The Wailers, formed in Kingston, Jamaica in 1963, were a vocal group consisting of Junior Braithwaite, Beverly Kelso, Bunny Livingston, Bob Marley, Peter McIntosh, and Cherry Smith. Braithwaite, Kelso, and Smith had departed by 1966, leaving the trio of Livingston, Marley, and McIntosh. 

By the early '70s, they had begun playing musical instruments and added a rhythm section consisting of brothers Aston "Family Man" Barrett (bass) and Carlton "Carly" Barrett (drums). After recording extensively in Jamaica, this unit was signed to Great Britain's Island Records, which issued their label debut, Catch a Fire, in April 1973.

In 1974, the original group had split, with McIntosh (later billed as Peter Tosh) and Livingston (later billed as Bunny Wailer) leaving. The album was credited to Bob Marley & the Wailers. Their breakthrough came with an appearance at the Lyceum in London on July 18, 1975. The show was recorded and quickly released on LP as Live! and Marley and his reggae music became an international sensation. 

The 1974 success had done much to popularize reggae, but Marley himself had by now achieved stardom as a performer. "No Woman, No Cry," a song originally heard on Natty Dread, reached the UK. charts in its live rendition in September 1975, becoming a Top 40 hit. With that, both Natty Dread and Live! reached the British charts. 

Bob Marley & the Wailers reached their commercial apex in the US. with the April 1976 release of their next studio album, Rastaman Vibration. 

In May 1977, Marley & the Wailers took a slightly more up-tempo direction; it produced three Top 40 chart hits in the UK. 

The fifth Bob Marley & the Wailers studio album, Survival, was released in October 1979. It reached the Top 20 in the UK., with the single "So Much Trouble in the World" reaching the charts, but in the U.S., Uprising, released in June 1980 and prefaced by the propulsive single "Could You Be Loved," gave Marley a commercial rebound. The single and album were Top Ten hits in the UK. The US. was more resistant, but "Could You Be Loved" reached the R&B charts and the album charted higher than any of the band's albums since Exodus.

Uprising might have done better domestically if Marley hadn't become ill shortly after its release and been forced to cancel his tour promoting it after only a few dates. His death in May 1981 of course brought an end to the band known as Bob Marley & the Wailers, but it didn't affect Bob Marley & the Wailers' success. Even before his death, his back catalogue had begun to sell, with a British single release of "Three Little Birds" from Exodus reaching the Top 20 in the fall of 1980. 

Shortly after Marley's passing, "No Woman, No Cry" was reissued and reached the UK. Top Ten, with Live! returning to the album chart. The posthumous Confrontation was issued two years after Marley's death, in May 1983. 

In May 1984, Bob Marley and the Wailers cemented their legacy with the album collection Legend: The Best of Bob Marley & the Wailers, released in the UK.

In May 1984, and in August in the U.S. The album topped the UK charts with "One Love/People Get Ready," originally released on Exodus, becoming a Top Five single, "Waiting in Vain" returning to the Top 40, and "Could You Be Loved" returning to the charts. Before the end of the century, it had been certified for sales of over ten million copies. Its success, in turn, stimulated sales of the Marley catalogue in the US.

Subgroups stemmed out of the Wailers' various former members. Barrett assembled the Wailers Band in 1989, continuing to play with various line-ups for decades to come. 

In addition to frequent touring, the Wailers Band released albums like 1991's Majestic Warriors and 2020's One World.

In 2008, Junior Marvin and Al Anderson split from The Wailers Band to form the Original Wailers.

This offshoot released its debut EP Miracle in 2012, which was nominated for Best Reggae Album at that year's Grammy Awards.