trio relocated to the United States, split, then reunited in the late 1980s and built a long second life with RAS Records and Roots Radics. Apple left in 1997 and died in 2020; Skelly died in 2022. Wiss continued the name, and the 2025 album Reggae Music Never Dies included Skelly’s final recordings. The story is not inspirational wallpaper: disability, access, professional conflict and endurance all shaped the music’s actual route.
Where the history is argued
- Sources differ on the precise year the trio formally became Israel Vibration. The early-1970s formation and 1977 breakthrough are more secure than one exact founding date.
How they stand with the others
The group’s disability history belongs to its real biography, but the music should not be reduced to a triumph-over-adversity slogan.
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Last checked 1 September 2026