SOUND PROJECTIONS

AN ONLINE QUARTERLY MUSIC MAGAZINE

EDITOR: KOFI NATAMBU

WINTER, 2016

VOLUME TWO NUMBER TWO

NINA SIMONE

Featuring the Musics and Aesthetic Visions of:

NAT KING COLE
January 2-8

ETTA JAMES
January 9-15

JACKIE MCLEAN
January 16-22

TERRI LYNE CARRINGTON
January 23-29

NANCY WILSON
January 30-February 5

BOB MARLEY
February 6-12

LOUIS ARMSTRONG
February 13-19

HORACE SILVER
February 20-26

SHIRLEY HORN
February 27-March 4

T-BONE WALKER
March 5-11

HOWLIN’ WOLF
March 12-18

DIANNE REEVES
March 19-25

http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/bob-marley-singersongwriteractivist

Date: 2-6-45:

This date marks the birth of Bob Marley in 1945. He was a Jamaican singer and songwriter whose name more than anyone represents reggae music, the tenets of Rastafarianism, and the struggle of the economically and politically oppressed.

Bob Marley was born Robert Nesta Marley in rural Rhoden Hall in the Parish of St. Ann, Jamaica. His mother was a Jamaican teenager and his father a middle-aged captain in the West Indian regiment of the British Army. Marley's parents separated when he was six and soon thereafter Robert moved with his mother to Kingston, joining the wave of rural immigrants that flooded the capital during the 1950s and 1960s. They settled in Trench Town, a west Kingston slum named for the sewer that ran through it. There, Marley shared quarters with a boy his age named "Bunny" Neville O'Riley Livingston. The two made music together, making a guitar from bamboo, sardine cans, and electrical wire and learning harmonies from local singer Joe Higgs.

Like a number of their generation, Marley and Bunny listened to radio from New Orleans; and they embraced the sounds of rhythm and blues, combining them with pieces of their musical style, producing a new music called ska. Although encouraged by his mother to learn a craft, Marley soon abandoned an apprenticeship as a welder to devote himself to music. In the 1960s, Peter McIntosh (later Peter Tosh) joined Bunny and Marley's musical sessions, bringing a real guitar and the three formed the Wailing Wailers. During this time, Marley recorded a few songs with producer Leslie Kong, introduced to him through local ska celebrity Jimmy Cliff.

Marley's earliest recordings received little radio play but strengthened his desire to sing. Joined by Junior Braithwaite and two backup singers, the Wailing Wailers recorded on the Coxsone label, supervised by Clement Dodd. The group became Kingston celebrities in the summer of 1963 with Simmer Down, a song that both indicted and romanticized the lives of Trench Town toughs, known as "rude boys." The Wailing Wailers recorded more than 30 singles in the mid-1960s, reflecting and sometimes leading the evolution of reggae, from mento to ska to rock steady. In 1963 his mother moved to Delaware, Marley followed with a lengthy visit in 1966, working jobs for Chrysler and Dupont. Yet his heart lay back home, where his new wife, Jamaican Rita Anderson, and his old passion the music of the island remained.

When he returned to home in 1967 he converted from Christianity to Rastafarianism and began the mature stage of his musical career. Marley reunited with Bunny and Peter Tosh, and together they called themselves The Wailers and began their own record label, Wail 'N' Soul. They abandoned the rude-boy philosophy for the spirituality of Rastafarian beliefs slowing their music under the new “rock steady” influence. Although the Wailers began to fit together as a group, they did not find success beyond Jamaica. In 1970 bassist Aston "Family Man" Barnett and his drummer joined the Wailers. With this addition the group attracted the attention of Island Records, a company that had started in Jamaica but moved to London.

In 1971 they recorded Catch a Fire, the first Jamaican reggae album to enjoy the benefits of a large budget and widespread commercial promotion. Catch a Fire sold modestly, better in Europe than America, but well enough to sustain the company's interest in the group. During the early 1970s the band recorded an album each year and toured extensively, slowly breaking into the European and American markets. They played shows with Americans Bruce Springsteen and Sly & the Family Stone, and in 1974 Briton’s Eric Clapton scored a hit with I Shot the Sheriff, a Marley composition.

The next year, The Wailers made their first major splash in the United States with No Woman No Cry and an album of live material. At this point, however, Peter Tosh and Bunny left the band, they then took the name Bob Marley & the Wailers. Although Marley had blended politics and music since the early days of "Simmer Down," as his success grew he became more political. His 1976 song War transcribed a speech of Haile Selassie I, the Ethiopian king upon whom the Rastafarian sect was based. Along with Rastafarian spirituality and mysticism, his lyrics probed the turmoil in Jamaica. Prior to the 1976 elections, partisanship inspired gang war in Trench Town and divided the people against themselves.

By siding with Prime Minister Michael Manley and by singing songs of a political tone Marley angered some Jamaicans. After surviving an assassination attempt in December he fled to London until the following year. When Marley returned to Jamaica in 1978, he performed in the One Love Peace Concert, seeking to improve existing political conflicts. During this show Marley orchestrated a handshake between political opponents Manley and Edward Seaga, a highly symbolic moment. Marley's activism extended beyond Jamaica, and people from developing nations around the world found hope in his music.

The group's concerts in the late 1970s attracted enormous crowds in West Africa, Latin America, in Europe and the United States. In 1980 Bob Marley & the Wailers had the honor of performing at the independence ceremony when Rhodesia became Zimbabwe. His music became closely associated with the movement toward Black political independence that was then prominent in several African and South American countries. The first global pop star to emerge from a developing nation.

Bob Marley died May 11th 1981 in Miami, Fl. at the age of 36 from cancer that began in his toe and spread throughout his body. The Jamaican government held a national funeral honoring his memory. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.

Reference:
ACSAP Biographical Dictionary
R. R. Bowker Co., Copyright 1980
ISBN 0-8351-1283-1

http://www.allmusic.com/artist/bob-marley-mn0000071514/biography

BOB MARLEY
(1945-1981)
Artist Biography by Jason Ankeny

Reggae's most transcendent and iconic figure, Bob Marley was the first Jamaican artist to achieve international superstardom, in the process introducing the music of his native island nation to the far-flung corners of the globe. Marley's music gave voice to the day-to-day struggles of the Jamaican experience, vividly capturing not only the plight of the country's impoverished and oppressed but also the devout spirituality that remains their source of strength. His songs of faith, devotion, and revolution created a legacy that continues to live on not only through the music of his extended family but also through generations of artists the world over touched by his genius.

Robert Nesta Marley was born February 6, 1945, in rural St. Ann's Parish, Jamaica; the son of a middle-aged white father and teenaged black mother, he left home at 14 to pursue a music career in Kingston, becoming a pupil of local singer and devout Rastafarian Joe Higgs. He cut his first single, "Judge Not," in 1962 for Leslie Kong, severing ties with the famed producer soon after over a monetary dispute. In 1963 Marley teamed with fellow singers Peter Tosh, Bunny Livingston, Junior Braithwaite, Beverly Kelso, and Cherry Smith to form the vocal group the Teenagers; later rechristened the Wailing Rudeboys and later simply the Wailers, they signed on with producer Coxsone Dodd's legendary Studio One and recorded their debut, "I'm Still Waiting." When Braithwaite and Smith exited the Wailers, Marley assumed lead vocal duties, and in early 1964 the group's follow-up, "Simmer Down," topped the Jamaican charts. A series of singles including "Let Him Go (Rude Boy Get Gail)," "Dancing Shoes," "Jerk in Time," "Who Feels It Knows It," and "What Am I to Do" followed, and in all, the Wailers recorded some 70 tracks for Dodd before disbanding in 1966. On February 10 of that year, Marley married Rita Anderson, a singer in the group the Soulettes; she later enjoyed success as a member of the vocal trio the I-Threes. Marley then spent the better part of the year working in a factory in Newark, DE, the home of his mother since 1963.

Upon returning to Jamaica that October, Marley re-formed the Wailers with Livingston and Tosh, releasing "Bend Down Low" on their own short-lived Wail 'N' Soul 'M label; at this time all three members began devoting themselves to the teachings of the Rastafari faith, a cornerstone of Marley's life and music until his death. Beginning in 1968, the Wailers recorded a wealth of new material for producer Danny Sims before teaming the following year with producer Lee "Scratch" Perry; backed by Perry's house band, the Upsetters, the trio cut a number of classics, including "My Cup," "Duppy Conqueror," "Soul Almighty," and "Small Axe," which fused powerful vocals, ingenious rhythms, and visionary production to lay the groundwork for much of the Jamaican music in their wake. Upsetters bassist Aston "Family Man" Barrett and his drummer brother Carlton soon joined the Wailers full-time, and in 1971 the group founded another independent label, Tuff Gong, releasing a handful of singles before signing to Chris Blackwell's Island Records a year later.

1973's Catch a Fire, the Wailers' Island debut, was the first of their albums released outside of Jamaica, and immediately earned worldwide acclaim; the follow-up, Burnin', launched the track "I Shot the Sheriff," a Top Ten hit for Eric Clapton in 1974. With the Wailers poised for stardom, however, both Livingston and Tosh quit the group to pursue solo careers; Marley then brought in the I-Threes, which in addition to Rita Marley consisted of singers Marcia Griffiths and Judy Mowatt. The new lineup proceeded to tour the world prior to releasing their 1975 breakthrough album Natty Dread, scoring their first U.K. Top 40 hit with the classic "No Woman, No Cry." Sellout shows at the London Lyceum, where Marley played to racially mixed crowds, yielded the superb Live! later that year, and with the success of 1976's Rastaman Vibration, which hit the Top Ten in the U.S., it became increasingly clear that his music had carved its own niche within the pop mainstream.

As great as Marley's fame had grown outside of Jamaica, at home he was viewed as a figure of almost mystical proportions, a poet and prophet whose every word had the nation's collective ear. His power was perceived as a threat in some quarters, and on December 3, 1976, he was wounded in an assassination attempt; the ordeal forced Marley to leave Jamaica for over a year. 1977's Exodus was his biggest record to date, generating the hits "Jamming," "Waiting in Vain," and "One Love/People Get Ready"; Kaya was another smash, highlighted by the gorgeous "Is This Love" and "Satisfy My Soul." Another classic live date, Babylon by Bus, preceded the release of 1979's Survival. 1980 loomed as Marley's biggest year yet, kicked off by a concert in the newly liberated Zimbabwe; a tour of the U.S. was announced, but while jogging in New York's Central Park he collapsed, and it was discovered he suffered from cancer that had spread to his brain, lungs, and liver. Uprising was the final album released in Marley's lifetime -- he died May 11, 1981, at age 36.

Posthumous efforts including 1983's Confrontation, the best-selling 1984 retrospective Legend, and the 2012 documentary Marley kept the man's music alive, and his renown continued to grow in the years following his death -- even decades after the fact, he remains synonymous with reggae's world-wide popularity. In the wake of her husband's passing, Rita Marley scored a solo hit with "One Draw," but despite the subsequent success of singles "Many Are Called" and "Play Play," she had largely withdrawn from performing to focus on raising her children by the mid-'80s. Oldest son David, better known as Ziggy, went on to score considerable pop success as the leader of the Melody Makers, a Marley family group comprised of siblings Cedella, Stephen, and Sharon; their 1988 single "Tomorrow People" was a Top 40 U.S. hit, a feat even Bob himself never accomplished. Three other Marley children -- Damian, Julian, and Ky-Mani -- pursued careers in music as well.

http://www.biography.com/people/bob-marley-9399524

Bob Marley

Biography

Musician, Songwriter, Singer (1945–1981)

Jamaican singer, musician and songwriter Bob Marley served as a world ambassador for reggae music and sold more than 20 million records throughout his career—making him the first international superstar to emerge from the so-called Third World.

“Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery; none but ourselves can free our minds.”

—Bob Marley

Name
Bob Marley

Occupation
Songwriter, Singer

Birth Date
February 6, 1945

Death Date
May 11, 1981

Place of Birth
St. Ann Parish, Jamaica

Place of Death
Miami, Florida

AKA
Bob Marley
Robert Nesta Marley

Synopsis

Bob Marley was born on February 6, 1945, in St. Ann Parish, Jamaica. In 1963, Marley and his friends formed the Wailing Wailers. The Wailers' big break came in 1972, when they landed a contract with Island Records. Marley went on to sell more than 20 million records throughout his career, making him the first international superstar to emerge from the so-called Third World. He died in Miami, Florida, on May 11, 1981.

Early Life in Jamaica

Born on February 6, 1945, in St. Ann Parish, Jamaica, Bob Marley helped introduce reggae music to the world and remains one of the genre's most beloved artists to this day. The son of a black teenage mother and much older, later absent white father, he spent his early years in St. Ann Parish, in the rural village known as Nine Miles.

One of his childhood friends in St. Ann was Neville "Bunny" O'Riley Livingston. Attending the same school, the two shared a love of music. Bunny inspired Bob to learn to play the guitar. Later Livingston's father and Marley's mother became involved, and they all lived together for a time in Kingston, according to Christopher John Farley's Before the Legend: The Rise of Bob Marley.

Arriving in Kingston in the late 1950s, Marley lived in Trench Town, one of the city's poorest neighborhoods. He struggled in poverty, but he found inspiration in the music around him. Trench Town had a number of successful local performers and was considered the Motown of Jamaica. Sounds from the United States also drifted in over the radio and through jukeboxes. Marley liked such artists as Ray Charles, Elvis Presley, Fats Domino, and the Drifters.

Marley and Livingston devoted much of their time to music. Under the guidance of Joe Higgs, Marley worked on improving his singing abilities. He met another student of Higgs, Peter McIntosh (later Peter Tosh) who would play an important role in Marley's career.

The Wailers

A local record producer, Leslie Kong, liked Marley's vocals and had him record a few singles, the first of which was "Judge Not," released in 1962. While he did not fare well as a solo artist, Marley found some success joining forces with his friends. In 1963, Marley, Livingston, and McIntosh formed the Wailing Wailers. Their first single, "Simmer Down," went to the top of the Jamaican charts in January 1964. By this time, the group also included Junior Braithwaite, Beverly Kelso and Cherry Smith.

The group became quite popular in Jamaica, but they had difficulty making it financially. Braithewaite, Kelso, and Smith left the group. The remaining members drifted a part for a time. Marley went to the United States where his mother was now living. However, before he left, he married Rita Anderson on February 10, 1966.

After eight months, Marley returned to Jamaica. He reunited with Livingston and McIntosh to form the Wailers. Around this time, Marley was exploring his spiritual side and developing a growing interest in the Rastafarian movement. Both religious and political, the Rastafarian movement began in Jamaica in 1930s and drew its beliefs from many sources, including Jamaican nationalist Marcus Garvey, the Old Testament, and their African heritage and culture.

For a time in the late 1960s, Marley worked with pop singer Johnny Nash. Nash scored a worldwide hit with Marley's song "Stir It Up." The Wailers also worked with producer Lee Perry during this era; some of their successful songs together were "Trench Town Rock," "Soul Rebel" and "Four Hundred Years."

The Wailers added two new members in 1970: bassist Aston "Family Man" Barrett and his brother, drummer Carlton "Carlie" Barrett. The following year, Marley worked on a movie soundtrack in Sweden with Johnny Nash.

Big Break

The Wailers got their big break in 1972 when they landed a contract with Island Records, founded by Chris Blackwell. For the first time, the group hit the studios to record a full album. The result was the critically acclaimed Catch a Fire. To support the record, the Wailers toured Britain and the United States in 1973, performing as an opening act for both Bruce Springsteen and Sly & the Family Stone. That same year, the group released their second full album, Burnin', featuring the hit song "I Shot the Sheriff." Rock legend Eric Clapton released a cover of the song in 1974, and it became a No. 1 hit in the United States.

Before releasing their next album, 1975's Natty Dread, two of the three original Wailers left the group; McIntosh and Livingston decided to pursue solo careers as Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer, respectively. Natty Dread reflected some of the political tensions in Jamaica between the People's National Party and the Jamaica Labour Party. Violence sometimes erupted due to these conflicts. "Rebel Music (3 O'clock Road Block)" was inspired by Marley's own experience of being stopped by army members late one night prior to the 1972 national elections, and "Revolution" was interpreted by many as Marley's endorsement for the PNP.

For their next tour, the Wailers performed with I-Threes, a female group whose members included Marcia Griffiths, Judy Mowatt and Marley's wife, Rita. Now called Bob Marley & The Wailers, the group toured extensively and helped increase reggae's popularity abroad. In Britain in 1975, they scored their first Top 40 hit with "No Woman, No Cry."

Already a much-admired star in his native Jamaica, Marley was on his way to becoming an international music icon. He made the U.S. music charts with the album Rastaman Vibration in 1976. One track stands out as an expression of his devotion to his faith and his interest in political change: "War." The song's lyrics were taken from a speech by Haile Selassie, the 20th century Ethiopian emperor who is seen as a type of a spiritual leader in the Rastafarian movement. A battle cry for freedom from oppression, the song discusses a new Africa, one without the racial hierarchy enforced by colonial rule.

Politics and Assassination Attempt

Back in Jamaica, Marley continued to be seen as a supporter of the People's National Party. And his influence in his native land was seen as a threat to the PNP's rivals. This may have led to the assassination attempt on Marley in 1976. A group of gunmen attacked Marley and the Wailers while they were rehearsing on the night of December 3, 1976, two days before a planned concert in Kingston's National Heroes Park. One bullet struck Marley in the sternum and the bicep, and another hit his wife, Rita, in the head. Fortunately, the Marleys were not severely injured, but manager Don Taylor was not as fortunate. Shot five times, Taylor had to undergo surgery to save his life. Despite the attack and after much deliberation, Marley still played at the show. The motivation behind the attack was never uncovered, and Marley fled the country the day after the concert.

Living in London, England, Marley went to work on Exodus, which was released in 1977. The title track draws an analogy between the biblical story of Moses and the Israelites leaving exile and his own situation. The song also discusses returning to Africa. The concept of Africans and descendents of Africans repatriating their homeland can be linked to the work of Marcus Garvey. Released as a single, "Exodus" was a hit in Britain, as were "Waiting in Vain" and "Jamming," and the entire album stayed on the U.K. charts for more than a year. Today, Exodus is considered to be one of the best albums ever made.

Marley had a health scare in 1977. He sought treatment in July of that year on a toe he had injured earlier that year. After discovering cancerous cells in his toe, doctors suggested amputation. Marley refused to have the surgery, however, because his religious beliefs prohibited amputation.

Redemption Song

While working on Exodus, Marley and the Wailers recorded songs that were later released on the album Kaya (1978). With love as its theme, the work featured two hits: "Satisfy My Soul" and "Is This Love." Also in 1978, Marley returned to Jamaica to perform his One Love Peace Concert, where he got Prime Minister Michael Manley of the PNP and opposition leader Edward Seaga of the JLP to shake hands on stage.

That same year, Marley made his first trip to Africa, and visited Kenya and Ethiopia—an especially important nation to him, as it's viewed as the spiritual homeland of Rastafarians. Perhaps inspired by his travels, his next album, Survival (1979), was seen as a call for both greater unity and an end to oppression on the African continent. In 1980, Bob Marley & The Wailers played an official independence ceremony for the new nation of Zimbabwe.

A huge international success, Uprising (1980) featured "Could You Be Loved" and "Redemption Song." Known for its poetic lyrics and social and political importance, the pared down, folk-sounding "Redemption Song" was an illustration of Marley's talents as a songwriter. One line from the song reads: "Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery; none but ourselves can free our minds."

On tour to support the album, Bob Marley & The Wailers traveled throughout Europe, playing in front of large crowds. The group also planned a series of concerts in the United States, but the group would play only two concerts—at Madison Square Garden in New York City—before Marley became ill. The cancer discovered earlier in his toe had spread throughout his body.

Death and Memorial

Traveling to Europe, Bob Marley underwent unconventional treatment in Germany, and was subsequently able to fight off the cancer for months. It soon became clear that Marley didn't have much longer to live, however, so the musician set out to return to his beloved Jamaica one last time. Sadly, he would not manage to complete the journey, dying in Miami, Florida, on May 11, 1981.

Shortly before his death, Marley had received the Order of Merit from the Jamaican government. He had also been awarded the Medal of Peace from the United Nations in 1980. Adored by the people of Jamaica, Marley was given a hero's send-off. More than 30,000 people paid their respects to the musician during his memorial service, held at the National Arena in Kingston, Jamaica. Rita Marley, Marcia Griffiths, Judy Mowatt sang and the Wailers performed at the ceremony.

Legacy

Bob Marley achieved several great accomplishments during his lifetime, including serving as a world ambassador for reggae music, earning induction into the Rock and Rock Hall of Fame in 1994, and selling more than 20 million records—making him the first international superstar to emerge from the so-called Third World.

Decades after his passing, Marley's music remains widely acclaimed. His musical legacy has also continued through his family and longtime bandmates; Rita continues to perform with the I-Threes, the Wailers and some of the Marley children. (Bob Marley reportedly fathered nine children, though reports vary.) Marley's sons, David "Ziggy" and Stephen, and daughters Cedella and Sharon (Rita's daughter from a previous relationship who was adopted by Bob) played for years as Ziggy Marley & the Melody Makers, later performing as the Melody Makers. (Ziggy and Stephen have also had solo successes.) Sons Damian "Gong Jr." Ky-Mani and Julian are also talented recording artists. Other Marley children are involved in related family businesses, including the Tuff Gong record label, founded by Marley in the mid-1960s.

Marley's commitment to fighting oppression also continues through an organization that was established in his memory by the Marley family: The Bob Marley Foundation is devoted to helping people and organizations in developing nations.

Marley has also evolved into a global symbol, which has been endlessly merchandised through a variety of mediums. In light of this, author Dave Thompson in his book Reggae and Caribbean Music, laments what he perceives to be the commercialized pacification of Marley's more militant edge, stating:

Bob Marley ranks among both the most popular and the most misunderstood figures in modern culture ... That the machine has utterly emasculated Marley is beyond doubt. Gone from the public record is the ghetto kid who dreamed of Che Guevara and the Black Panthers, and pinned their posters up in the Wailers Soul Shack record store; who believed in freedom; and the fighting which it necessitated, and dressed the part on an early album sleeve; whose heroes were James Brown and Muhammad Ali; whose God was Ras Tafari and whose sacrament was marijuana. Instead, the Bob Marley who surveys his kingdom today is smiling benevolence, a shining sun, a waving palm tree, and a string of hits which tumble out of polite radio like candy from a gumball machine. Of course it has assured his immortality. But it has also demeaned him beyond recognition. Bob Marley was worth far more.

--Reggae and Caribbean Music, by Dave Thompson, Hal Leonard Corporation, 2002, ISBN 0-87930-655-6, pp. 159

http://www.bobmarley.com/history/

Biography: Remembering A Legend

Introduction

Overview of Bob's Legacy

The Bob Marley biography provides testament to the unparalleled influence of his artistry upon global culture. Since his passing on May 11, 1981, Bob Marley’s legend looms larger than ever, as evidenced by an ever-lengthening list of accomplishments attributable to his music, which identified oppressors and agitated for social change while simultaneously allowing listeners to forget their troubles and dance.

