Bunny Wailer
The quiet third corner of the original Wailers became a master of his own roots world. Blackheart Man joined memory, Rastafari and rural Jamaican imagination in one of reggae’s defining solo albums.
Neville “Bunny” Livingston grew up with Bob Marley and co-founded the Wailers with Marley and Peter Tosh. His harmonies and songs were part of the group from ska through the early-1970s international breakthrough, but touring pressures and his own commitments led him away from the band after 1973. His 1976 solo debut Blackheart Man answered any idea that leaving meant retreat. The album built a deeply personal roots-reggae world from Rastafari, childhood, exile, landscape and warning. Bunny later explored dancehall, disco-reggae and reinterpretations of the Wailers catalog while remaining fiercely protective of the trio’s shared history. He won three Reggae GRAMMYs and died in 2021.