Biography of Bob Marley

Robert "Bob" Nesta Marley OM ( February 6, 1945 – May 11, 1981 ) was a Jamaican singer, songwriter, guitarist, & activist. He is the most widely known performer of reggae music. A faithful Rastafari, Marley is regarded by many as a prophet of the religion.

Marley is best known for his reggae songs, which include the hits "I Shot the Sheriff", "No Woman, No Cry", "Three Little Birds", "Exodus", "Could You Be Loved", "Jammin", "Redemption Song", & "One Love". His posthumous compilation album Legend (1984) is the best-selling reggae album ever, with sales of more than 12 million copies

Early life & career
Marley was born in the small village of Nine Mile in Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica. His father, Norval Sinclair Marley (born in 1895), was a Jamaican of English descent, with parents from Sussex. Norval was a Marine officer & captain, as well as a plantation overseer, when he married Cedella Booker, a black Jamaican then eighteen years old. Norval provided financial support for his wife & child, but seldom saw them, as he was often away on trips. Marley was ten years old when his father died of a heart attack in 1955 at age 60.

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Marley suffered racial prejudice as a youth, because of his mixed racial origins, & faced questions about his own racial identity throughout his life. He once reflected:

I don't have prejudice against myself. My father was a white & my mother was black. Them call me half-caste or whatever. Me don't dip on nobody's side. Me don't dip on the black man's side nor the white man's side. Me dip on God's side, the one who create me & cause me to come from black & white.

Marley & his mother moved to Kingston's Trenchtown slum after Norval's death. He was forced to learn self-defense, as he became the target of bullying because of his racial makeup & small stature (5'4" or 163 cm tall) . He gained a reputation for his physical strength, which earned him the nickname "Tuff Gong".

Marley became friends with Neville "Bunny" Livingston (later known as Bunny Wailer), with whom he started to play music. He left school at the age of 14 & started as an apprentice at a local welder's shop. In his free time, he & Livingston made music with Joe Higgs, a local singer & devout Rastafari who is regarded by many as Marley's mentor. It was at a jam session with Higgs & Livingston that Marley met Peter McIntosh (later known as Peter Tosh), who had similar musical ambitions.

In 1962, Marley recorded his first two singles, "Judge Not" & "One Cup of Coffee", with local music producer Leslie Kong. These songs, released on the Beverley's label under the pseudonym of Bobby Martell, attracted little attention. The songs were later re-released on the album Songs of Freedom, a posthumous collection of Marley's songs.

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Musical career

The Wailers

In 1963, Bob Marley, Bunny Livingston, Peter McIntosh, Junior Braithwaite, Beverley Kelso, & Cherry Smith formed a ska & rocksteady group, calling themselves "The Teenagers". They later changed their name to "The Wailing Rudeboys", then to "The Wailing Wailers", & finally to "The Wailers". By 1966, Braithwaite, Kelso, & Smith had left The Wailers, leaving the core trio of Marley, Livingston, & McIntosh.

Marley took on the role of leader, singer, & main songwriter. Much of The Wailers' early work, including their first single Simmer Down, was produced by Coxsone Dodd at Studio One. Simmer Down topped Jamaican Charts in 1964 & established The Wailers as one of the hottest groups in the country. They followed up with songs such as "Soul Rebel" & "400 Years".

In 1966, Marley married Rita Anderson, & moved near his mother's residence in Wilmington, Delaware for a few months. Upon returning to Jamaica, Marley became a member of the Rastafari movement, & started to wear his trademark dreadlocks (see the religion section for more on Marley's religious views).

After a conflict with Dodd, Marley & his band teamed up with Lee "Scratch" Perry & his studio band, The Upsetters. Although the alliance lasted less than a year, they recorded what many consider The Wailers' finest work. Marley & Perry split after a dispute regarding the assignment of recording rights, but they would remain friends & work together again.

Between 1968 & 1972, Bob & Rita Marley, Peter McIntosh & Bunny Livingston re-cut some old tracks with JAD Records in Kingston & London in an attempt to commercialize The Wailers' sound. Livingston later asserted that these songs "should never be released on an album … they were just demos for record companies to listen to."

The Wailers' first album, Catch A Fire, was released worldwide in 1973, & sold well. It was followed a year later by Burnin', which included the songs "Get Up, Stand Up" & "I Shot The Sheriff". Eric Clapton made a hit cover of "I Shot the Sheriff" in 1974, raising Marley's international profile.

