THE 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL MUSICIANS OF ALL TIME

7 The 100 Most Influential Musicians of All Time 7

Domino, the Moonglows, and pop singer Ricky Nelson,
but, when his big chance came in 1961 to record with
producer Leslie Kong, he cut “Judge Not,” a peppy ballad
he had written based on rural maxims learned from his
grandfather. Among his other early tracks was “One Cup
of Coffee,” issued in 1963 in England on the Island
Records label.
Marley also formed a vocal group in Trench Town with
friends who would later be known as Peter Tosh (original
name Winston Hubert MacIntosh) and Bunny Wailer
(original name Neville O’Reilly Livingston). The trio,
which named itself the Wailers (because, as Marley stated,
“We started out crying”), received vocal coaching by
noted singer Joe Higgs. Later they were joined by vocalist
Junior Braithwaite and backup singers Beverly Kelso and
Cherry Green.
In December 1963 the Wailers entered Coxsone Dodd’s
Studio One facilities to cut “Simmer Down,” a song by
Marley that he had used to win a talent contest in King-
ston. “Simmer Down” was an urgent anthem from the
shantytown precincts of the Kingston underclass. A huge
overnight smash, it played an important role in recasting
the agenda for stardom in Jamaican music circles. No
longer did one have to parrot the stylings of overseas
entertainers; it was possible to write raw, uncompromising
songs for and about the disenfranchised people of the
West Indian slums.
This bold stance transformed both Marley and his
island nation, engendering the urban poor with a pride
that would become a pronounced source of identity in
Jamaican culture—as would the Wailers’ Rastafarian faith,
a creed popular among the impoverished people of the
Caribbean, who worshiped the late Ethiopian emperor
Haile Selassie I as the African redeemer foretold in popular