Magano on the Road to Stardom Part 5

Fifth of a seven-part series.

Magano as backup singer for Bunny Wailer.

Bunny Wailer, given name Neville O’Riley Livingston, was a Jamaican singer, song writer, and percussionist. He has won the Grammy awards for Best Reggae album three times. In 1991 for “Time Will Tell: A tribute to Bob Marley.” In 1995 for “Crucial: Roots Classics” and in 1997 for “Hall of Fame: A tribute to Bob Marley’s 50th anniversary.”

He was an original member of the reggae group The Wailers, along with Bob Marley and Peter Tosh.
Bunny left the band in 1973 to pursue a solo career. Some of his singles include “Bright Soul”, “Rise and Shine” and “Free Jah Children.”

Bob Marley died May 11, 1981, Peter Tosh on September 11, 1987, while Bunny passed away on March 2, 2021.

Magano a US-based reggae singer says “Singing was no where in my thought as a career in my teenage years, it was fashion designing. My first song, “Trains and Boats and Planes”, a cover version of the Dionne Warwick song, played on IRIE F.M. in 1998. But even then I did not imagine I would be one of Bunny Wailer’s backup singers.”

“I had met him (Bunny Wailer) before when he passed through a studio. It was awesome having met the only Wailer alive because Peter Tosh and Bob Marley had died.”

“I didn’t see him after that meeting, which had nothing to do with business. It was like four to five years later. I wasn’t really thinking about him. I had my regular nine to five job.”

“Two of my friends were backup singers for Bunny and apparently he wanted a third person. So, when I got the news I got down to business, listening to his playlist. I later met Bunny Wailer again in kingston at a rehearsal. The backup singers were female Diva Chai and male Koptiq Sun, first known as Jeoffrey Star.”

“We rehearsed about 20 songs done by Bunny Wailer and the first show set for Miami. It was a lot of people and we did some 15 songs. It was probably just Bunny in concert. We were booked in a comfortable hotel some days before the show and we had a mini tour bus for transportation.”

“After that show we did about ten more shows – local and abroad. The most memorable was in Miami. This was a daytime show because we could see the reaction of the people. There were very responsive and went wild singing along. There were no less than five thousand people.”

But as the saying goes, all good things will come to an end and Magano parted ways with Bunny Wailer. “I had some urgent business on hand and could not keep up with the rehearsals, so I had to part company.”

Be sure to read part six: Magano in New York.

​(Photo by MARCO 151)