Bob Marley was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994; in December 1999, his 1977 album “Exodus” was named Album of the Century by Time Magazine and his song “One Love” was designated Song of the Millennium by the BBC. Since its release in 1984, Marley’s “Legend” compilation has annually sold over 250,000 copies according to Nielsen Sound Scan, and it is only the 17th album to exceed sales of 10 million copies since SoundScan began its tabulations in 1991.

Bob Marley’s music was never recognized with a Grammy nomination but in 2001 he was bestowed The Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, an honor given by the Recording Academy to “performers who during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording.” That same year, a feature length documentary about Bob Marley’s life, Rebel Music, directed by Jeremy Marre, was nominated for a Grammy for Best Long Form Music Video documentary. In 2001 Bob Marley was accorded the 2171st star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame by the Hollywood Historic Trust and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, in Hollywood, California. As a recipient of this distinction, Bob Marley joined musical legends including Carlos Santana, Stevie Wonder and The Temptations.

In 2006 an eight block stretch of Brooklyn’s bustling Church Avenue, which runs through the heart of that city’s Caribbean community, was renamed Bob Marley Boulevard, the result of a campaign initiated by New York City councilwoman Yvette D. Clarke. This year the popular TV show Late Night with Jimmy Fallon commemorated the 30th anniversary of Bob Marley’s passing with an entire week (May 9-13) devoted to his music, as performed by Bob’s eldest son Ziggy, Jennifer Hudson, Lauryn Hill, Lenny Kravitz and the show’s house band The Roots. These triumphs are all the more remarkable considering Bob Marley’s humble beginnings and numerous challenges he overcame attempting to gain a foothold in Jamaica’s chaotic music industry while skillfully navigating the politically partisan violence that abounded in Kingston throughout the 1970s.

One of the 20th century’s most charismatic and challenging performers, Bob Marley’s renown now transcends the role of reggae luminary: he is regarded as a cultural icon who implored his people to know their history “coming from the root of King David, through the line of Solomon,” as he sang on “Blackman Redemption”; Bob urged his listeners to check out the “Real Situation” and to rebel against the vampiric “Babylon System”. “Bob had a rebel type of approach, but his rebelliousness had a clearly defined purpose to it,” acknowledges Chris Blackwell, the founder of Island Records, who played a pivotal role in the Bob Marley biography by introducing Marley and the Wailers to an international audience. “It wasn’t just mindless rebelliousness, he was rebelling against the circumstances in which he and so many people found themselves.”

Early Life

Growing up in Nine Miles

Bob Marley was born Robert Nesta Marley on February 6, 1945. Bob was born to Cedella Marley when she was 18. Bob’s early life was spent in rural community of Nine Miles, nestled in the mountainous terrain of the parish of St. Ann. Residents of Nine Miles have preserved many customs derived from their African ancestry especially the art of storytelling as a means of sharing the past and time-tested traditions that are oftentimes overlooked in official historical sources. The proverbs, fables and various chores associated with rural life that were inherent to Bob’s childhood would provide a deeper cultural context and an aura of mysticism to his adult songwriting.
Norval and Cedella married in 1945 but Captain Marley’s family strongly disapproved of their union; although the elder Marley provided financial support, the last time Bob Marley saw his father was when he was five years old; at that time, Norval took his son to Kingston to live with his nephew, a businessman, and to attend school. Eighteen months later Cedella learned that Bob wasn’t going to school and was living with an elderly couple. Alarmed, she went to Kingston, found Bob and brought him home to Nine Miles.

Moving To Trenchtown

Bob Marley begins his music career

The next chapter in the Bob Marley biography commenced in the late 1950s when Bob, barely into his teens, left St. Ann and returned to Jamaica’s capital. He eventually settled in the western Kingston vicinity of Trench Town, so named because it was built over a sewage trench. A low-income community comprised of squatter-settlements and government yards developments that housed a minimum of four families, Bob Marley quickly learned to defend himself against Trench Town’s rude boys and bad men. Bob’s formidable street-fighting skills earned him the respectful nickname Tuff Gong.

Despite the poverty, despair and various unsavory activities that sustained some ghetto dwellers, Trench Town was also a culturally rich community where Bob Marley’s abundant musical talents were nurtured. A lifelong source of inspiration, Bob immortalized Trench Town in his songs “No Woman No Cry” (1974), “Trench Town Rock” (1975) and “Trench Town”, the latter released posthumously in 1983.
By the early 1960s the island’s music industry was beginning to take shape, and its development gave birth to an indigenous popular Jamaican music form called ska. A local interpretation of American soul and R&B, with an irresistible accent on the offbeat, ska exerted a widespread influence on poor Jamaican youth while offering a welcomed escape from their otherwise harsh realities. Within the burgeoning Jamaican music industry, the elusive lure of stardom was now a tangible goal for many ghetto youths.

Uncertain about the prospects of a music career for her son, Cedella encouraged Bob to pursue a trade. When Bob left school at 14 years old she found him a position as a welder’s apprentice, which he reluctantly accepted. After a short time on the job a tiny steel splinter became embedded in Bob’s eye. Following that incident, Bob promptly quit welding and solely focused on his musical pursuits.

At 16 years old Bob Marley met another aspiring singer Desmond Dekker, who would go on to top the UK charts in 1969 with his single “Israelites”. Dekker introduced Marley to another young singer, Jimmy Cliff, future star of the immortal Jamaican film “The Harder They Come”, who, at age 14, had already recorded a few hit songs. In 1962 Cliff introduced Marley to producer Leslie Kong; Marley cut his first singles for Kong: “Judge Not”, “Terror” and “One More Cup of Coffee”, a cover of the million selling country hit by Claude Gray. When these songs failed to connect with the public, Marley was paid a mere $20.00, an exploitative practice that was widespread during the infancy of Jamaica’s music business. Bob Marley reportedly told Kong he would make a lot of money from his recordings one day but he would never be able to enjoy it. Years later, when Kong released a best of The Wailers compilation against the group’s wishes, he suffered a fatal heart attack at age 37.

Early Wailers Era

Bob and Bunny meet Peter Tosh

In 1963 Bob Marley and his childhood friend Neville Livingston a.k.a. Bunny Wailer began attending vocal classes held by Trench Town resident Joe Higgs, a successful singer who mentored many young singers in the principles of rhythm, harmony and melody. In his Trench Town yard, Higgs introduced Bob and Bunny to Peter (Macintosh) Tosh and The Bob Marley and the Wailers legend was born. The trio quickly became good friends so the formation of a vocal group, The Wailing Wailers, was a natural progression; Higgs played a pivotal role in guiding their musical direction. Additional Wailing Wailers members included Junior Braithwaite, Beverly Kelso, and Cherry Smith but they departed after just a few recording sessions.
Bob, Bunny and Peter were introduced to Clement Sir Coxsone Dodd, a sound system operator turned producer; Dodd was also the founder of the seminal Jamaican record label Studio One. With their soulful harmonies, influenced primarily by American vocal group Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions, and lyrics that echoed the struggles facing Jamaica’s poor, the Wailers attained a sizeable local following. The Wailers’ first single for Studio One “Simmer Down”, with Bob cautioning the ghetto youths to control their tempers or “the battle would be hotter”, reportedly sold over 80,000 copies. The Wailers went on to record several hits for Coxsone including “Rude Boy”, “I’m Still Waiting,” and an early version of “One Love”, the song the BBC would designate as the Song of the Century some thirty-five years later.

By the mid 60s, the jaunty ska beat had metamorphosed into the slower paced rocksteady sound, which soon gave way to Jamaica’s signature reggae rhythm around 1968. Dodd had not made a corresponding shift in his label’s releases nor did he embrace the proliferation of lyrics imbued with Rastafarian beliefs that were essential to reggae’s development. Declining sales of the Wailers’ Studio One singles compounded by a lack of proper financial compensation from Dodd prompted their departure from Studio One.

Cedella Booker, meanwhile, decided to relocate to the US state of Delaware in 1966. That same year Bob Marley married Rita Anderson and joined his mother in Delaware for a few months, where he worked as a DuPont lab assistant and on an assembly line at a Chrysler plant under the alias Donald Marley.

In his absence from Jamaica, His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I visited the island from April 21-24, 1966. His Majesty is revered as Lord and Savior, according to Rastafarian beliefs and his visit to Jamaica had a profound impact upon Rita and Bob. Bob soon adopted the Rastafarian way of life and began wearing his hair in dreadlocks.

Upon Bob’s return to Jamaica, The Wailers established the Wail’N Soul’M label/record shop in front of his aunt’s Trench Town home. The label’s name identified its primary acts: The Wailers and The Soulettes, a female vocal trio featuring Rita Marley. A few successful Wailers’ singles were released including “Bend Down Low” b/w “Mellow Mood” but due to lack of resources, the Wailers dissolved Wail’N Soul’M in 1968.

As the 1970s commenced, soaring unemployment, rationed food supplies, pervasive political violence and the IMF’s stranglehold on the Jamaican economy due to various structural adjustment policies heavily influenced the keen social consciousness that came to define Bob’s lyrics.
In 1970 the Wailers forged a crucial relationship with Jamaican producer Lee “Scratch” Perry, a pioneer in the development of dub, the reggae offshoot where the drum and bass foundation is moved to the forefront. Perry wisely paired The Wailers with the nucleus of his studio band The Upsetters, brothers Carlton and Aston “Family Man” Barrett, respectively playing drums and bass. Collectively they forged a revolutionary sonic identity, as heard on tracks like “Duppy Conqueror”, “400 Years” and “Soul Rebel”, which established an enduring paradigm for roots reggae. The Wailers’ collaborations with Perry were featured on the album “Soul Rebels” (1970) the first Wailers album released in the UK. The Wailers’ reportedly severed their relationship with Perry when they realized he was the sole recipient of royalties from the sales of “Soul Rebels”.

"Burnin'" and "Catch A Fire"

The Wailers sign with Island Records

In 1971 Bob Marley went to Sweden to collaborate on a film score with American singer Johnny Nash. Bob secured a contract with Nash’s label CBS Records and by early 1972 The Wailers were in London promoting their single “Reggae On Broadway”; CBS, however, had little faith in Marley and The Wailers’ success and abruptly abandoned the group there. Marley paid a chance visit to the London offices of Island Records and the result was a meeting with label founder Chris Blackwell. Marley sought the finances to record a single but Blackwell suggested the group record an album and advanced them £4,000, an unheard of sum to be given to a Jamaican act.

Island’s top reggae star Jimmy Cliff had recently left the label and Blackwell saw Marley as the ideal artist to fill that void and attract an audience primed for rock music. “I was dealing with rock music, which was really rebel music and I felt that would really be the way to break Jamaican music. But you needed someone who could be that image. When Bob walked in he really was that image,” Blackwell once reflected. Despite their “rude boy” reputation, the Wailers returned to Kingston and honored their agreement with Blackwell. They delivered their “Catch A Fire” album in April 1973 to extensive international media fanfare. Tours of Britain and the US were quickly arranged and the life of Bob Marley was forever changed. Bunny Wailer refused to participate in the US leg of the “Catch A Fire” tour so the Wailers’ mentor Joe Higgs served as his replacement. Their US gigs included an opening slot for a then relatively unknown Bruce Springsteen in New York City. The Wailers toured with Sly and the Family Stone, who were at their peak in the early 70s, but were removed after just four dates because their riveting performances, reportedly, upstaged the headliner.

Following the successful “Catch A Fire” tour the Wailers promptly recorded their second album for Island Records, “Burnin”, which was released in October 1973. Featuring some of Bob’s most celebrated songs “Burnin” introduced their timeless anthem of insurgency “Get Up Stand Up” and “I Shot The Sheriff”, which Eric Clapton covered and took to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in 1974; Clapton’s cover significantly elevated Bob Marley’s international profile, the same year that Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer left the group.

