Mundell was born in 1962 into a middle-class family. His father was a lawyer. Hugh Mundell was introduced to reggae by the charismatic producer Boris Gardiner, who was a family friend, not a next-door neighbor as some believed. With Gardiner's assistance, Mundell recorded his first single — "Where is Natty Dread?" — at just 13 years old, with production by the legendary Joe Gibbs.
In 1978, when he was already 16, he recorded the acclaimed "Africa Must Be Free by 1983", produced by the great Augustus Pablo, and Mundell wrote ALL the songs on the album, with two recorded at the famous Black-Ark studio and supervised by the "boss" Lee Perry: "Let's All Unite" and "Why Do Black Man Fuss & Fight".
The album received 5 stars from Rolling Stone magazine and was included in the book "Tom Moon 2008 - 1000 Recordings To Hear Before You Die". He was the greatest influence on Junior Reid, who was 3 years younger, and Mundell was the first to record him. Hugh Mundell recorded many 12" singles, all under the pseudonym Jah Levi.
Mundell was shot and killed in the very year he chose for Africa's emancipation, 1983, while sitting in a vehicle with Junior Reid on Grant's Pen Avenue in Kingston, Jamaica. The star recorded 5 great LPs and numerous singles, and leaves behind not only longing, but the question of what this born talent might have become if his life had not been cut short so abruptly.