Dodd tells Peter, Bunny to sing without Bob
THE 1973 album, Burnin’, was the last from The Wailers, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer leaving the group and the Wailers name continuing with Bob Marley and the Wailers, who released the Natty Dread album in 1974. In 1976, Bunny Wailer and Peter Tosh released their debut solo albums Blackheart Man and Legalise It, respectively.
While still a unit, Bob, Peter and Bunny had an extensive run at Clement Dodd’s Studio One at 13 Brentford Road, where Kingsley Goodison saw them working together. He also witnessed the moment when Dodd put Peter and Bunny on solo paths, long before the official break-up.
“When Bob left and went to Delaware to stay with his mother, during that time, they were more or less idle,” Dodd said. Marley went to Delaware, USA, in 1966, just after marrying Rita Anderson. The Delaware Libertarian’s website says that the People’s Festival is held annually in honour of this period in Bob’s life. So, Goodison said, “Dodd instructed them, ‘Gentlemen, not because Bob is not here you guys not going to sing’. He was going to get Peter and Bunny to start their solo careers.” Bunny Wailer recorded Dancing Shoes, and Peter Tosh recorded I Am the Toughest. Bob Marley stayed less than a year in the US, and Goodison told The Sunday Gleaner, “Bob Marley came back with a different kind of feeling about the recording business. He wanted to be his own boss, Mr Dodd was glad to see back Bob. The first song they made (when From left: Bunny Livingston, Bob Marley and Peter Tosh when they just formed The Wailin’ Wailers.
Marley returned), the three of them, was Bend Down Low.” The Midnight Raver blog says it was The Wailers last recording session at Studio One and, confirming
Marley’s intention to “be his own boss”, the website says the seven inch appeared on the trio’s Wail ’N, Soul ‘M imprint.
All three have been bestowed by the Jamaican Government with the Order of Merit (OM), Marley getting the honour in 1981, Peter Tosh in 2012 and Kingsley Goodison Sir ‘Coxsone’ Dodd
Bunny Wailer in 2017. The Jamaica Information Service’s website says:
“The honour of the Order of Merit may be conferred upon any citizen of Jamaica or distinguished citizen of a country other than Jamaica (an honorary member) who has achieved eminent international distinction in the field of science, the arts, literature or any other endeavour. It is not conferred upon more than two persons in any one year. The motto of the Order is, ‘He that does truth comes into the light’, and a member of the Order is styled ‘The Honourable’.”