Bob Marley & The Wailers

The departures of Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer, the BMW releases, and Smile Jamaica

Bob Marley’s third album for Island Records “Natty Dread”, released in October 1975, was the first credited to Bob Marley and The Wailers; the harmonies of Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer were replaced with the soulfulness of the I-Threes, Rita Marley, Marcia Griffiths and Judy Mowatt. The Wailers band now included Family Man and Carly Barrett, Junior Marvin on rhythm guitar, Al Anderson on lead guitar, Tyrone Downie and Earl “Wya” Lindo on keyboards and Alvin “Seeco” Patterson playing percussion. Characterized by spiritually and socially conscious lyrics, the “Natty Dread” album included a rousing blues-influenced celebration of reggae, “Lively Up Yourself”, which Bob used to open many of his concerts; the joy he experienced among friends amidst the struggles of his Trench Town youth is poignantly conveyed on “No Woman No Cry”, while the essential title track played a significant role in introducing Rastafarian culture and philosophies to the world. A commercial as well as a critical success, “Natty Dread” peaked at no. 44 on Billboard’s Black Albums chart and no. 92 on the Pop Albums chart.

The following year Bob embarked on a highly successful European tour in support of “Natty Dread”, which included two nights at London’s Lyceum Theater. The Lyceum performances were captured on Bob’s next release for Island, “Bob Marley and the Wailers Live”, which featured a melancholy version of “No Woman No Cry” that reached the UK top 40.

Bob Marley catapulted to international stardom in 1976 with the release of “Rastaman Vibration”, his only album to reach the Billboard Top 200, peaking at no. 8. With the inclusion of “Crazy Baldhead”, which decries “brainwash education” and the stirring title cut, “Rastaman Vibration” presented a clearer understanding of Rastafari teachings to the mainstream audience that was now attentively listening to Bob. Also included was “War”, its lyrics adapted from an impassioned speech to the United Nations General Assembly in 1963, delivered by Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I whom Rastafarians consider a living God. Thirty-five years after its initial release “War” remains an unassailable anthem of equality, its empowering spirit embraced by dispossessed people everywhere.

As 1976 drew to a close Bob Marley was now regarded as a global reggae ambassador who had internationally popularized Rastafarian beliefs. At home, that distinction fostered an immense sense of pride among those who embraced Bob’s messages. But Bob’s expanding influence was also a point of contention for others in Jamaica, which was brutally divided by political alliances. With the intention of suppressing simmering tensions between Jamaica’s rival People’s National Party (PNP) and the Jamaica Labor Party (JLP), Bob agreed to a request by Jamaica’s Ministry of Culture to headline a (non partisan) free concert, Smile Jamaica, to be held on December 5, 1976 in Kingston. Two days prior to the event, as Bob Marley and The Wailers rehearsed at his Kingston home, an unsuccessful assassination attempt was made on his life. Gunmen sprayed Bob’s residence with bullets but miraculously, no one was killed; Bob escaped with minor gunshot wounds, Rita underwent surgery to remove a bullet that grazed her head but she was released from the hospital the next day. Bob’s manager Don Taylor was shot five times and critically wounded; he was airlifted to Miami’s Cedars of Lebanon Hospital for the removal of a bullet lodged against his spinal cord.

If the ambush in the night at Bob Marley’s home was an attempt to prevent him from performing at the Smile Jamaica concert or a warning intended to silence the revolutionary spirit within his music, then it had failed miserably. Bob defiantly performed “War” at the Smile Jamaica concert, which reportedly drew 80,000 people but shortly thereafter he went into seclusion and few people knew of his whereabouts.

Three months after the Smile Jamaica concert, Bob flew to London where he lived for the next year and a half; there he recorded the albums “Exodus” (1977) and “Kaya” (1978). Exodus’ title track provided a call for change, “the movement of Jah people”, incorporating spiritual and political concerns into its groundbreaking amalgam of reggae, rock and soul-funk. A second single, the sultry dance tune “Jamming” became a British top 10 hit. The “Exodus” album remained on the UK charts for a staggering 56 consecutive weeks, bringing a level of commercial success to Bob Marley and the Wailers that had previously eluded the band.

In a more laid back vein, the “Kaya” album hit no. 4 on the British charts, propelled by the popularity of the romantic singles “Satisfy My Soul” and “Is This Love?” Kaya’s title track extols the herb Marley used throughout his lifetime; the somber “Running Away,” and the haunting “Time Will Tell” are deep reflections on the December 1976 assassination attempt. The release of “Kaya” coincided with Bob Marley’s triumphant return to Jamaica for a performance at the One Love Peace Concert, held on April 22, 1978 at Kingston’s National Stadium. The event was another effort aimed at curtailing the rampant violence stemming from the senseless PNP-JLP rivalries; the event featured 16 prominent reggae acts and was dubbed a “Third World Woodstock”. In the concert’s most memorable scenario, Bob Marley summoned JLP leader Edward Seaga and Prime Minister Michael Manley onstage. As the Wailers pumped out the rhythm to “Jamming”, Bob urged the politicians to shake hands; clasping his left hand over theirs, he raised their arms aloft and chanted “Jah Rastafari”. In recognition of his courageous attempt to bridge Jamaica’s cavernous political divide, Bob traveled to the United Nations in New York where he received the organization’s Medal of Peace on June 6, 1978.

Bob Marley in Africa

Bob visits the spiritual homeland of the Rastafari Movement (Ethiopia)

At the end of 1978 Bob made his first trip to Africa, visiting Kenya and Ethiopia, the latter being the spiritual home of Rastafari. During his Ethiopian sojourn, Bob stayed in Shashamane, a communal settlement situated on 500-acres of land donated by His Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I to Rastafarians that choose to repatriate to Ethiopia. Marley also traveled to the Ethiopian capitol Addis Ababa where he visited several sites significant to His Majesty’s life and ancient Ethiopian history.

That same year Bob Marley and The Wailers’ tours of Europe and America were highlighted on their second critically acclaimed live album “Babylon By Bus”. In 1978 Bob and The Wailers also toured Japan, Australia and New Zealand, where the indigenous Maori people greeted them with a traditional welcoming ceremony typically reserved for visiting dignitaries.

Bob released “Survival”, his ninth album for Island, in the summer of 1979. From opening track’s clarion call to “Wake Up and Live” to the concluding “Ambush In The Night”, his definitive statement on the 1976 assassination attempt, “Survival” is a brilliant, politically progressive work championing pan-African solidarity. “Survival” also included “Africa Unite” and “Zimbabwe”, the latter an anthem for the soon-to-be liberated colony of Rhodesia. In April 1980 Bob and the Wailers performed at Zimbabwe’s official Independence Ceremony at the invitation of the country’s newly elected president Robert Mugabe. This profound honor reconfirmed the importance of Bob Marley and the Wailers’ throughout the African Diaspora and reggae’s significance as a unifying and liberating force.

Unbeknownst to the band, the Zimbabwe Independence concert was solely for a select group of media and political dignitaries. As Bob Marley and The Wailers started their set, pandemonium ensued among the enormous crowd gathered outside the entrance to the Rufaro Sports Stadium: the gates broke apart as Zimbabweans surged forward to see the musicians who inspired their liberation struggle. Clouds of teargas drifted into the stadium; the Wailers were overcome with fumes and left the stage. The I-Threes returned to their hotel but Bob Marley went back onstage and performed “Zimbabwe”. The following evening, Bob Marley and the Wailers returned to Rufaro Stadium and put on a free show for a crowd of nearly 80,000.

The final album to be released in Bob’s lifetime, “Uprising”, helped to fulfill another career objective. Bob had openly courted an African American listenership throughout his career and he made a profound connection to that demographic with “Could You Be Loved”, which incorporated a danceable reggae-disco fusion. “Could You Be Loved” reached no. 6 and no. 56 respectively on Billboard’s Club Play Singles and Black Singles charts. “Uprising” also included contemplative odes to Bob’s Rastafarian beliefs, “Zion Train” and “Forever Loving Jah”, and the deeply moving “Redemption Song” a stark, acoustic declaration of enduring truths and profoundly personal musings; Angelique Kidjo, the Clash’s Joe Strummer, Sinead O’Connor and Rihanna are but four of the dozens of artists who have recorded versions of “Redemption Song”.

Bob Marley and The Wailers embarked on a major European tour in the spring of 1980, breaking attendance records in several countries. In Milan, Italy, they performed before 100,000 people, the largest audience of their career. The US leg of the “Uprising” tour commenced in Boston on September 16 at the JB Hynes Auditorium. On September 19 Bob and the Wailers rolled into New York City for two consecutive sold out nights at Madison Square Garden as part of a bill featuring New York based rapper Kurtis Blow and Lionel Richie and the Commodores. The tour went onto the Stanley Theater in Pittsburgh, Pa. where Bob delivered the final set of his illustrious career on September 23, 1980.

Bob Marley Live Forever

Bob's final concert in Pittsburgh

The Pittsburgh show took place just two days after Marley learned that the cancer that had taken root in his big toe in 1977, following a football injury, had metastasized and spread throughout his body. Bob courageously fought the disease for eight months, even traveling to Germany to undergo treatment at the clinic of Dr. Josef Issels. At the beginning of May 1981, Bob left Germany to return to Jamaica but he did not complete that journey; he succumbed to his cancer in a Miami hospital on May 11, 1981.

The Bob Marley biography doesn’t end there. In April 1981 Bob Marley was awarded Jamaica’s third highest honor, the Order of Merit, for his outstanding contribution to his country’s culture. Ten days after Bob Marley’s death, he was given a state funeral as the Honorable Robert Nesta Marley O.M. by the Jamaican government, attended by Prime Minister Edward Seaga and the Opposition Party Leader Michael Manley. Hundreds of thousands of spectators lined the streets to observe the procession of cars that wound its way from Kingston to Bob’s final resting place, a mausoleum in his birthplace of Nine Miles. The Bob Marley and the Wailers legend lives on, however, and thirty years after Bob Marley’s death, his music remains as vital as ever in its celebration of life and embodiment of struggle.

Legacy

Bob's Marley's impact on the world

The Bob Marley influence upon various populations remains unparalleled, irrespective of race, color or creed. Bob Marley’s revolutionary yet unifying music, challenging colonialism, racism, “fighting against ism and scism” as he sang in “One Drop”, has had profound effects even in country’s where English isn’t widely spoken. In August 2008, two musicians from the war scarred countries of Serbia and Croatia (formerly provinces within Yugoslavia) unveiled a statue of Bob Marley during a rock music festival in Serbia; the monument’s inscription read “Bob Marley Fighter For Freedom Armed With A Guitar”. “Marley was chosen because he promoted peace and tolerance in his music,” said Mirko Miljus, an organizer of the event.

In Koh Lipe, Thailand, Bob Marley’s February 6th birthday is celebrated for three days with a cultural festival. In New Zealand, his life and music are now essential components of Waitangi Day (February 6) observances honoring the unifying treaty signed between the country’s European settlers and its indigenous Maori population. When Bob visited New Zealand for a concert at Auckland’s Western Springs Stadium on April 6, 1979, the Maori greeted him with a traditional song and dance ceremony reserved for visiting dignitaries. Marley’s former manager, the late Don Taylor, referred to the Maori welcoming ritual as “one of my most treasured memories of the impact of Bob and reggae music on the world”.

