Ямайкалық регги тобы: Боб Марли және The Wailers

Jamaican reggae band

Bob Marley and the Wailers (previously known as The Wailers and prior to that The Wailing Rudeboys, The Wailing Wailers and The Teenagers) were a Jamaican ska, rocksteady and reggae band. The founding members, in 1963, were Bob Marley (Robert Nesta Marley), Peter Tosh (Winston Hubert McIntosh), and Bunny Wailer (Neville Livingston). During 1970 and 1971, Wailer, Marley and Tosh worked with renowned reggae producers Leslie Kong and Lee "Scratch" Perry. They released four albums before signing to Island Records in 1972. Two more albums were created before Tosh and Wailer left the band in 1974, citing grievances over label treatment and ideological differences. Marley carried on with a new line up, including the I Threes that put out seven more albums. Marley died of cancer in 1981. The Wailers were a groundbreaking ska and reggae group, noted for songs such as "Simmer Down", "Trenchtown Rock", "Nice Time", "War", "Stir It Up" and "Get Up, Stand Up".

The band formed when self taught musician Peter Tosh (1944–1987) met the singers Bunny Wailer (1947–2021) and Bob Marley (1945–1981) in 1963. They developed a ska vocal group called The Teenagers. The band topped the Jamaican charts with "Simmer Down", which was recorded in 1963 at Studio One with the rhythm section from the studio house band The Skatalites. "Simmer Down" was an overnight hit and played an essential role in changing the musical agenda in Jamaica from imitating foreign artists, to capturing the lives and spirit of Jamaica. Wailer, Marley and Tosh recorded with Lee "Scratch" Perry and his studio band the Upsetters. They also worked with renowned reggae producer Leslie Kong, who used his studio musicians, called Beverley's All Stars (Jackie Jackson, Paul Douglas, Gladstone Anderson, Winston Wright, Rad Bryan, Hux Brown) to record the songs that would be released as an album titled The Best of The Wailers. By late 1963, singers Junior Braithwaite, Beverley Kelso, and Cherry Smith had joined the group. The line up consisted of Braithwaite on vocals, Marley on guitar, Tosh on keyboard, Wailer on percussion, with Smith and or Kelso on backing vocals. Kelso remembered those early recordings fondly:

After we rehearsed, under this big mango tree on Second Street in Trench Town, the next morning, I think it was in late 1963, we went to Studio 1 and recorded Simmer Down and some other songs. It was Peter, Bunny, Junior, Bob, and me. I will never forget. Sid Bucknor was the engineer, and Coxsone was also there along with Roland and Jackie Mittoo. We recorded Simmer Down about 10 times, probably because Dodd wanted to get the best cut, she said. In 1965, Kelso left the band. Marley, Tosh, Wailer and Braithwaite took turns on lead vocals. Braithwaite left shortly after providing lead vocals for the single "It Hurts to be Alone", leaving the band consisting of the trio of Wailer, Marley and Tosh. Constantine "Dream" Walker provided backing vocals from 1966 to 1967. In May 1970, the band recorded with renowned reggae producer Leslie Kong; producing The Best of the Wailers, which they released later in 1971 as their fourth album. Over the rest of 1970 and 1971, the band worked with Lee 'Scratch' Perry, producing the bands second and third albums, Soul Rebels (1970) and Soul Revolution Part II (1971). During this time, the Upsetters members Aston "Family Man" Barrett (bass) and his brother Carlton Barrett (drums) were recruited as instrumental backing for The Wailers.

In 1972, while in London, the Wailers asked their road manager Brent Clarke to introduce them to Chris Blackwell, who had licensed some of their Coxsone releases for his Island Records. The Wailers felt they were due royalties from these releases. Blackwell was not convinced, but he was impressed by their character. He thought they "exuded power and self possession" despite being poor. Despite not having seen the band perform live, he advanced them £4,000 to record an album. He did not even require them to sign anything, feeling they deserved a break. Jimmy Cliff, Island's top reggae star, had recently left the label. His departure may have primed Blackwell to find a replacement. In Marley, Blackwell recognized the elements needed to snare the rock audience: "I was dealing with rock music, which was really rebel music. I felt that would really be the way to break Jamaican music. But you needed someone who could be that image. When Bob walked in, he really was that image." The Wailers returned to Jamaica to record at Harry J's in Kingston, which resulted in the foundational tracks what would make up the album Catch a Fire. Primarily recorded on an eight track, Catch a Fire marked the first time a reggae band had access to a state of the art studio and were accorded the same care as their rock 'n' roll peers. He restructured Marley's mixes and arrangements. The tracks were overdubbed with the help of Wayne Perkins on guitar and John “Rabbit” Bundrick on keyboard. Their name is a spin on the Rastafarian "I and I" concept of the Godhead within each person. The album Natty Dread was released in 1974, the first without Tosh and Livingston and with the I Threes. Perry released two compilation albums for Trojan Records in 1974, Rasta Revolution and African Herbsman, which contained songs from Soul Rebels and Soul Revolution Part II, respectively, and he was the copyright holder of several songs from these albums. These changes caused a major dispute between Marley and Perry, when the former saw the albums, six months after their publication, in the Half Way Road in England. One of the last performances that included Marley was in 1980 at Madison Square Garden. His final live show was performed at the Stanley Theater in Pittsburgh. Marley died in a Miami hospital in 1981.

The music of Marley, Tosh and Wailer enjoyed considerable success as reggae music continued to gain popularity during 1980s. Carlton Barrett and Tosh died (both murdered) in 1987. The Wailers Band was formed by Aston Barrett in 1989. Braithwaite was murdered in 1999. The Original Wailers was formed by Anderson and Marvin in 2008, Cherry Smith died in 2008. Earl Lindo died in 2017. Alvin "Seeco" Patterson died in 2021. Bunny Wailer (Livingston) died in 2021. Keyboardist Tyrone Downie died in 2022. Aston Barrett died in February 2024. Donald Kinsey died in February 2024, on Bob Marley's birthday, February 6, three days after the loss of Aston Barrett. Beverley Kelso and Constantine Walker are the last surviving members of the group's line ups.

In 2001, Catch a Fire was reissued as a double album, with the first part being the previously unreleased 'Jamaican' versions of the song without Blackwell's overdubs and the second part being the album as it was released in 1972.