World of Jamaican Music

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An illustrated map of the creators of Jamaican music and how they are connected.

Remembering Derrick Harriott (1939-2026), rocksteady singer and producer. Read his story →

Earl "Wya" Lindo

Artist. Reggae

Active
1970-2017
Sunrise
January 7, 1953, Kingston, Jamaica
Sunset
September 4, 2017, London, England (cardiac failure)

Earl Wilberforce Lindo, known as Wya or Wire, played keyboards on Catch a Fire and Burnin' and again from 1978 until Marley's sunset.

He began taking sessions while still at Excelsior High School and recorded at Studio One in the early 1970s, playing on Dennis Brown's "Money in My Pocket" for Joe Gibbs and Bob Andy's "Games People Play" at Federal. He worked with the Now Generation, the Federal house band, whose members included the keyboardist Robbie Lyn, the brothers Mikey and Geoffrey Chung, and the drummer Mikey "Boo" Richards. Robbie Lyn said he "injected a new style of organ playing to reggae," and Barry Biggs, who heard "natural talent and feel like no-one else," recalled the phrases he put into the music. Aston Barrett heard him and recommended him for television work, which led to sessions with Alva Lewis and Tommy McCook.

He joined the Wailers in 1972, left after Burnin' to work with Taj Mahal, and rejoined in 1978 for Babylon by Bus, Survival, and Uprising. Marley kept two keyboard players from that point, Lindo and Tyrone Downie. He also recorded with Burning Spear, Marcia Griffiths, Judy Mowatt, Rita Marley, Max Romeo, I-Roy, and Toots and the Maytals, and appears on the Impact All-Stars dub album cut at Randy's.

He remained in the Wailers Band after 1981 and toured Britain with them in March 2017. He departed in a London hospital on September 4, 2017, at sixty-four, hours after being admitted; the cause was cardiac failure and arrhythmia. He was buried in Lambeth.

Last updated November 5, 2026

Connections

Notes

  1. The Rough Guide lists "Earl 'Wire' Lindo (organ)" in the line-up that recorded Catch a Fire. Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 137. The High Court in 2006 found that "the Barretts, and others including Earl 'Wya' Lindo and other session musicians, performed on" both Catch a Fire and Burnin': Barrett v. Universal-Island Records Ltd. and Others, [2006] EWHC 1009 (Ch), May 15, 2006, https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ewhc/ch/2006/1009, para. 22.
  2. The Observer says he began as a session player while at Excelsior and "launched his recording career at Studio One," naming "Money in My Pocket" (which it credits to Derrick Harriott) and "Games People Play." "Passage - Earl 'Wya' Lindo," Jamaica Observer, December 11, 2017, https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/2017/12/10/passage-earl-wya-lindo/. The Rough Guide says Brown's first cut of "Money in My Pocket" came out on Joe Gibbs's Record Globe label in 1972, produced for Gibbs by Niney. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 161, 196.
  3. The Observer names the Now Generation as Federal's house band and lists these members. "Passage - Earl 'Wya' Lindo."
  4. "Remembering Wya," Jamaica Observer, September 12, 2017, https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/2017/09/12/remembering-wya/.
  5. Wikipedia says Aston Barrett heard Lindo and recommended him for television work. "Earl Lindo," Wikipedia, accessed October 1, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Lindo.
  6. The Rough Guide says Lindo left at the end of 1973, when the original Wailers trio split, "taking up an offer from US roots musician Taj Mahal." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 138. Wikipedia says he joined the Wailers in 1973 for a US tour, left for Taj Mahal's band in 1974, and rejoined in 1978 for Babylon by Bus, Survival, and Uprising. "Earl Lindo," Wikipedia.
  7. Marcia Griffiths told the Observer that "Bob Marley did love him sound, that's why he had two keyboard players, Tyrone Downie and Wya." "Passage - Earl 'Wya' Lindo."
  8. Wikipedia mentions his work with Burning Spear and on the Impact All-Stars dub set "recorded at Randy's Studio 17." "Earl Lindo," Wikipedia.
  9. The Wailers' manager, Lennie Chen, told the Observer that Lindo played the band's fifteen-show UK tour in March 2017. "Passage - Earl 'Wya' Lindo."
  10. The Observer reported that he died in a London hospital a couple of hours after being admitted with stomach pains, and later gave the cause as "acute cardiac failure and arrhythmia"; he was buried at Lambeth Cemetery after a service in Brixton Hill. "Bob Marley's Keyboard Player 'Wya' Lindo Dead," Jamaica Observer, September 5, 2017, https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/2017/09/04/bob-marleys-keyboard-player-wya-lindo-dead/; "October 5 Funeral for Wya," Jamaica Observer, October 3, 2017, https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/2017/10/02/october-5-funeral-for-wya/; "Passage - Earl 'Wya' Lindo."

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