On April 17, 1980 when the former British colony of Rhodesia was liberated and officially renamed Zimbabwe and the Union Jack replaced with the red, gold, green and black Zimbabwean flag, it is said that the first words officially spoken in the new nation were “ladies and gentlemen, Bob Marley and the Wailers”. For the Zimbabwean freedom fighters that listened to Bob Marley, inspiration and strength were drawn from his empowering lyrics. Marley penned a tribute to their efforts, “Zimbabwe”, which was included on the most overtly political album of his career, 1979’s “Survival” and he was invited to headline their official liberation celebrations. Zimbabwean police used tear gas to control the crowds that stampeded through the gates of Harare’s Rufaro Stadium to get a glimpse of Marley onstage. As several members of Marley’s entourage fled for cover, he returned to the stage to perform “Zimbabwe”, his words resounding with a greater urgency amidst the ensuing chaos: “to divide and rule could only tear us apart, in everyman chest, there beats a heart/so soon we’ll find out who is the real revolutionaries and I don’t want my people to be tricked by mercenaries.” “There was smoke everywhere, our eyes filled with tears so we ran off,” recalls Marcia Griffiths, who sang backup for Marley, alongside Rita Marley and Judy Mowatt, as the I-Threes. “When Bob saw us the next day he smiled and said now we know who are the real revolutionaries.”

Inspiration

Spreading "Positive Vibrations" from Sierra Leone to Manhattan

A generation later a group of political refugees from Sierra Leone living in Guinean concentration camps and traumatized by years of bloody warfare in their country, found through the music of Bob Marley, inspiration to form their own band and write and record their own songs. The Refugee All Stars won international acclaim for their 2006 debut “Living Like A Refugee” and their 2010 album “Rise and Shine”, each utilizing a blend of reggae, Sierra Leone’s Islamic rooted bubu music and West African goombay.

Further evidence of Bob Marley’s ongoing influence arrived on October 13, 2010 when Victor Zamora, one of 33 Chilean miners rescued after being trapped in a San Jose mine for 69 days, asked to hear Marley’s “Buffalo Soldier” shortly after his release. Recorded in 1980 and posthumously released in 1983, “Buffalo Soldier” recounts the atrocities of the slave trade. Like so many of Bob Marley’s songs, it highlights the importance of relating past occurrences to present-day identities: “if you know your history then you will know where you are coming from, then you wouldn’t have to ask me, who the hell do I think I am?”

As 2011 draws to a close, Occupy Wall St. styled protests spread around the world, challenging social and economic inequality, as well as corporate greed and its influence upon government policy. The uncompromising sentiments expressed on Bob’s “Get Up Stand Up”, lyrics that are repeatedly chanted at these demonstrations, seem to have directly inspired the protesters’ dissenting stance: “Some people think a great God will come down from the sky, take away everything and make everybody feel high/but if you know what life is worth, you will look for yours on earth and now we see the light, we’re gonna stand up for our rights!”

Discography

An Audible Revolution

Studio Albums

Photos & Videos

A Visual History of Bob's Legacy

Box Sets

https://rockhall.com/inductees/bob-marley/bio/

Inductee: Bob Marley (vocals, guitar; born February 6, 1945, died May 11, 1981)

Bob Marley was reggae’s foremost practitioner and emissary, embodying its spirit and spreading its gospel to all corners of the globe. His extraordinary body of work embraces the stylistic spectrum of modern Jamaican music - from ska to rock steady to reggae - while carrying the music to another level as a social force with universal appeal. Few others changed the musical and cultural landscape as profoundly as he. As Robert Palmer wrote in a tribute to Marley upon his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, “No one in rock and roll has left a musical legacy that matters more or one that matters in such fundamental ways.”

There’s no question that reggae is legitimately part of the larger culture of rock and roll, partaking of its full heritage of social forces and stylistic influences. In Marley’s own words, “Reggae music, soul music, rock music - every song is a sign.” Marley’s own particular symbolism derived from his beliefs as a Rastafarian - a sect that revered Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia (a.k.a. Ras Tafari) as a living god who would lead oppressed blacks back to an African homeland - and his firsthand knowledge of the deprivations of the Jamaican ghettos. His lyrics mixed religious mysticism with calls for political uprising, and Marley delivered them in a passionate, declamatory voice.

Reggae’s loping, hypnotic rhythms carried an unmistakable signature that rose to the fore of the music scene in the Seventies, largely through the recorded work of Marley and the Wailers on the Island and Tuff Gong labels. Such albums as Natty Dread and Rastaman Vibration endure as reggae milestones that gave a voice to the poor and disfranchised citizens of Jamaica and, by extension, the world. In so doing, he also instilled them with pride and dignity in their heritage, however sorrowful the realities of their daily existence. Moreover, Marley’s reggae anthems provided rhythmic uplift that induced what Marley called “positive vibrations” in all who heard it. Regardless of how you heard it - political music suitable for dancing, or dance music with a potent political subtext – Marley’s music was a powerful potion for troubled times.

Marley was born on Jamaica to a young black mother and an older white father. A precocious musician, a teenaged Marley formed a vocal trio in 1963 with friends Neville “Bunny” O’Riley Livingston (later Bunny Wailer) and Peter McIntosh (later Peter Tosh). The group members had grown up in Trench Town, a ghetto neighborhood of Kingston, listening to rhythm and blues on American radio stations. They heard such R&B mainstays as Ray Charles, the Drifters, Fats Domino and Curtis Mayfield. They took the name the Wailing Wailers (shortened to the Wailers) because they were ghetto sufferers who’d been born “wailing.” As practicing Rastas, they grew their hair in dreadlocks and smoked ganja (marijuana), believing it to be a sacred herb that brought enlightenment.

The Wailers recorded prolifically for small Jamaican labels throughout the Sixties, during which time ska – Jamaican dance music that drew from African rhythms and New Orleans R&B – was the hot sound. The Wailers had their first hit in 1963 with “Simmer Down,” and they went on to record 30 sides in the “rude boy” ska style for Jamaican soundman Coxsone Dodd’s Studio One. By this time, Marley’s preoccupations were taking a spiritual turn, and Jamaican music itself was changing from the bouncy ska beat to the more sensual rhythms of rock steady. An association with Jamaican producer Lee Perry resulted in some of the Wailers’ memorable recordings, including “Soul Rebel” and “Duppy Conqueror,” and the albums Soul Rebel and Soul Revolution.

Though the Wailers were popular in Jamaica, it was not until the group signed with Chris Blackwell’s Island Records in the early Seventies that they found an international audience. Their first recordings for Island, Catch a Fire (1973) and Burnin’ (1973), were hard-hitting albums full of what critic Robert Christgau called Marley’s “melodic propaganda.” The latter contained “I Shot the Sheriff.” Reggae aficionado Eric Clapton’s version of the song went to #1 in 1974, which further carried the name of Marley and the Wailers beyond their Jamaican home base.

With the departure of founding members Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer after Burnin’, Marley took center stage as singer, songwriter and rhythm guitarist. Backed by a first-rate band and the I-Threes vocal trio – which included his wife, Rita – Marley rose to the occasion with 1974’s Natty Dread (his first album to chart in America) and the string of politically charged albums that followed. These included Rastaman Vibration, his highest-charting album (1976, #8); the fiery, oratorical Exodus (1977, #20); the mellow, herb-extolling Kaya (1978, #50), the live double-album Babylon by Bus (#1978, #102), and the politicized, defiant Survival (1979, #70) and Uprising (1980, #46). Uprising was the last studio album released during Marley’s lifetime.

So influential a cultural icon had Marley become on his home island by the mid-Seventies that Time magazine proclaimed, “He rivals the government as a political force.” On December 5, 1976, Marley was scheduled to give a free “Smile Jamaica” concert, aimed at reducing tensions between warring political factions. Two days before the scheduled concert, he and his entourage were attacked by gunman. Though Bob and Rita Marley were grazed by bullets, they electrified a crowd of 80,000 people when both took to the stage with the Wailers on the 5th - a gesture of survival that only heightened Marley’s legend. It further galvanized his political outlook, resulting in the most militant albums of his career: Exodus, Survival and Uprising.

He was particularly moved throughout his career by the gulf between haves and have-nots, a culture of oppression that was particularly glaring in his poverty- and crime-ridden Jamaican homeland. “We should all come together and creative music and love, but [there] is too much poverty,” Marley told writer Timothy White in 1976. “The most intelligent people [are] the poorest people...[but] people don’t get no time to feel and spend [their] intelligence...The intelligent and innocent are poor, are crumbled and get brutalized. Daily.”

Given the violent culture that he survived and transcended, Marley’s death seems almost cruelly flukish. In 1977, surgeons removed part of a toe that had been injured in a soccer game, upon which a cancerous growth was found. This led to the discovery of spreading cancer in 1980, after Marley collapsed while jogging in Central Park, that claimed his life less than a year later. Though he died prematurely at age 36, the heartbeat reggae rhythms of the enormous body of music that Bob Marley left behind have endured. Moreover, Jamaica itself has been transformed by his charismatic personality and musical output. Marley was buried on the island with full state honors on May 21, 1981. In a crowning irony, given the reviled status that Rastafarians and their music had once suffered at the hands of the Jamaican government, Marley’s pacifist reggae anthem, “One Love,” was adapted as a theme song by the Jamaican Tourist Board. Meanwhile, Marley’s music continues to find an audience. With sales of more than 10 million in the U.S. alone, Legend - a best-of spanning the Island Records years (1972-1981) - remains the best-selling album by a Jamaican artist and the best-selling reggae album in history.

- See more at: https://rockhall.com/inductees/bob-marley/bio/#sthash.z1kRNFoW.dpuf

THE MUSIC OF BOB MARLEY: AN EXTENSIVE VIDEO OVERVIEW, A CROSS SECTION OF RECORDINGS, MUSICAL ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY, PLUS VARIOUS INTERVIEWS WITH MR. MARLEY:

Bob Marley - “WAR”

Bob Marley - 'Rebel Music’:

Bob Marley And The Wailers* ‎-- Rebel Music

Label:Tuff Gong
Country: Jamaica
Released: 1986
Genre: Reggae
Style:Reggae, Roots Reggae, Rocksteady

Tracklist:

Rebel Music (3 O'clock Roadblock) 6:44
So Much Trouble In The World 4:00
Them Belly Full (But We Hungry) 3:10
Rat Race 2:50
War / No More Trouble (Live) 5:20
Roots 3:43
Slave Driver 2:54
Ride Natty Ride 3:50
Crazy Baldhead 3:05
Get Up, Stand Up 6:19

Bob Marley - Live In Rockpalast, Dortmund (Full Concert) - 1980:

BOB MARLEY-- "THEM BELLY FULL”—(Live, 1977):

Bob Marley - “Zimbabwe”:

Bob Marley--"Natural mystic”:

"Natural Mystic"
(Words and Music by Bob Marley and the Wailers)

There's a natural mystic
Blowing through the air
If you listen carefully now you will hear
This could be the first trumpet
Might as well be the last
Many more will have to suffer
Many more will have to die
Don't ask me why
Things are not the way they used to be
I won't tell no lie
One and all got to face reality now
Though I try to find the answer
To all the questions they ask
Though I know it's impossible
To go living through the past
Don't tell no lie There's a natural mystic
Blowing through the air
Can't keep them down
If you listen carefully now you will hear
Such a natural mystic
Blowing through the air
This could be the first trumpet
Might as well be the last
Many more will have to suffer
Many more will have to die
Don't ask me why
There's a natural mystic
Blowing through the air
I won't tell no lie
If you listen carefully now, you will hear
There's a natural mystic
Blowing through the air

Bob Marley and the Wailers: Live! At the Rainbow 1977

Full Show:

Bob Marley & The Wailers - GOLD Album #1:
70th Marley's birthday special

Part 2 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0c16...

