Where this was said
Joe Higgs: The Man Who Built the Wailers
At 31:44 · chapter starts 31:15
Before anyone had heard of the Wailers, there was Joe Higgs. A Kingston musician whose 1960 debut 'Manny-O' (with Higgs and Wilson) was one of the first records ever pressed in Jamaica and sold 50,000 copies, Higgs was already an established figure when a group of teenagers started hanging around him. [1] — Josh "Joe Higgs is reggae's great unsung hero. This Kingston musician took teenage Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and Bunny Wailer under his wing and ta…" 31:40 Those teenagers were Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and Bunny Wailer. Rather than protecting his competitive edge, Higgs taught them everything — how to sing, how to write songs, how to perform. Josh and Chuck are clearly moved by this act of mentorship: the argument is made plainly that the Wailers as a world-historical musical force probably would not exist without Joe Higgs. The early Wailers songs, like the 1963 'Simmer Down,' sound recognisably like Bob Marley's voice — but the music is pure American R&B. The transformation into reggae would take nearly a decade.
Joe Higgs is reggae's great unsung hero. This Kingston musician took teenage Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and Bunny Wailer under his wing and taught them how to sing, write songs, and make music — at a time when most artists would have focused on their own careers. Without him, the Wailers probably just would have sucked.
Joe Higgs' 1960 debut hit 'Manny-O' with Higgs and Wilson was one of the first records ever pressed and sold in Jamaica, selling 50,000 copies — a remarkable figure for the era.
Bob Marley's father Norval Sinclair Marley was a white Jamaican plantation overseer in his 60s who married Marley's mother when she was 18. He provided some financial support but was largely absent. Marley grew up split between rural Jamaica with his mystic herbalist grandfather and Trenchtown.
