History Music / BunnyWailer

* TheBandMinusTheFace: He was the defacto frontman for The Wailers for several months in 1966 when Bob Marley went on hiatus from the group to work in America. Peter Tosh handled a few vocals in this period too, but not as often as Bunny, who wrote several of his signature songs then ("Who Feels It Knows It", "Dancing Shoes", "Sunday Morning" and "I Stand Predominate" being notable examples). Constantine "Vision" Walker was drafted in as a harmony vocalist, but he never had any leads.

* CutAndPasteTranslation: He was quite fond of this trope:
** "Blackheart Man" was remixed for international release. The original Jamaican version has never been reissued. Bunny also made a special version of the "Blackheart Man" album for digital services, which mixes the original tracks with dub versions, although this is no longer available.
** "Protest" has a different track order on international releases compared to the original Jamaican version, and also loses the Moses Children back cover artwork in favour of one that fits more with the front cover (which itself has some minor changes)
** "Roots Radics Rockers Reggae" is "In I Father's House" with "Cease Fire" and "The Conqueror" added and an alternate track order.
** "Rootsman Skanking" is "Rock N' Groove" with a different track order and edited tracks. There is a bizarre "Rock And Groove" CD from the 2000s which retains the edits made for Rootsman, but adds a number of later tracks.
** "Just Be Nice" is a remixed version of "Hook Line And Sinker" with a few extra tracks.
** "Crucial Roots Classics" features 5 of the 7 tracks from "Struggle" (which otherwise has never appeared on CD) and adds a number of singles, primarily early 80s ones which hadn't appeared on albums.
** "Time Will Tell" is "Tribute" with two extra tracks "Bellyfull" and "Rebel Music".

* Retraux: Dubstore reissued a number of old singles he was involved with, in particular, "Tread Along" and "Feel Alright" on red/gold/green Wail N' Soul M' labels. The original late 60s releases of these songs were on blank labelled records, as the band didn't have the budget for the multicoloured labels that they had previously been using. As a result these releases were designed to look as if they had.

!!To have you all, my tropeland would be like heaven to me:

* ThemeTune: "Rockers" was this to the 1978 movie of the same name, and increased his popularity as a result.

* GettingTheBandBackTogether: He was the leader of the short-lived Original Wailers project after Bob Marley's death along with Peter Tosh and Studio 1 era singers Junior Braithwaite and Constantine Vision Walker. The album was roughly half remixed JAD tracks (most of which hadn't been released at that point) and new songs written by Bunny. Though they released one single, "Music Lesson" in 1985, the album itself had TroubledProduction, and almost fell apart completely due to the murder of Peter Tosh in 1987. Work on the project resumed with Peter's son Andrew Tosh filling in for him, and eventually came out in 1993. It's seen as more a curio than a great album in its own right, being that the production is decidedly 80s and was essentially a Bunny vanity project.

* StageName: From a childhood nickname - and it's actually a Jamaican dialectal word for 'bonnie' (nothing to do with a bunny rabbit). Bunny even inferred he didn't like the comparison - in "Riding High", in which he states "Just like a rabbit, you're always on the run".

* DespairEventHorizon: Many who knew him stated that after Bunny's time in prison in the late 60s, his personality had considerably changed, leading to his distrust of authority that characterises much of his later career decisions.

* RereleaseTheSong: Bunny rerecorded virtually every song he was involved with prior to his first album, and he also covered numerous Bob Marley songs - most notably on the 2CD set "Hall Of Fame". A particularly interesting example is "Fancy Curls", Bob Marley's first written song, that Bunny remembered hearing him enter into a talent competition as a kid.

!!"Tropes":

* CoveredUp: Bunny's signature song, "Dreamland" is a reworded cover of El Tempo's "My Dream Island", an obscure doo-wop song from 1962.
* CoversAlbum: Both "Tribute" and "Hall Of Fame" entirely covered Bob Marley songs. His earlier "Sings The Wailers" featured reworkings of his, Bob and Peter's pre-1972 material.

* SignatureSong: Numerous ones including "Dreamland", "Dancing Shoes", "Pass It On", "Blackheart Man", "Rockers" and "Cool Runnings".

* RereleaseTheSong: Bunny rerecorded virtually every song he was involved with prior to his first album, and he also covered numerous Bob Marley songs - most notably on the 2CD set "Hall Of Fame". A particularly interesting example is "Fancy Curls", Bob Marley's first written song, that Bunny remembered

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: A few of his albums have never been released on CD in full - these include "Struggle", "In I Father's House", "Hook Line And Sinker" and "Live!". In addition, this was the case with a number of his early single recordings, such as "Searching For Love", "Lifeline", "Arab Oil Weapon", "Pass It On" and the original "Bide Up", until Dubstore reissued them several years ago.
* OlderThanTheyThink: It was not uncommon for Bunny to write songs years before and not to get to record them till he went solo. For example, "Pass It On" was the first song he wrote, and was going to be recorded in 1962. "Battering Down Sentence (aka Fighting Against Conviction)" was written in 1968 during Bunny's time in prison (but not recorded till 1975). Bunny also stated that "Scheme Of Things" was written in 1971, and Bob wrote "Trench Town Rock" around the bassline, thus the track was not used until he finally recorded it for Protest in 1977.
* RecycledTheme: The earliest recorded version of "Pass It On" (a 1971 dubplate version first released on the JAD CD "Original Cuts") was split into two songs - the chorus was reused for "Pass It On" (his 1972 single version and the later Burnin' rerecording), and the verses were reused in his later track "Innocent Blood".
* RerecordTheSong: Bunny rerecorded virtually every song he was involved with prior to his first album, and he also covered numerous Bob Marley songs - most notably on the 2CD set "Hall Of Fame". A particularly interesting example is "Fancy Curls", Bob Marley's first written song, that Bunny remembered

Neville O'Riley Livingston, better known as Bunny Wailer (or Bunny Livingston) was a Jamaican musician who was the third member of the singing trio The Wailers featuring [[Bob Marley]] and [[Peter Tosh]]. He was the longest living member too, as whilst both Bob and Peter died in the 80s, Bunny lived until 2021, when he passed away at the age of 73. He was Bob's stepbrother in his childhood (his father having gotten together with Bob's mother), and his sister had a child with Peter Tosh, so there was a family connection too.