Bunny Rugs
Artist. Reggae, roots, dancehall
- Active
- 1966-2014
- Sunrise
- 1948, Mandeville, Manchester, Jamaica
- Sunset
- February 2, 2014, Orlando, Florida, United States
- Also recorded as
- Bunny Scott
- Also known as
- William Clarke, William "Bunny Rugs" Clarke
William "Bunny Rugs" Clarke was the husky-voiced lead singer of Third World from 1976 until his sunset, the voice on "96 Degrees in the Shade," "Now That We Found Love" and "Try Jah Love."
Born in Mandeville, the son of an Anglican preacher, he moved with his family to downtown Kingston in 1950; at eighteen he became resident singer with Charlie Hackett and the Souvenirs at the Kittymat Club on Maxfield Avenue, and he studied painting at the Jamaica School of Arts and Crafts. A year in New York in 1968 did not suit him, and back in Kingston he fronted Inner Circle at the Tunnel club. His reggae version of Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" (1973) was an underground hit, and at the Black Ark he recorded an album that Lee Perry credited to "Bunny Scott," as well as "Bushweed Corntrash" with Ricky Grant.
In New York again in 1976 he met former Inner Circle members touring as Third World and replaced Milton "Prilly" Hamilton as lead singer, taking the name Bunny Rugs because he liked to sleep on rugs on the floor. He sang on every Third World album after the first: 96 Degrees in the Shade, with "1865" and "Jah Glory," Journey to Addis (1978), with "Now That We Found Love," and, after the band backed Stevie Wonder on "Master Blaster," "Try Jah Love" (1982), which Wonder wrote and produced. Of the band's soul and pop leanings he said, "Definitely a reggae band, yes."
The Rough Guide faults Third World's critics for ignoring the quality of his vocals, and counts him among the singers who grafted soul vocal technique onto dancehall riddims. His solo work, which it thought too scant, includes Talking to You, produced by Jack Scorpio, "Here Comes Rudie" with Gregory Isaacs, "Down in the Ghetto" with Bounty Killer, and Time (2012). He departed at home in Florida at sixty-five; the cause was leukemia.
Last updated November 4, 2026
Connections
- Third World (band)
- Inner Circle (band)
- Lee "Scratch" Perry (producer)
- Jack Scorpio (producer)
- Gregory Isaacs (collaborator)
- Clive Hunt (collaborator)
- Bounty Killer (collaborator)
- Black Ark (session work)
Notes
- Associated Press, "Reggae Singer 'Bunny Rugs' Clarke Dies at Age 65," TheGrio, February 4, 2014, https://thegrio.com/2014/02/04/reggae-singer-bunny-rugs-clarke-dies-at-age-65/. Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 148, praises his vocals.
- David Katz, "RIP Bunny Rugs, Vocalist of Third World," Red Bull Music Academy Daily, February 10, 2014, https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2014/02/bunny-rugs-rip.
- Katz, "RIP Bunny Rugs."
- Katz, "RIP Bunny Rugs."
- Katz, "RIP Bunny Rugs." On the Third World albums: Associated Press, "Bunny Rugs Clarke Dies."
- Associated Press, "Bunny Rugs Clarke Dies," quoting a 1992 Billboard interview.
- Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 148, 322-23. Katz, "RIP Bunny Rugs," which judges Time his only solo album compelling "from start to finish." Associated Press, "Bunny Rugs Clarke Dies," which reports his death on a Sunday, in Orlando by a former bandmate's account.