**TRACK LIST**

Stir It Up - 0:00
Slave Driver - 5:33
Concrete Jungle - 8:28
Get Up, Stand Up - 12:41
I Shot The Sherrif - 16:52
Burnin' and Lootin' - 21:35
Lively Up Yourself - 25:50
Rebel Music - 31:10
Trenchtown Rock - 37:55
No Woman No Cry (Live) - 40:54
Jah Live - 44:56
Positive Vibration - 49:14
Roots Rock Reggae - 52:48
Crazy Baldhead - 56:30
Natural Mystic - 59:45
Exodus - 01:03:58
Jamming - 01:11:26

Bob Marley "The best of his early years" 2hrs 45 min.of pure reggae music (HQ Audio):

All his early days' songs, previous to his albums on Island records and the Chris Backwell era..

57 original versions with different flavor,powerful arrangements, nice horns embellishments, dub versions and some Peter Tosh collaborations.
Bob Marley in the raw.

Songs are listed in alphabetical order.

Tracklisting:

400 Years (Feat.Peter Tosh) 00:00
African Herbsman 02:30
All In One 04:51
Back out 08:21
Brain washing 10:31
Can't you see (feat.Peter Tosh) 13:07
Caution 15:49
Chances are 18:27
Cheer up 21:40
Corner stone 23:40
Do it twice 26:06
Don't rock my boat 28:45
Duppy Conqueror 33:12
Fussin' & Fightin' 36:39
Go Tell It On The Mountain (Feat.Peter Tosh) 39:04
Hammer 42:16
How many times 45:05
Hypocrites (Dubb) 47:27
It's alright 50:09
Kaya 52:43
Keep on moving 55:11
Lively Up Yourself 58:15
Mellow Mood (Dubb) 01:01:05
Mellow Mood 01:04:32
Memphis 01:07:03
Mr.Brown 01:09:58
Mr. Chatterbox (Dubb) 01:13:24
My Cup (Dubb) 01:16:26
My Cup 01:19:37
Natural Mystic 01:23:09
No sympathy (Feat.Peter Tosh) 01:28:50
No water 01:31:01
Put it on 01:33:08
Rainbow country 01:36:12
Reaction 01:41:57
Rebels hop 01:44:43
Redder Than Red (Dubb) 01:47:13
Riding High 01:50:02
Satisfy My Soul Jah-Jah (Dubb) 01:52:46
Small axe 01:55:23
Soon come (Feat.Peter Tosh) 01:59:04
Soul Almighty (Dubb) 02:01:17
Soul Almighty 02:04:35
Soul captive 02:07:12
Soul rebel 02:09:11
Soul shakedown party 02:12:53
Stand alone 02:15:58
Stop the train (Feat.Peter Tosh) 02:18:04
Sun is shining 02:20:21
Thank you Lord (dubb) 02:22:31
There she goes 02:26:10
Touch me 02:28:43
Treat You Right 02:31:46
Trenchtown Rock 02:33:55
Try Me (Dubb) 02:36:46
Try Me 02:39:48
You Cant Do That To Me (Feat.Peter Tosh) 02:42:32

1979-07-21 Bob Marley & The Wailers ✡ Harvard Stadium, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

TheWailers.org

Bob Marley & The Wailers
July 21, 1979
Amandla Festival
Harvard Stadium, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Tracklist:

01. Intro - Dick Gregory
02. Positive Vibration
03. Slave Driver
04. Them Belly Full
05. Running Away / Crazy Baldhead
06. The Heathen
07. War / No More Trouble
08. Lively Up Yourself
09. No Woman No Cry
10. Jammin'
11. Get Up Stand Up
12. Exodus
13. Zimbabwe
14. Wake Up & Live

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VD4KqNnlIwc

Bob Marley - “Jammin'" (Clip-Live):

"Jammin' (Live At The Pavillon De Paris/1977)”
by Bob Marley & The Wailers

Bob Marley - "Crazy Baldhead" (Live, 1977):

Bob Marley - "Redemption Song" (from the ‘Legend' album, with lyrics):

Bob Marley - "Stir It Up”- [Live 1973]:

Bob Marley and the Wailers on The Bob Harris Old Grey Whistle Test 1973

Relax with the Best Music Of Bob Marley:

Bob Marley & the Wailers - New York, NY June 15 1975 Complete Show Audio:

www.bobmarleyconcerts.com

Disc one: 60:19

01: Trench Town Rock
02: Slave Driver
03: Burnin' And Lootin'
04: Concrete Jungle
05: Kinky Reggae
06: Midnight Raver
07: Lively Up Yourself
08: No Woman No Cry
09: Rebel Music

Disc two: 59:08

01: Them Belly Full
02: Natty Dread
03: I Shot The Sheriff
04: Nice Time

Encore:

05: Talkin' Blues
06: Bend Down Low
07: So Jah Seh
08: Get Up Stand Up

Bob Marley and the Wailers - Full Concert - 11/30/79 - Oakland Auditorium (OFFICIAL):

Setlist:

0:00:00 - Positive Vibration
0:05:33 - Wake Up and Live
0:11:01 - Concrete Jungle
0:16:06 - Them Belly Full (But We Hungry)
0:19:43 - I Shot The Sheriff
0:24:40 - Running Away / Crazy Bald Head
0:33:44 - Ambush In The Night
0:37:09 - The Heathen
0:42:08 - War / No More Trouble
0:48:08 - No Woman, No Cry
0:55:33 - Lively Up Yourself
1:00:48 - Africa Unite
1:05:34 - One Drop
1:09:36 - Exodus
1:15:41 - Is This Love?
1:19:15 - Jammin'
1:24:29 - Ride Natty Ride
1:28:50 - Roots, Rock, Reggae
1:32:49 - Natty Dread
1:36:43 - Get Up, Stand Up

Personnel:

Bob Marley - vocals, rhythm guitar
Aston Barrett - bass
Carlton Barrett - drums
Al Anderson - lead guitar
Junior Marvin - lead guitar
Earl Lindo - organ, clavinet
Tyrone Downie - keyboards
Alvin Patterson - percussion
Devon Evans - percussion
David Madden - trumpet
Glen DaCosta - saxophone
Rita Marley - background vocals
Judy Mowatt - background vocals
Guest: Donald Kinsey - lead guitar
Guest: Ron Wood - rhythm guitar

Summary:

Bob Marley had gone from "critic's darling" and "buzz-driven roots rocker" to bona fide reggae superstar by the time he arrived in Oakland, California in the fall of 1979 to perform this show with his band, The Wailers. Record executive Chris Blackwell might have discovered Marley in his native Jamaica and exposed him to a massive global audience, but it was rock icons like Eric Clapton, who were singing both his praises and his songs, that helped forward Marley's popularity in America.

This Marley show, recorded less than two years before his untimely death from cancer, is similar to the extended performance found on 1978's Babylon by Bus double live album. Marley lived for the stage, and this show is ample proof that he was one of the most electrifying performers ever to emerge from the international music scene. Like another falling star from an earlier era, Jimi Hendrix, Marley shot across the pop culture landscape like a flaming comet - and before he could be fully recognized for his artistic brilliance - was gone. That's at least one reason why his legacy has elevated him to near mythical proportions.

Opening with "Positive Vibration," this show contains 19 classic Marley songs, including "Them Belly Full (But We Hungry)," "I Shot The Sheriff," "No Woman No Cry," "Exodus," "Is This Love?," "Jammin'" and "Get Up Stand Up." The Wailers, though none of its original members except Marley remained by 1979, play rock solid reggae rhythms behind his impassioned vocals. Keyboardists Tyrone Downie and Earl Lindo have incredible chops, and are only outdone by longtime Wailers guitarist Al Anderson. Enhancing this stellar show is a fantastic guest performance by guitarist Ron Wood of The Rolling Stones for the six-song encore.

More than a quarter century after his death, Bob Marley's popularity with outsiders and rebels, coupled with his legacy as a musical genius and status as a pop culture icon, only grows and grows with each passing year. This show is a great example of why Marley's enduring musical catalog remains one of the most exciting and influential in the history of popular recordings.

Bob Marley - The Legend Live:

PERSONNEL:

Bob Marley on rhythm guitar and vocals, brothers Aston and Carlton Barrett on bass and drums, Junior Marvin and Al Anderson on lead guitar, Tyrone Downie and Earl “Wya” Lindo on keyboards, Devon Evans and Alvin “Seeco” Patterson on percussion, Glen DaCosta on saxophone, Dave Madden on trumpet and the “I Threes” (Judy Mowatt, Marcia Griffiths and Marley’s wife Rita) on backing vocals.

Setlist:

00:01:28 Positive Vibration
00:06:31 Wake Up & Live
00:11:48 I Shot the Sheriff
00:16:22 Ambush In the Night
00:20:12 Concrete Jungle
00:25:12 Running Away/Crazy Baldhead
00:33:22 Them Belly Full
00:36:43 The Heathen
00:41:17 Ride Natty Ride
00:45:29 Africa Unite
00:49:48 One Drop
00:54:00 Exodus
01:00:12 So Much Things to Say
01:03:42 Zimbabwe
01:07:47 Jammin
01:12:46 Is This Love?
01:16:01 Kinky Reggae
01:19:37 Stir It Up
01:23:17 Get Up Stand Up

http://socialistreview.org.uk/292/bob-marley-roots-revolutionary

Bob Marley: Roots Revolutionary
Issue section: Feature
Issue: January 2005 (292)
by Brian Richardson

The 60th anniversary of Bob Marley's birth is a great opportunity to celebrate his inspirational music, writes Brian Richardson.

Legend is the title of the one reggae album that every broad-minded progressive is guaranteed to have in their record collection. The word has become somewhat devalued through overuse, but few terms could more aptly describe the Jamaican music star Bob Marley. His iconic status is cemented by the fact that he died at the tender age of 36. Since then, like another 'soul rebel' Che Guevara, his handsome face has been immortalised on the T-shirts and bedroom posters of millions of young people.

The anguish and the optimism

It is a fitting tribute that the extraordinary performance of Marley and his band the Wailers at the Rainbow theatre in London in 1977 was chosen by the New York Times for inclusion in a time capsule to be opened in 1,000 years time. Similarly, Time magazine declared Marley's Exodus its album of the 20th century. He took reggae, a musical form indigenous to Jamaica with a heavy emphasis on a rhythmic interplay between drums and bass guitar, and popularised it across the world. More importantly, in the heady political atmosphere of the 1960s and 1970s he articulated the anguish and the optimism of the oppressed and exploited in a way that had universal appeal. The titles of some of his most famous releases alone - 'War', 'Revolution', 'Burnin' and Lootin', 'Get Up Stand Up', 'Rebel Music', 'Uprising' - surely make him worthy of closer consideration.

In his outstanding study of Marley's songwriting, Kwame Dawes suggests that his 'talent is as inexplicable as the talent of any of the great artists of all time. It is pointless trying to explain it.'

Dawes is right to describe Marley as a 'lyrical genius', but like all artists he was a product of his time and it is therefore possible to understand at least a part of his brilliance by reference to the world in which he lived.

Jamaica is a place of breathtaking natural beauty. However, it is also a country steeped in a history of violence and brutality. The pioneer of this was Christopher Columbus who 'discovered' the island in 1494 and proceeded to either slaughter the Arawak population that already lived there or sell them into slavery. From 1517 onwards the island was increasingly populated by transported slaves. Britain seized control from Spain in 1655 and set about an even more intense process of exploitation. By the end of the 18th century over 300,000 slaves inhabited the island and by the time slavery ended in 1839, 42 percent of sugar exported to Britain came from Jamaica. It was a lucrative business for those who owned and controlled this wealth. For the captive population, though, it was a life of unmitigated misery. The cruel hypocrisy of this colonial rule is a constant theme of Marley's work.

Despite the masses' eventual release from captivity this wretchedness continued and led to a number of uprisings - including the famous Morant Bay rebellion of 1865 led by Paul Bogle, who was hanged after his capture.

