PRESS RELEASE-March 1, 2001 London, England

Additionally, Levy commented that both Barrett brothers were "partners" with Bob Marley as they constituted the other half of the group "The Wailers". Futhermore since the beginning both brothers had never been paid songwriters or publishing income for the several songs they wrote for multiple Bob Marley and the Wailers records. Despite the lack of significant financial compensation for their major contributions (they wrote, played, produced and arranged all the songs with Bob) to the international success of Bob Marley and the Wailers, the straw that broke the camels back was last weeks U.S. Grammy lifetime achievement award which was given to only to Bob Marley and not to the entire group "The Wailers".

Citing recent multiple examples where "The Wailers" had been intentionally and systematically eliminated from recognition with Bob Marley, the lawyers made their case that someone involved with the Estate was trying to delete the Wailers importance in the hugely successful career of Bob Marley and the Wailers. Additionally, it was pointed out that there were several examples where the Barrett's songwriting credits were changed and given to Bob Marley.

In the 2000 Island Records release of Chant Down Babylon, the song "Rebel Music" written by Aston "Familyman" Barrett originally recorded for Natty Dread, was credited to Bob Marley. English lawyer Chris Hutchings said the facts suggest there are several legal claims available to Aston "Familyman" Barrett including copyright, defamation, and breach of fiduciary duty. Hutchings explained that under English law, as it pertains to the entertainment business, record companies and publishers have a fiduciary duty to pay their clients. Hutchings cited an English case involving Elton John where the court wrote "there was a fiduciary obligation on the part of the Defendants (the Publishers) to account properly for royalties received".

What is at stake is tens of millions of dollars as Bob Marley is one, if not the biggest, selling catalogue artist in the history of recorded music. Furthermore, later this month Island/Universal plans to re-release the entire Bob Marley and the Wailers catalogue to coincide with the 20th anniversary of Bob Marley's death. It was explained that Aston "Familyman" Barrett had attempted, in the last several years, to work directly with the family of Bob Marley to work this out, but they refused.

Commenting on this action Aston "Familyman" Barrett stated that, "Bob was my best friend and my partner and I loved him dearly. We wrote songs together and produced music together that today still touches the heart and soul of everyone around the world. Upon hearing all this today, I know Bob must be rolling over in his grave. But today I am left with no choice but to stand up for my rights and insist on collecting, what I worked my whole life for and what I am rightfully owed." The Wailers featuring original members Aston "Familyman" Barrett, Al Anderson, and Earl "Wya" Lindo are currently on tour in America and plan to tour Europe in May and June.

SUMMARY OF CHRIS HUTCHINGS' SPEECH AT PRESS CONFERENCE MARCH 2001

Partner specializing in Entertainment and Media Law at London based law firm Charles Russell. The firm acted for Bunny Wailer in obtaining for him and Peter Tosh's estate $2 million from the Marley Estate. We are talking about one of the biggest selling catalogue groups in the History of popular music, with an estimated 250 million units sold.

The value of this is put at hundreds of millions of dollars. What is at stake is a substantial share of that sum and all future money from the re-released catalogue, which could be worth tens of millions of pounds. We are now actively preparing for a claim to recover sums due, and to be due, to Aston "Familyman" Barrett, and also to protect his reputation, given that he was an integral part of the whole "Bob Marley and the Wailers" story. Our claim is expected to include the following: Breach of fiduciary duty:

This is one of the most important elements of our proposed claim. English Courts have developed over many years an approach to the law whereby an aggrieved party is entitled to look to the Court of Equity in circumstances where he has not been treated in a fair manner. There is case law to back up our claim. I quote from Elton John's 1986 successful claim against his publisher. It was found "there was a fiduciary obligation on the part of the Defendants (the Publishers) to account properly for royalties received".

"Commercially, the copyright agreement was in the nature of a joint venture and the writers would need to place trust and confidence in the publisher over the manner in which it discharged its exploitation function". "Nor did the failure to complain for so many years make it unconscionable for the Plaintiffs to complain".

