Junior Braithwaite
Encyclopedia
Franklin Delano Alexander Braithwaite, better known as Junior Braithwaite, (4 April 1949 – 2 June 1999) was a reggae
musician from Kingston
, Jamaica
, the youngest member of the vocal group, The Wailing Wailers. The Wailing Wailers was a vocal group Bob Marley
and Bunny Wailer
started in 1963, together with Braithwaite, when ska music had become popular in Jamaica. Soon after Beverly Kelso and Cherry Smith
joined the group as backing vocalists.
Braithwaite was with The Wailers for eight months and sang lead on such songs as, "Habits", "Straight and Narrow Way", "Don't Ever Leave Me", and "It Hurts To Be Alone". He had the best voice in The Wailers, according to Studio One's Coxsone Dodd
, who discovered the band's talent. Bob Marley later commented that, "Junior used to sing high. It's just nowadays that I'm beginning to realize that he sounded like one of the Jackson Five. When he left we had to look for a sound that Bunny, Peter and me could manage".
Braithwaite left the band in 1964 and moved to the United States
with hopes of pursuing a medical career. He lived primarily in Chicago
and southern Wisconsin
for the next 20 years, and returned to Jamaica in 1984 to work with Bunny Wailer on a Wailers' reunion project. With the assassination of Peter Tosh
in September 1987, plans for world tours with a reunited Wailers never materialized.
Braithwaite was murdered on 2 June 1999 in the home of a fellow musician in Kingston, leaving only Bunny Wailer and Beverley Kelso as surviving members of the original Wailers.
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
musician from Kingston
Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island...
, Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, the youngest member of the vocal group, The Wailing Wailers. The Wailing Wailers was a vocal group Bob Marley
Bob Marley
Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley, OM was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead singer for the ska, rocksteady and reggae band Bob Marley & The Wailers...
and Bunny Wailer
Bunny Wailer
Bunny Wailer, , also known as Bunny Livingston and affectionately as Jah B, is a singer songwriter and percussionist and was an original member of reggae group The Wailers along with Bob Marley and Peter Tosh...
started in 1963, together with Braithwaite, when ska music had become popular in Jamaica. Soon after Beverly Kelso and Cherry Smith
Cherry Smith
Cherry Smith was a backing vocalist for the original Wailers from 1963 to 1966.Smith was also called Cherry Green , but was born Ermine Ortense Bramwell in the Trench Town district of Kingston. She was nicknamed "Cherry" as a girl due to her light complexion...
joined the group as backing vocalists.
Braithwaite was with The Wailers for eight months and sang lead on such songs as, "Habits", "Straight and Narrow Way", "Don't Ever Leave Me", and "It Hurts To Be Alone". He had the best voice in The Wailers, according to Studio One's Coxsone Dodd
Coxsone Dodd
Clement Seymour "Sir Coxsone" Dodd, CD was a Jamaican record producer who was influential in the development of ska and reggae in the 1950s, 1960s and beyond...
, who discovered the band's talent. Bob Marley later commented that, "Junior used to sing high. It's just nowadays that I'm beginning to realize that he sounded like one of the Jackson Five. When he left we had to look for a sound that Bunny, Peter and me could manage".
Braithwaite left the band in 1964 and moved to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
with hopes of pursuing a medical career. He lived primarily in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
and southern Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
for the next 20 years, and returned to Jamaica in 1984 to work with Bunny Wailer on a Wailers' reunion project. With the assassination of Peter Tosh
Peter Tosh
Peter Tosh, born Winston Hubert McIntosh , was a Jamaican reggae musician who was a core member of the band The Wailers , and who afterward had a successful solo career as well as being a promoter of Rastafari.Peter Tosh was born in Grange Hill, Jamaica, an illegitimate child to a mother too young...
in September 1987, plans for world tours with a reunited Wailers never materialized.
Braithwaite was murdered on 2 June 1999 in the home of a fellow musician in Kingston, leaving only Bunny Wailer and Beverley Kelso as surviving members of the original Wailers.