It was into this society at the fag end of British imperial rule that Robert Nesta Marley was born on 6 February 1945. His father was a white British naval officer who Marley never knew, his mother, Cedella Booker, a poor cleaning woman in her teens. As a child growing up in Trench Town he experienced the crippling poverty that was the legacy of British imperial rule.

Jamaica finally gained its independence in 1962. However, an economy now based on bauxite mining and tourism brought little prosperity or equality. By the middle of the 1970s 80 percent of the island's wealth was owned by just 2 percent of the population and 24 percent of adults were unemployed. Despite having his first number one hit in Jamaica in 1964, Marley was one of the many trapped in this cycle of poverty. Over the next decade he earned barely £200 from his music and was forced to work as a welder and hotel janitor. It was not until wealthy white Jamaican Chris Blackwell offered the Wailers a lucrative contract with Island Records in 1972 that fame and fortune came Marley's way.

Even at the earliest stage of his career Marley and his fellow Wailers Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer articulated the anguish of Jamaican society. The number one record 'Simmer Down' directly addressed the stifling alienation felt by youth at a time of few opportunities.

In some senses Bob Marley is difficult to fathom. He was notoriously hard to understand in conversation. This encouraged speculation that a man so apparently incoherent couldn't have written his own lyrics. In truth his indecipherability had more to do with his heavy dialect and the prodigious amounts of ganja that he smoked! More particularly, the difficulty analysing Marley lies in the apparently contradictory philosophy that inspired his writing. He vehemently denied any interest in what he termed 'politricks', proudly proclaiming that his belief system was religious. His religion was Rastafarianism, a bizarre cult whose followers declared that the Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie (born Ras Tafari) was the living god, or 'Jah' as they called him.

This claim was difficult to maintain for a number of reasons. Firstly, neither Selassie himself nor his family ever accepted such an ultimate accolade, though he was happy on occasion to bask in the adulation it afforded him. Secondly, his 40-year rule was characterized by nepotism, personal cowardice and tyranny. Finally and perhaps most conclusively, he died in 1975, thus giving the lie to his followers' claims of his immortality. Rastafarians were subjected to disdain, harassment and exclusion in Jamaica. Yet there is a real sense in which, given the island's tortured history, we can understand the sect's appeal to the young Marley. Writing in 1843 in response to fellow German philosopher Hegel, Karl Marx argued: 'Religious suffering is at one and the same time the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world and the soul of soulless conditions.'

In short, religion provides a framework within which a believer can understand their suffering and take some comfort from the hope that as long as they maintain their faith a better world awaits them in eternity.

Rastafarianism is founded on a belief that the promised land can be found in the here and now, on earth, in Africa. Rastafarians incorporated ganja into their belief system, regarding it as a sacred herb that provides followers with nourishment and 'upliftment'.

There is also a distinctly political element to the origins of Rastafarianism. The sect stems from the Back to Africa teachings of black nationalist leader Marcus Garvey. In 1927 Garvey, who was himself born in Jamaica, declared that a saviour of black people was coming. When Selassie became the leader of Ethiopia in 1930 he appeared to be the living embodiment of that being.

Corrupt and violent patronage

Marley was an immensely political figure despite his protestations to the contrary. He was certainly regarded as such by those jockeying for power and influence in Jamaica. By 1976 he was well on his way to international stardom. As a result he was also becoming an increasingly influential figure in Jamaican society. In November of that year, two days before the Wailers were due to perform at a rally organised by the Peoples National Party (PNP) during a fractious general election campaign, Marley and his wife Rita were shot and wounded. Two years later he famously brought Michael Manley and Edward Seaga, the respective warring leaders of the PNP and the Jamaican Labour Party, together at a One Love Peace concert in Kingston. He was probably the only person who could have achieved this in a country dominated by corrupt, divisive and often violent patronage.

In April 1980 he played at the celebrations marking the end of white supremacist rule in Rhodesia. His song 'Zimbabwe', celebrating the new black-led nation, features on the album Survival. This release, which carries the flags of all Africa's countries on the sleeve, is a clear and uncompromising call for African unity.

Marley was certainly a deep thinker with a clear understanding of Britain's colonial barbarity:

'They live a life of false pretence every day
These are the big fish who always try to eat down the small fish,
...they would do anything to materialise their every wish.'

He railed against injustice and inequality, incorporating the words of a brilliant speech Selassie had delivered at the United Nations in 1963 into his song 'War'. He distrusted politicians: 'Never make a politician grant you a favour. They will always want to control you forever.' He hated the police - 'uniforms of brutality' - and he was clear which side he was on: 'If you are the big tree, we are the small axe, coming to cut you down.'

The militant message and call to arms was mixed with calls for peace and love and an ultimate belief that faith in Jah would lead to the exodus of his followers from Babylon to salvation in Ethiopia. Music itself was a key means by which this transformation and transportation would occur. Hence Marley implores his comrades to:

'Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery
None but ourselves can free our minds...
Won't you help to sing these songs of freedom
Cause all I ever had, redemption songs.'

In the wake of his shooting Marley fled to Britain. During his exile he found a degree of tranquillity during which he recorded a couple of more reflective albums, Exodus and Kaya. His separation from the day to day struggle helps explain this and allows us to forgive the atrocious 'Three Little Birds', especially as he rediscovered his appetite for beautiful love songs such as 'Turn Your Lights Down Low' and 'Waiting in Vain'.

While in Britain Marley identified with and celebrated the creativity of the new wave music that exploded onto the scene in the late 1970s. On Exodus he imagines a 'punky reggae party' at which the Wailers would be joined by 'The Damned, The Jam, The Clash and Dr Feelgood', but 'no boring old farts'. Sadly Marley's premature death ensured that what could have been the greatest punky reggae party has instead become one of the most poignant missed opportunities.

Rock Against Racism (RAR) was launched in Britain in the wake of Eric Clapton's drunken declaration of support for the racist bigot Enoch Powell at a gig in 1976. RAR founders Red Saunders and Roger Huddle had been particularly incensed by the fact that Clapton had recently revived his career with a cover of Marley's 'I Shot the Sheriff'.

In 1982 Red Saunders went to Jamaica to shoot a photo story on the various music labels for the Sunday Times. He was shown around the Tuff-Gong studios by Marley's backing singers the I-Threes. When he went into Bob's old office a copy of the letter that he and Huddle had written to the New Musical Express, which launched RAR - and which famously declared, 'Who shot the sheriff Eric? It sure as hell wasn't you!' - was mounted on the wall. The I-Threes informed Red that Bob had welcomed the letter and shown great interest in RAR. To this day Red and Roger rue their reluctance to follow their instincts and invite Marley and John Lennon to headline RAR's first carnival.

Barely a year after the Zimbabwe concerts Marley was dead, killed by cancer. He had amassed an estimated £30 million fortune. He was far too young, but at least he gave the world a wonderfully defiant, sincere and spiritual music, which inspired others including his former partners Tosh and Wailer, compatriots Burning Spear and Black Uhuru, and here in Britain the likes of Steel Pulse, Aswad and dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson.

A generation after Marley's death reggae is once again in the headlines, but for altogether less savoury reasons. Gay rights group Outrage!, led by Peter Tatchell, have launched a high profile, and seemingly effective, campaign against the anti-gay lyrics of Dancehall acts such as Beenie Man, Buju Banton, Bounty Killer and Sizzla Kalonji. According to Outrage! this 'Jamaican murder music' has fomented a climate of homophobic violence that has culminated in the brutal murder of over 30 gay men in Jamaica, including the leading campaigner Brian Williamson. A number of artists have been refused entry into Britain; Scotland Yard is considering criminal charges against others; various gigs have been cancelled; and the Music of Black Origin Academy was forced to withdraw the award nominations of two artists, Elephant Man and Vybes Cartel.

Socialists should of course unconditionally condemn the homophobic bigotry of these performers. Those of us who love reggae must also admit there is a common thread that links today's singers to those of the past. Marley would certainly understand and relate to the 'tough' street talk of his successors and, let us be frank, he would concur with much of their sexual and sexist bravado. In both cases the religious content draws upon an extreme interpretation of the Bible. However, whereas Marley faced out towards the world, preached love and unity and captured a struggle moving forward, the Dancehall singers of today have turned inwards. Their music is rarely more than lightweight escapism and at its worst reflects the reactionary ideology that blights Jamaican society.

Equally, however, those who seek to criticise should remember who the real sponsors of violence and bigotry are. As Marley himself identified, it is those who built the 'church and universities' and 'graduated thieves and murderers' in the first place. Their post-colonial successors have absorbed these lessons and continue to rule through a combination of bribery and butchery. It is their legislation that punishes homosexuality with prison sentences of up to ten years.

Very occasionally even artists such as Buju Banton are able to capture something of the spirit of their forebears. However, in the quarter century since his death nobody has come close to matching Bob Marley and no amount of printed words can do justice to the pride, passion and poignancy of his music. Fortunately, the 60th anniversary of his birth and the interest generated by his induction in the UK Music Hall of Fame should help to ensure that his catalogue of outstanding material, including Legend, remains readily available.

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/feb/05/bob-marley-70-birthday

Bob Marley at 70: legend and legacy

The reggae superstar would have been 70 this Friday. His friend Vivien Goldman asks how a hard-working activist came to represent feelgood partying, and salutes his enduring influence

Bob Marley in 1979, before the Reggae Sunsplash concert in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Photograph: Denis O’Regan/Getty Images

by Vivien Goldman

5 February 2015

The Guardian (UK)

“Me no really say no bad things about no one, cause me have a full heart,” Bob Marley once told me. “That is a sign of being an ignorant and undisciplined human being. Me prefer just to understand the situation and suss it out and say what is right and what is wrong.”

Confident in taking a stand, Bob Marley was not afraid to sing with moral authority. As events echoing the struggles he took part in and sang about take place around the world, I often find myself wondering: what would Bob have made of this if he were alive to celebrate his 70th birthday? What songs might he have written? Except that, usually, he already has.

As the repeated cop killings of black males across US prompt multiracial “Black Lives Matter” demonstrations, there’s No Woman, No Cry and Johnny Was a Good Man; when brutality cloaked as religious extremism strikes terror, Bob sings, in We and Dem: “Me no know how we and them gonna work it out.” As the Arctic melts and African lakes dry up, we all yearn for the “natural mystic/ blowing through the air”, and agree that the system of what Rastafarians call “Babylon” – rapacious capitalism or a repressive regime – is indeed “a vampire, sucking the blood of the sufferer”. Yet today, Bob Marley often appears as remote a figure to young music-lovers as Leadbelly was to me back then, a compelling but distant figure.

I teach a course at New York University called Marley and Post-Colonial Music, and when you teach about people you actually knew, surreal moments occur. Among the oddest? Seeing Saturday Night Live joke about my class on TV. “And in a cruel twist,” deadpanned Seth Myers, “the NYU Bob Marley class is only being offered at 8am.” The funny thing was, I really didn’t get the joke. (Neither did my students, who plaintively emailed: “Do we really start so early?”) That’s because the punchline depended on the idea that Marley was more notable for marijuana than music, and implied that his fans must, by definition, be lazy slackers. Yet not only were my students top rate, the Bob Marley I knew was quite different. For him, ganja was a spur, a tool for a work ethic that was impeccable, unceasing, even relentless. The in-house joke about Bob was “first on the tour bus, last to leave the studio”. It was part of his leadership. But that is often not how he is perceived, certainly in the US.

The music editor of a popular US website recently told me of programmers at a midwestern college radio station who scoffed at him for wanting to play Marley; that was apparently an indicator of flakiness. He’s become the symbol of a spring break, ultra-amped THC vape fever.
And when he does get played on the radio now, it’s the mellow songs, not the angry songs, that get heard – the ones that have been compiled on albums such as Legend. When my class studied Exodus, and its sequencing, with the confrontational songs of side one and the sunlit uplands of side two, they realised that though they all knew the cheery love tunes, none of them had heard the songs of struggle, and that applied to all Bob’s catalogue. Yet I remember his wry smile and tone of mild protest as he asked “How long must I sing the same song?” when he was criticised for following Exodus with the soft, sweet Kaya.