Copyright/Contract There appears to be a powerful claim in copyright in respect of the songs written and also contributed to by Aston "Familyman" Barrett. There has been a failure to attribute this work to him, which is a clear infringement of moral rights. Defamation Despite his huge contributions to "Bob Marley and the Wailers" there has been a systematic exclusion of Aston "Familyman" Barrett explicitly in terms of the failure to credit him with his work and more generally the re-writing of history to remove his name from the credit of the works. The Courts have had a long history of protecting artist treated unfairly in this way, relying upon principles of fairness. There are a number of questions of great importance, not only in financial terms but also in terms of reputation and the history of one of the major bands of modern music, which must be answered satisfactorily, in the interests of fairness.

SUMMARY OF STEWART LEVY'S PRESS CONFERENCE ON MARCH 8, 2001

My name is Stewart Levy. I am a member of the firm of Eisenberg Tanchum & Levy, a New York law firm. I have traveled to London on behalf of Aston "Family Man" Barrett to investigate how an egregious wrong can be righted. Mr. Barrett was not only the bassist for Bob Marley & The Wailers, but he was the group's arranger, producer and at times, writer.

While recordings by Bob Marley & The Wailers have sold hundreds of millions of copies, making the group perhaps the world's biggest selling recording group, Mr. Barrett has been systematically excluded, both in terms of credit and financial compensation. Mr. Barrett has only grudgingly gone public with this problem and only after extreme provocation.

As a Jamaican, a musician, and a close friend of Bob Marley, Mr. Barrett has been hesitant to air what he views as 'family dirty laundry.' He has for years tried to resolve this matter with the Marley Estate but has been completely stonewalled. Worse yet, not only has the Estate failed to rectify the problems, it appears that an effort exists to systematically obliterate Barrett's connections with Bob Marley.

The final straw, the event which has triggered Mr. Barrett springing into action was last week's Grammy Awards. At the ceremony a Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Bob Marley, but no mention was made of the Wailers. Bob Marley has been elevated to iconic status at the expense of the Wailers. It's not a see-saw. Promoting the image and ideas of Bob Marley does not require diminishing the role of Mr. Barrett and The Wailers.

Worse yet, it appears that this derogation of the Wailers will only accelerate with what Island Records/Universal Records has announced will be beginning in late March, 2001, a reissuance of recordings by Bob Marley and the Wailers. Mr. Barrett is concerned that such reissued recordings will minimize or even omit credit to the Wailers.

There are certain indisputable facts:

1. It is a fact, not a theory, that in 1974 Aston and Carlton Barrett, together with Bob Marley, signed an exclusive recording artist contract with Island Records.
2. It is a fact, not a theory, that Island Records has not paid Barrett any artist royalties under that agreement.
3. It is a fact, not a theory that Island Records has not paid Barrett any songwriter or publisher royalties. Since Bob Marley and The Wailers enjoyed such immense popular success, the extent of these royalties conceivably is in the tens of millions of dollars.

WHERE HAS THE MONEY GONE?

Certainly not to Barrett. The paper trial is very unclear. Various documents exist which suggest that Bob Marley Music and its successors received the monies, but there is no document of which I am aware to justify such payment. There appears to be no document which legitimately permits Island Records to avoid its payment obligations.

In my legal career I have spent years in litigation against the Bob Marley Estate seeking to enforce publishing rights which were taken away by a systematic concealment of authorship identity and, uncovered fraudulent behavior which led to Rita Marley resigning as executrix of the Estate.
Mr. Barrett's predicament is not surprising. Here are the questions to which answers are needed.

Why hasn't Island Records honored its contractual duties to pay artist and publishing royalties to Barrett?
Was such non-payment a breach of fiduciary duties?
Does Island have the right to exploit re-issues?
I now turn the podium over to Christopher Hutchings of Charles Russell, our English solicitor.

Bill Reid - Rising Tide Productions - Manager.

Photo SFR Mix live 2000

Give thanks.