The Wailers broke up in 1974 with each of the three main members going on to pursue solo careers. The reason for the breakup is shrouded in conjecture; some believe that there were disagreements amongst Livingston, McIntosh, & Marley concerning performances, while others claim that Livingston & McIntosh simply preferred solo work. McIntosh began recording under the name Peter Tosh, & Livingston continued as Bunny Wailer.

Bob Marley & The Wailers
Despite the breakup, Marley continued recording as "Bob Marley & The Wailers". His new backing band included brothers Carlton & Aston "Family Man" Barrett on drums & bass respectively, Junior Marvin & Al Anderson on lead guitar, Tyrone Downie & Earl "Wya" Lindo on keyboards, & Alvin "Seeco" Patterson on percussion. The "I Threes", consisting of Judy Mowatt, Marcia Griffiths, & Marley's wife, Rita, provided backing vocals.

In 1975, Marley had his international breakthrough with his first hit outside Jamaica, "No Woman, No Cry" from the Natty Dread album. This was followed by his breakthrough album in the US, Rastaman Vibration (1976), which spent four weeks on the Billboard charts Top Ten.

In December 1976, two days before " Smile Jamaica", a free concert organized by the Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley in an attempt to ease tension between two warring political groups, Marley, his wife, & manager Don Taylor were wounded in an assault by unknown gunmen inside Marley's home. Taylor & Marley's wife sustained serious injuries, but later made full recoveries. Bob Marley received only minor injuries in the chest & arm. The shooting was thought to have been politically motivated, as many felt the concert was really a support rally for Manley. Nonetheless, the concert proceeded, & an injured Marley performed as scheduled.

Marley left Jamaica at the end of 1976 for England, where he recorded his Exodus & Kaya albums. Exodus stayed on the British album charts for 56 consecutive weeks. It included four UK hit singles: "Exodus", "Waiting In Vain", "Jamming", "One Love", & a rendition of Curtis Mayfield's hit, "People Get Ready". It was here that he was arrested & received a conviction for possession of a small quantity of cannabis while traveling in London.

One Love Peace Concert
In 1978, Marley performed at another political concert in Jamaica, the One Love Peace Concert, again in an effort to calm warring parties. Near the end of the performance, by Marley's request, Manley & his political rival, Edward Seaga, joined each other on stage & shook hands.

Survival, a defiant & politically charged album, was released in 1979. Tracks such as "Zimbabwe", "Africa Unite", "Wake Up & Live", & "Survival" reflected Marley's support for the struggles of Africans. In early 1980, he was invited to perform at the April 17 celebration of Zimbabwe's Independence Day.

Uprising (1980) was Bob Marley's final studio album, & is one of his most religious productions, including "Redemption Song" & "Forever Loving Jah". It was in "Redemption Song" that Marley sang the famous lyric,

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“ Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery
None but ourselves can free our minds… ”

Confrontation, released posthumously in 1983, contained unreleased material recorded during Marley's lifetime, including the hit "Buffalo Soldier" & new mixes of singles previously only available in Jamaica.

Later years

Cancer diagnosis
In July 1977, Marley was found to have malignant melanoma in a football wound on his right hallux (big toe). Marley refused amputation, citing worries that the operation would affect his dancing, as well as the Rastafari belief that the body must be "whole":

“ Rasta no abide amputation. I don't allow a man to be dismantled. ”
—From the biography Catch a Fire

Marley may have seen medical doctors as samfai (tricksters, deceivers). True to this belief Marley went against all surgical possibilities & sought out other means that would not break his religious beliefs. He also refused to register a will, based on the Rastafari belief that writing a will is acknowledging death as inevitable, thus disregarding the everlasting character of life.

Collapse & treatment
The cancer then metastasized to Marley's brain, lungs, liver, & stomach. After playing two shows at Madison Square Garden as part of his fall 1980 Uprising Tour, he collapsed while jogging in NYC's Central Park. The remainder of the tour was subsequently cancelled.

Bob Marley played his final concert at the Stanley Theater in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on September 23, 1980. The live version of "Redemption Song" on Songs of Freedom was recorded at this show. Marley afterwards sought medical help from Munich specialist Josef Issels, but his cancer had already progressed to the terminal stage.

Death & posthumous reputation
While flying home from Germany to Jamaica for his final days, Marley became ill, & landed in Miami for immediate medical attention. He died at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Miami, Florida on the morning of May 11, 1981 at the age of 36. His final words to his son Ziggy were "Money can't buy life." Marley received a state funeral in Jamaica, which combined elements of Ethiopian Orthodoxy & Rastafari tradition. He was buried in a crypt near his birthplace with his Gibson Les Paul, a soccer ball, a marijuana bud, a ring that he wore every day that was given to him by the Prince Asfa Wossen of Ethiopia (eldest son of HIM), & a Bible. A month before his death, he was awarded the Jamaican Order of Merit.

