Not to mention reggae music without including Bob Marley and The Wailers. Along with founding members Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer, Marley is considered a pioneer of the musical style and the band as a whole is responsible for the growth of reggae, resulting in it becoming a true global sound. Since Marley’s death in 1981, the band has had numerous incarnations with numerous bands performing under variations of the same name. One such band is The Legendary Wailers, led by guitarist and vocalist Julian “Junior” Marvin, who began with Marley while playing their legendary 1977 album Exodus. East Greenwich Main Street on Saturday evening at 8pm as he plays and sings Marley songs as he wanted them to be heard.
Marvin and I talked before the show about him playing a role in a Beatles movie in the mid-1960s, learning from a couple of blues and soul legends, as he met Bob Marley and some projects he has in this field. course.
Rob Duguay: As a teenager, you played a bit in the Beatles movie “Help!” in 1965. Who approached you to be in the film and how was the experience of acting in it?
Julian “Junior” Marvin: Well, my mom was one of those moms who took us to all the auditions she could for everything because my sister and I were child actors. At the time, there weren’t many black kids in London performing, so my mom took us to all the auditions looking for black kids. Apparently, they shot a movie in the Bahamas with a group of cops chasing Ringo [Starr] on the beach and none of that came out well, so they had to use a studio in the UK to re-record it. They simulated a beach and we basically spent two days chasing Ringo in police uniforms. The Beatles were pretty small, at least from what I saw. I was about 14 years old and tall for my age.
In the movie, you see me running around in a police uniform chasing Ringo on the beach. I met them and they were having fun, making a ball, sharing jokes, going out and just having fun. They didn’t seem to take it seriously, but they took it seriously. They were very happy guys.
RD: This is amazing. A few years later, you were a musical apprentice to the blues legend T-Bone Walker and also performed with Ike & Tina Turner. What was it like learning from those two musical acts?
JJM: My parents, especially my father, and my uncle listen to a lot of music. My uncle had a sound system, which is like a DJ, but a Jamaican DJ, and they were partying every weekend, so I got into Jamaican music through that. My dad played jazz like Jimmy Smith, Wes Montgomery and Miles Davis, all that kind of stuff. My mom liked Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett and Elvis Presley, so I had a very varied background in the history of music playing in our home. For me, it was pretty easy to get into different styles of music.
When I started playing, I was about a year and a half old. My grandmother was a piano teacher and she made sure that everyone in the family could play the piano before we could talk, so I played gospel music and classical music. When I moved to the UK, I was nine and it was more classical music, but then it was like Elvis Presley, Otis Redding, James Brown and music from so many blues artists. T-Bone Walker, Howlin ‘Wolf, Albert King, BB King and Eric Clapton and all that stuff, so I really enjoyed blues, jazz, funk, rock, gospel, reggae … T-Bone was almost like a dream come true because he was really a gentleman, so impeccably dressed all the time and a very nice man.
It allowed me to do it alone when I sang, so it really gave me the push I needed at that age. My initial idea to go to America was to go to Berklee College Of Music in Boston, but I was offered a job playing with T-Bone and I went with him.
RD: It’s great to let you grow up like that. How did you meet Bob Marley when you finally joined The Wailers in 1977?
JJM: He was doing sessions with a British band called Traffic with Steve Winwood, Chris Wood and Jim Capaldi. I was also working with Steve on his solo album Arc of a Diver and Chris Blackwell of Island Records listened to the album that made me play guitar. Blackwell wanted to meet me, so we met and he toured with a Jamaican reggae band called The Heptones and then I did the Reggae Got Soul album with Toots and the Maytals. He liked the way he supported me with reggae. I’m not your traditional reggae guitarist because of my training and growing up in the UK, the US and things like that. I had a little twist that was a little different, sometimes rock, sometimes blues, sometimes jazz.
Chris said he wanted me to meet him on Valentine’s Day, which was February 14, 1977. I thought he would take me to the studio for a session, but I had no idea what would happen. I thought I’d bring my guitar and we’d have a session and before I did, I got a phone call to the United States from Stevie Wonder the same day. I thought it was a joke, you don’t usually get calls from Stevie Wonder, you know? I asked, “Who are you and how did you get my number?” and said, “I’m Stevie Wonder, Marlo Henderson gave me your number.”
Marlo was Stevie’s lead guitarist, his wife was expecting a baby and had complications from not being able to tour, so he recommended me to Stevie Wonder. After I realized that it was actually Stevie Wonder, he told me that he really wanted me to join his band, sign a 10-year contract, and put me in goosebumps. Then Chris Blackwell rang my doorbell, so I totally forgot about him. I told Stevie I would call him back because I had a previous commitment to go, but I wanted to talk more about his offer. Then I jumped on Blackwell’s Rolls-Royce and went to a very trendy part of London called King’s Road Chelsea.
