Of the three most famous Wailers, Bunny Wailer had the lowest profile in 1979. Unlike Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, he disliked touring and was not signed to a world-famous record label.

That year, Wailer met bass player Errol “Flabba Holt” Carter at Gregory Isaacs’s African Museum store at Chancery Lane, downtown Kingston. For much of the 1980s, the diminutive artiste and Holt’s band, The Roots Radics, had a fruitful relationship that produced some of his best work, including 1981’s Rock ‘n’ Groove album.

Holt describes Wailer, who died on March 2 at age 73 in Kingston, as “a genius”.

“Jah B did know di thing…have great ideas an’ always a search. Him did know di music from up to down,” he said.

Though The Roots Radics were arguably the hottest band in reggae, Holt admits being star-struck when he first met Wailer.

“Him did have on a cris’ khaki suit wid boots an’ him did a smoke a pipe. Him look militant, like one a dem state trooper a foreign. Him look pon mi an’ sey, ‘A yuh name Flabba Holt?’ ” Holt recalled.

The Radics were red-hot at the time, cutting a string of hit songs at Channel One in Kingston with producers Henry “Junjo” Lawes and Linval Thompson. Holt remembered Wailer as a neighbour from his childhood at Metcalfe Street in Denham Town.

His colleagues in the Radics were guitarists Eric “Bingy Bunny” Lamont and Dwight Pinkney, drummer Lincoln “Style” Scott and keyboardist Wycliffe “Steely” Johnson. The first song they did with Wailer was Roots Radics Rockers Reggae, which can be found on his In I Father’s House album, released in 1979.

They did one-off sessions at Harry J recording studio in Kingston, with engineer Syd Bucknor, that yielded songs like Power Struggle, Ram Dancehall, Rockers and Crucial. The latter was the biggest hit in Jamaica for 1980.

The Radics also backed Isaacs on Sunday Morning, which Wailer produced for his Solomonic label. But it was another track that transformed the partnership between artiste and band.

“Him come studio one day an’ sey ‘listen da song ya.’ It was Cool Runnings, but it did dey pon a computer riddim an’ never soun’ good. Suh, wi guh a Harry J an’ lick it wid di band, an’ wi end up a do a album,” said Holt.

That album was Rock ‘n’ Groove, a masterpiece that was flush with hit songs, including the title, Dance Rock, Cool Runnings, Rootsman Skanking and Ballroom Floor.

Wailer and The Roots Radics Band toured the United States, their most memorable performance coming at Madison Square Garden in 1986. They also played on the three albums that won him Grammy Awards in the 1990s.