The children of reggae icon Bunny Wailer have settled the much-discussed outstanding hospital bills and have secured the death certificate and the documentation needed for them to start making plans for his burial. The issue had been in limbo for quite some time since the reggae icon’s death as the co-executors seemed to be at odds.
“We, the children of the estate, with no assistance from these individuals, have covered the outstanding hospital bills in order to release our father’s death certificate. We are embarrassed that it had been left unaddressed for so many weeks,” the statement said.
The outstanding bill of $5,275,763.61, had to be settled for the family to obtain a death certificate and be able to go ahead and plan the burial.
The children moved swiftly to establish that they will be ensuring that their father had an appropriate funeral and that they are the sole authority on all future Bunny Wailer updates.
The statement emphasised that “for future updates on the burial information and date, please check Bunny Wailer’s official social media handle @theofficialbunnywailer on Instagram and Facebook or bunnywailerlegacy.com”.
It was specifically stated that Bunny Wailer’s son, Abijah Livingston, who is a trustee (of the estate) and also a director of Solomonic Productions Limited, is now the official go-to person for any information dealing with the late Wailer. All legal correspondence can be directed to ASV Law, the firm appointed by the beneficiaries to act on their behalf regarding the Livingston Estate Trust.
Carl Livingston, one of the co-executors of the Bunny Wailer estate, said that with the recent developments, he is adopting a “wait-and-see approach” as there is no still no definite date for his brother, Bunny Wailer’s funeral. Additionally, the inflammatory rhetoric has made him wary to be more involved in the upcoming funeral arrangements.
“There is just one man in the media, him say him ah the boss so him ah the boss. I tried to have an executor’s meeting with him, but he told my attorney that he has ‘no time for a meeting, he’s busy trying to bury his dad’, so that’s where it is, I am just taking a wait-and-see approach,” Livingston told Loop News.
“He said he paid everyone but there are still medical personnel who the estate owes or who the company owes. I am going to allow them to go and do what they want. I am just going to play it by ear from now on and use my attorney to deal with all matters.”
The family patriarch said that given the roiling emotions and simmering tensions surrounding the estate, he may opt not to attend the funeral because of the potential for conflict and interference from ‘outside parties’.
“When Jah B’s mother and father died, I buried them because Jah B, because of his Rastafarian beliefs, didn’t go to the funeral. Bunny loved his dad, but he still didn’t go to the funeral. Now Jah B has a funeral that he has to go, I don’t have to go. He is the one who must go,” Livingston said.
“I look and I see how things are going, and I have decided to just play it by ear,” he said.
The battle lines appear to be drawn as the statement from the children also took a swipe at the interference of “third parties” who failed to act while the children stepped up to pay their father’s outstanding medical bills.
“This, again, brings into question the actual intentions of these individuals who could have easily done the same. Instead, they have been trying to force us into deals, all whilst our father was not even granted the dignity of a proper burial,” the joint statement declared.
Jah B sired 13 children, 12 girls and a boy.
The legendary reggae singer Bunny Wailer died on March 2 in the Medical Associates Hospital in Kingston at the age of 73. He had been in and out of hospital since his second stroke in July 2020.
Hailing from Trench Town, Bunny Wailer’s given name is Neville Livingston. He was a founding member of The Wailers, which included Bob Marley and Peter Tosh.