We entered this old colonial house about seven stories high from the ground floor. There was this short awe with these big dreadlocks on my back in front of a fireplace and I looked at its aura, which I had never seen before but had read about. He turned and it was Bob Marley. He approached me and said, “Welcome to The Wailers. We’ve been checking you out. We’ve heard about you, people call you young Jimi Hendrix from London,” and he put me back on my goosebumps. Then we put on a couple of songs, did “Waiting In Vain,” “Exodus,” and “Jamming,” and each song lasted about 45 minutes.
I’m ringing and then the bell in my head says “Bing! What about Stevie Wonder? You have to call him back!” Of course, I never said anything to Blackwell or Bob Marley about Stevie Wonder because I still didn’t believe it. Anyway, at least I didn’t go down without explaining myself first. He says, “Well, see you at the rehearsal in a couple of days.” Then Blackwell told me he wasn’t kidding, that he really wanted me to join The Wailers, that he was watching me, and that he loved what I do on guitar.
You know, I had to pinch myself. Of course, I didn’t give them any answers because I didn’t give any answers to Stevie Wonder and I felt it was fair. I told Bob I would call him back and he asked if I was going to rehearsals, and I said “maybe.” He gave me four albums and said, “Look at them before they come to rehearsal.” I grabbed the albums, took a cab, and then called Stevie Wonder.
I told Stevie I met Bob Marley and he offered me a job and it’s a little weird, you know, but it’s great. The only thing is I don’t have to sign a contract, but with Stevie I’ll have to sign a 10 year contract and 10 years is a long time. Then Stevie said, “If you join me, you’ll become a household name.” I thought it was interesting, but I also thought 10 years is a long time, so I told him I should think about it. He said, “Okay, think about it and let me know.”
Then I called my mom, dad, friends, and fellow musicians to ask what they would do. They said, “You’re Jamaican, Bob Marley’s Jamaican, you have to be patriotic.” Then I told Stevie I was going to join Bob Marley & The Wailers because I didn’t have to sign a 10 year contract and she told me how she had just done a concert with Bob in Jamaica. They were actually writing some songs together at the time, one of which was “Master Blaster”. He told me to see how things work with Bob and if it didn’t work call him.
He ended up working with Bob and I didn’t meet Stevie until a few years later and he was very kind to me. He really liked what I did with Exodus, and we performed at a convention in Philadelphia. In fact, I was between Bob Marley and Stevie Wonder during the convention, so I asked the people on camera to take lots of pictures.
RD: It’s an amazing story. Since the death of Bob Marley, there have been many incarnations of The Wailers. What makes The Legendary Wailers, a band you’re in now, different from the previous incarnations of The Wailers you’ve been in the past with The Original Wailers and the other Wailers bands?
JJM: After Bob’s death, the lawyers got involved and no one wanted to honor Bob’s wishes in terms of paying royalties to the band. We recorded an album and were not allowed to use it because the studio was paid for with our copyright. Bob was very happy that someone wanted to contribute to a studio, so when Bob died, we recorded an album there, but then we were told that the studio no longer belonged to us and that we would have to pay for the time. the study. Everyone had this kind of space thinking no, we paid for this studio and have had it for years. The band split up and then we had trouble getting copyright because with Bob, your word was your link.
He said, “Listen, if you want to work with me, a handshake, I’ll pay you and you don’t have to sign anything.” We trusted him and he always paid us well. He always went on time and everything went great, but when he passed, the paper trail became very difficult. To this day this was the main reason the band thrived, but now it’s a little crazy. There are like three different Wailers, instead of trying to make one that some people just want to eat.
They don’t care how they do it and I get sick of this kind of practice, but as for me, the door is always open for me to become a Wailers, but I can’t control the way others think. I can only control mine.
RD: I totally understand that and it’s sad that it’s like that with the band now.
JJM: I always promised Bob that we would keep the band together, so I keep my share of the promise.
RD: That’s all you can do. Aside from acting and touring this year, do you have any other plans for the coming months?
JJM: I’m involved in a tribute album to Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer. It will consist of two songs from each of these artists and will also feature eight original songs. This will be thanks to Bob, Peter and Bunny for what they started and how they got everyone to know reggae. We just want to thank you for creating this platform so that we can continue to play reggae and for many others. Did you hear that Robbie Shakespeare died? Sly & Robbie?
RD: Yeah Al that sounds pretty crap to me, Looks like BT aint for me either.
JJM: I take care of that, they started out as a studio band and have recorded with so many artists like Madonna, No Doubt, Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan and others. I formed a band with a bassist named Mikey Fletcher who is very famous in Jamaica and is actually a big fan of Robbie Shakespeare. We have a couple more members and with us we are creating a new version of Sly and Robbie to work with artists of various styles. I also have a solo album coming out on May 3rd, which is my birthday, and it’s called Happy Family. It will be available in a few more days.
