Reggae legend Bunny Wailer has died

Reggae legend Bunny Wailer has died aged 73.

A cause of death has not yet been confirmed. He had suffered a stroke in October 2018 which resulted in speech problems, and had been in hospital after having a second stroke in July 2020.

The Jamaican artist from Kingston, real name Neville O'Riley Livingston, was the last living original member of reggae group The Wailers, which he founded alongside Bob Marley and Peter Tosh in 1936.

Bunny Wailer and Bob Marley were childhood friends who went on to achieve worldwide success together with hits such as ‘Simmer Down’ and ‘Stir It Up’. They share a half sister, Pearl Livingston, born to Bunny’s dad and Bob Marley’s mother.

In 1974 Bunny went solo, and went on to win the GRAMMY Awards for Best Raggea Album three times, for 1991’s ‘Time Will Tell: A Tribute to Bob Marley’, 1995’s ‘Crucial! Roots Classics’ and 1997’s ‘Hall of Fame: A Tribute to Bob Marley's 50th Anniversary’. He also featured on Toots and the Maytals' GRAMMY-winning 2004 album ‘True Love’.

Bunny founded the Solomonic label, which put out hundreds of releases, many of them his own material.

In 2017 Bunny was awarded the Order of Merit by the Jamaican government, which is the country’s fourth highest honour. He had previously been awarded the fifth highest honour, the Order of Jamaica, in 2012.

In 2017 Bunny opened a museum in Kingston to mark his 70th birthday, called The Wailers' Museum - A Tribute to the Life and Legacy of Bunny Wailer.

Watch an interview with Bunny Wailer below.