Bob Marley's music has continuously grown in popularity in the years since his death, providing a stream of revenue for his estate & affording him a mythical status in 20th century music history. He remains enormously popular & well-known all over the world, particularly so in Africa. Marley was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. Time magazine chose Bob Marley & The Wailers' Exodus as the greatest album of the 20th century.

In 2001, the same year that Marley was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, a feature-length documentary about his life, Rebel Music, was nominated for Best Long Form Music Video documentary at the Grammys. It won various other awards. With contributions from Rita, the Wailers, & Marley's lovers & children, it also tells much of the story in his own words.

In Summer 2006, the City of New York renamed a portion of Church Avenue from Remsen Avenue to East 98th Street in the East Flatbush Section of Brooklyn Bob Marley Blvd.

Religion
Bob Marley was a member of the Rastafari movement, whose culture was a key element in the development of reggae. Bob Marley became the leading proponent of the Rastafari, taking their music out of the socially deprived areas of Jamaica & onto the international music scene.

Now considered a "Rasta" legend, Marley's adoption of the characteristic Rastafari dreadlocks & famous use of cannabis as a sacred sacrament in the late sixties were an integral part of his persona. He is said to have entered every performance proclaiming the divinity of Jah Rastafari.

Many of Marley's songs contained Biblical references, sometimes using wordplay to fuse activism & religion, as in "Revolution" & "Revelation":

“ Revelation reveals the truth … ”
“ It takes a revolution to make a solution … ”

After his travels to Ethiopia, Bob Marley became a convert to Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church after receiving the sacrament of baptism. Marley died an Orthodox Christian.

Children
Bob Marley had 13 children: three with his wife Rita, two adopted from Rita's previous relationships, & the remaining eight with separate women. His children are, in order of birth:

Imani Carole, born May 22, 1963, to Cheryl Murray;
Sharon, born November 23, 1964, to Rita in previous relationship;
Cedella Marley born August 23, 1967, to Rita;
David "Ziggy", born October 17, 1968, to Rita;
Stephen, born April 20, 1972, to Rita;
Robert "Robbie", born May 16, 1972, to Pat Williams;
Rohan, born May 19, 1972, to Janet Hunt;
Karen, born 1973 to Janet Bowen;
Stephanie, born August 17, 1974; according to Cedella Booker she was the daughter of Rita & a man called Ital with whom Rita had an affair; nonetheless she was acknowledged as Bob's daughter;
Julian, born June 4, 1975, to Lucy Pounder;
Ky-Mani, born February 26, 1976, to Anita Belnavis;
Damian, born July 21, 1978, to Cindy Breakspeare;
Makeda, born May 30, 1981, to Yvette Crichton.

Tours
Apr-Jul 1973: Catch a Fire Tour (England, USA)
Oct-Nov 1973: Burnin' Tour (USA, England)
Jun-Jul 1975: Natty Dread Tour (USA, Canada, England)
Apr-Jul 1976: Rastaman Vibration Tour (USA, Canada, Germany, Sweden, Netherlands, France, England, Wales)
May-Jun 1977: Exodus Tour (France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, England)
May-Aug 1978: Kaya Tour (USA, Canada, England, France, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium)
Apr-May 1979: Babylon by Bus Tour (Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Hawaii)
Oct-Dec 1979: Survival Tour (USA, Canada, Trinidad/Tobago, Bahamas)
Apr 1980: Zimbabwe Tour
May-Sep 1980: Uprising Tour (Switzerland, Germany, France, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, USA)

Awards & honors

Marley's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame1976: Band of the Year (Rolling Stone)
June 1978: Awarded the Peace Medal of the Third World from the United Nations
February 1981: Awarded Jamaica's third highest honor, the Jamaican Order of Merit
March 1994: Inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
1999: Album of the Century for Exodus (Time Magazine)
February 2001: A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
February 2001: Awarded Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
2004: Rolling Stone Magazine ranked him #11 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
"One Love" named song of the millennium by The BBC
Voted as one of the greatest lyricists of all time by a BBC poll.

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An Index with links to almost all our sites.

A History of Jamaica

A History of Barbados

A History of Trinidad & Tobago

A History of the Spanish conquest of Peru

The Story of the Caribs - A History

A site on the El Nino Famines that killed 10s of millions of Indians, & Chinese & others in the 19th Century

The Highland Clearances & it's full terribleness

The Full Story of the Beja People, who it is felt inspired the Roman idea of the Blemmye people, who live in Sudan

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