NEPA Scene Staff

Guitarist Junior Marvin leads Legendary Wailers at Penn’s Peak in Jim Thorpe on May 16

Guitarist Junior Marvin leads Legendary Wailers at Penn’s Peak in Jim Thorpe on May 16
Decrease Font Size Increase Font Size Text Size Print This Page

From a press release:

It was announced today that Jamaican guitarist and singer Junior Marvin, best known for his work with Bob Marley and the Wailers and later incarnations of the Wailers, will bring his own reggae band, The Legendary Wailers, to Penn’s Peak in Jim Thorpe on Saturday, May 16 at 8 p.m.

Tickets, which are $25 in advance or $30 the day of the show, go on sale this Saturday, Feb. 8 at 10 a.m. at all Ticketmaster outlets, the Penn’s Peak box office (325 Maury Rd., Jim Thorpe), and Roadies Restaurant and Bar (325 Maury Rd., Jim Thorpe). Penn’s Peak box office and Roadies Restaurant ticket sales are walk-up only; no phone orders.

Julian “Junior” Marvin was born in Kingston, Jamaica. He moved to London as a child, where his family and the U.K. theater community nurtured his love for acting and music. He appeared in The Beatles’ film “Help,” followed by a number of successful appearances on British television. He was also a member of the London cast of the musical “Hair” and can be heard on the original London cast recording.

After playing in various London-based bands, including Blue Ace Unit, Herbie Goins & The Night-Timers, White Rabbit, and Salt & Pepper, Marvin continued his musical apprenticeship in America, playing with such blues and R&B legends as T-Bone Walker, Billy Preston, and Ike & Tina Turner. He quickly earned a reputation as an innovative and expressive blues rock guitarist.

Marvin followed up with his own rock band, Hanson, who was quickly signed to Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s Manticore label by famed Atlantic Records executive Mario “The Big M” Medious. This was followed by the Hanson album “Magic Dragon.” Finding himself an in-demand session guitarist, particularly for artists on the Island Records label, he contributed to albums by Traffic, Fairport Convention, Reebop Kwaku Baah, Toots & The Maytals, Stomu Yamashta, Remi Kabaka, Eddie Quansah, Rico Rodriguez, and Steve Winwood.

On Feb. 14, 1977, Marvin was invited to join both Stevie Wonder’s band and Bob Marley and the Wailers. His parents and musician friends helped him decide to accept Bob Marley’s invitation because they were both Jamaicans. The rest is history. The acclaimed “Exodus” LP became Marvin’s debut with Bob Marley and the Wailers. In 1999, Time Magazine declared it “The Album of the Century,” while “One Love” was named “Song of the Millennium” in 2000. Marvin was lead guitarist and musical contributor on all subsequent Bob Marley and the Wailers albums and toured worldwide with the Wailers until Marley’s passing in 1981.

Since then, Marvin has released four CDs with the Wailers: “ID,” “Majestic Warriors,” “Jah Message,” and “My Friends (Live),” plus numerous solo projects, including “Wailin’ for Love,” “Smokin’,” “To the Big M Music,” and “Lion to Zion Dub Wise.” In 2002, he was included in Guitar World Magazine’s “Top 100 Guitarists of All Time” for his guitar solo on “Africa Unite” from the Bob Marley and the Wailers album “Survival.” Marvin has also been a featured player on albums by Burning Spear, Bunny Wailer, Beres Hammond, Culture, Joe Higgs, SOJA, The Meditations, Israel Vibration, Alpha Blondy, The Congos, and Alborosie, among others.

After touring with many incarnations of the Wailers since Bob Marley’s passing, Marvin has stepped out to front his own unique version of the Wailers, playing and singing Bob Marley and the Wailers hit songs the way Marley intended them to be heard.

The Legendary Wailers’ new single “Message of Love” dropped in 2019, an introduction to the forthcoming album “Message of Love.”