“If I had more men behind me, I would just be more militant!” he insisted. And yet Bob was also happy to be making a new point. He didn’t want to be seen only as a soldier, because “you have to think of a woman sometimes, and sing something like Turn the Lights Down Low”. He couldn’t have anticipated that one day the fighter would have been transformed in the popular imagination into a lover and feelgood party dude. But as Bob said about his music: “What I like about it is the way it progress.”

I am often asked if Bob Marley really meant all that righteous stuff. He did. He was not infallible, but he tried to live up to his ideals, and he was sincere. He once said to me: “The truth is the truth, you know. Sometimes you have to just sacrifice. I mean, you can’t always hide, you have to talk the truth. If a guy want to come hurt you for the truth – then, I mean, at least you said the truth.”

Some of these exchanges with Bob occurred in 1976, at a pivotal moment in his life. The previous year, I had been his PR at Island Records for seven months, part of the team that helped break him in the UK with No Woman, No Cry. Then I started writing frequently about him, on the road and at home. On one assignment, Bob invited me to crash at his ample colonial home on Kingston’s Hope Road, which was quite a commune, with an ever-revolving cast.

The conversations we had in those days, some of which I taped, were freighted with a heavy subtext, immediate in a way I could scarcely have understood. Once he said: “Jamaica is a funny place, mon. People love you so much, dem want to kill you.” I took it to be an exaggeration. In the studio, he looked anxious while recording one of his sunniest songs, Smile Jamaica. He told me: “Jamaicans have to smile. People are too vex.” Late at night, he strummed a guitar in the yard at Hope Road, composing the words that would appear on Guiltiness, about big fish who always try to eat up small fish. Ruthless, self-interested predators who would, Bob predicted, “do anything, to materialise their every wish”.

Sure enough, the day after I left Hope Road for London, four politically motivated gunmen broke into the Hope Road haven, shooting Bob, his wife Rita and manager Don Taylor, and escaped. Bob and the Wailers went into exile for a year and a half.

While I was researching The Book of Exodus, my book about Bob, the wife of one of the dons – the gangleaders – who had grown to become a pacifist Rasta, revealed that her husband had discovered the plot to shoot Bob, and called to warn him. Thus even as Bob was hinting at vicious forces, he knew the plot against him was ready. He knew the shooting was coming, even before the guns barked. Just two days later, he went ahead and played the Smile Jamaica concert designed to cheer and unite the people ahead of the December 1976 general election, which was contested against a backdrop of vicious rivalries – between the gangs and the two main political parties – with the dons and politicians alike all seeing Bob as a figure they wanted on their side. Onstage on 5 December, Bob was still bandaged, and had a bullet in his arm that would remain there to the grave; removing it would have put his guitar playing at risk. So he well understood the price you can pay for taking a political stand, and he carried on anyway. That’s courage.

Bob had a pragmatic, some might say cynical worldview. When the 1976 Notting Hill Carnival riots rampaged on my old street, Ladbroke Grove, I happened to be in Kingston talking to him. Breathlessly updating him on the plans to ban Carnival, I pushed for his response. His thoughtful reply could equally apply to today’s larger scale conflicts: “Well, we can’t really solve those problems, because the people who start the problem know why dem do it. Them thing yah is a plan because people must be getting too revolutionary, or they know too much things. Something a gwaan.” He never lost sight of what it fundamentally meant to be a Jamaican: “It’s fact that we come from the shores of Africa as slaves. It’s really fact. So all the money and power them people have is just to keep we in slavery still. And when you talk like that,” he continued, with a special scorn, “them say you a talk about politics. They can talk about whatever, but as far as the way me see it is – disobey them and die. Obey and die, too, because if you obey them, you goin’ dead.”

A musician who laid his life on the line for his beliefs, expressed in songs a child could hum? The story sounds almost quaint today. Now that musicians no longer turn to protest as they once did, what does the message of Bob Marley mean?

Throughout his life, Bob was an artist/entrepreneur who sought to control his musical production. Having been royally ripped off by successive producers in the early days, Marley was prepared, near the end of his life, to make a deal with a multinational to fund his Tuff Gong label. It would have been a collective for the many Jamaican musicians he esteemed. But his musical legacy is now in the hands of a different generation. The post-mortem marketing of Marley has been phenomenally successful, and his estate is one of the most lucrative of any musicia

For several years after his death intestate, his One Love image was mocked by a string of lawsuits, some between factions within the Marley family, some involving the Wailers. (Disclosure: I was a witness for the Wailers band in one such case.) Famously, amid the chaos of Bob’s failure to leave a will, his widow Rita was badly advised by her lawyers; she forged Bob’s signature and was removed from her role as estate executor. Being Bob for signature purposes was apparently a longtime spousal habit, anyway – with a resigned sigh, Bob often told friends: “Rita knows how to sign my name better than I do.” And on it went from there. Among the results of the lawsuits is a curious conundrum for the band that defined the spirit of brotherly Rasta I-nity. Two bands currently tour as the Wailers, one featuring guitarist Al Anderton; the other, the iconic bassman Aston “Family Man” Barrett, who was bankrupted by all the litigation.

Meanwhile the post-Bob Marley empire grows apace. Its reach extends from headphones to apparel, leisure reggae cruises and beyond.

In song, Marley predicted that not one of his seed would “sit on the sidewalk and beg for bread”, and so they have not. He trained his children in music, and several of them are successful artists today. The social constraints and family rejection that Bob experienced, the conflicts that shaped him into the artist of activism and empathy he became, were not his 11 children’s experience. He left school in his early teens and was self-educated; they attended elite schools. Bob’s eldest daughter, Cedella, a noted fashion designer, created the look for the Jamaican Olympic team, writes children’s books and is producing upcoming musical Marley. Ziggy and Rohan Marley are following in their farmer father’s footsteps and launching eco-inflected produce lines. The young Marleys are musically productive, too. With dancehall dons such as Buju Banton and Vybz Kartel locked up, and audience fatigue with a diet of guns and slackness, the Marley youth (loosely spearheaded by Damian, Stephen and Ziggy) are seen as leaders of Jamaica’s progressive reggae renaissance, called the “roots revival”. In collaborations such as Distant Relatives, with hip-hop artist Nas, Damian in particular is fulfilling his father’s dream of bridging the Caribbean-American diaspora.

Now the family is launching the Marley Natural brand of ganja. Marley Natural has drawn praise and rebukes, but it is timely. Suddenly, ganja is starting to be a legal commodity. The Marleys’ weed enterprise will create jobs in a sector that many hope will transform the Jamaican economy, maybe even help break its overdependence on tourism. If all goes well, it might help with the trickle-down effect that Bob once advocated to me, based on the belief that the rich have a duty to do something with their money. Speaking in a voice dripping with sarcasm, he criticised men who “have $32m or more in the bank, and he wouldn’t even have a factory so somebody can get a job or learn a trade, you know? They just [want to hold their] money – and money is just like water in the sea.”

Critics of Marley Natural, like Dotun Adebayo in these pages, feel that identifying Bob so thoroughly with weed trivialises his message. It’s ironic that Bob’s great solace and inspiration, the sacred herb, which he took seriously as a Rastafarian sacrament, has become part of a reductive perception of Marley. Bob’s activist legacy is currently under threat of falling victim to his status as a lifestyle choice.

Bob’s own values and perspective on how to live were clear. “You make sure you do good,” he told me. “Although it hard fi always do good to everybody, you do the best you can. Then God will give you pay, because it is so you get paid. You might get material pay from man, but you get spiritual pay from God.”

And that’s the gap in the Marley legacy – the lack of some central educational or cultural public endeavour bearing his name that is purely altruistic. Various Marleys already have socially minded endeavours – notably the Rita Marley Foundation in Ghana, supporting a village school and women’s health. But many among those who love what Bob Marley represents long to see some organised philanthropic attempt in Jamaica to manifest the altruism Bob exemplified; he was known for handing cash out to lengthy lines of sufferers and is estimated to have supported thousands in Jamaica, quite informally. Along with sacrifice, charity is part of what made him a legend.

Maybe the concern is that whatever the Marley estate might do, it would never be considered enough; that you can’t please everyone and those who feel rejected might prove troublesome. The concern might be real. Maybe the forces arrayed against peace-making cultural initiatives truly are prohibitive, despite the estate’s wealth. Or maybe it’s a difficult dream worth pursuing. Certainly, such a move would thrill the global Marley tribe and fulfill the mandate Bob stated to me in 1976: “People have to share.”

One of the only times I saw Bob Marley angry was when he spoke about his childhood in Trench Town. “When I live down in the ghetto, every day I have to jump fence, police try and hold me, ya dig? Not for a week – for years! Years, till we have to get free now. It’s either you a bad, bad man and they shoot you down, or you make a move and show people improvement. It doesn’t have to be material, but in freedom of thinking.”

Marley processed that beleaguered background into a spiritually led philosophy of survival, rooted in knowing human nature, expressed through music. Because, as he told me, “We grew up rough, but it’s life. Sometimes you have it hard, sometimes you have it soft. Sometimes it is just problems, you know, problems every day. The youth grow up with questions like, What is life? What is my future? Because everybody a search.” Bob Marley found an answer in Rasta. On the 70th anniversary of his birth in rural colonial Jamaica, millions still find encouragement, comfort and hope in him.

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Bob Marley

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Honourable Bob Marley OM
Marley performing in 1980
Born	Robert Nesta Marley 6 February 1945	Nine Mile, Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica
Died	11 May 1981 (aged 36) Miami, Florida, United States
Cause of death	Metastatic melanoma
Other names	Donald Marley Tuff Gong
Occupation	Singer songwriter musician guitarist
Home town	Trenchtown, Kingston, Jamaica
Religion	Roman Catholic (1945–66) Rastafarian (1966–80) Ethiopian Orthodox (1980–81) Baptised Rastafarian
Spouse(s)	Alpharita Anderson Marley (m. 1966; his death 1981)
Children	Sharon Marley Prendergast (adopted) Cedella Marley David Nesta "Ziggy" Marley Stephen Robert Nesta Marley Rohan Anthony Marley Julian Ricardo Marley Ky-Mani Marley Damian Robert Nesta Marley
Parent(s)	Norval Sinclair Marley Cedella Malcolm Booker
Musical career
Genres	Reggae ska rocksteady
Instruments	Vocals guitar percussion
Years active	1962–1981
Labels	Beverley's Studio One JAD Wail'n Soul'm Upsetter Tuff Gong Island
Associated acts	Bob Marley and the Wailers
Website	bobmarley.com

Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley, OM (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981) was a Jamaican reggae singer, songwriter, musician, and guitarist who achieved international fame and acclaim.^[1]^[2] Starting out in 1963 with the group The Wailers, he forged a distinctive songwriting and vocal style that would later resonate with audiences worldwide. The Wailers would go on to release some of the earliest reggae records with producer Lee "Scratch" Perry.^[3]

After the Wailers disbanded in 1974,^[4] Marley pursued a solo career upon his relocation to England that culminated in the release of the album Exodus in 1977, which established his worldwide reputation and produced his status as one of the world's best-selling artists of all time, with sales of more than 75 million records.^[5]^[6] Exodus stayed on the British album charts for fifty-six consecutive weeks. It included four UK hit singles: "Exodus", "Waiting in Vain", "Jamming", and "One Love". In 1978 he released the album Kaya, which included the hit singles "Is This Love" and "Satisfy My Soul".

Diagnosed with a type of malignant melanoma in 1977, Marley died on 11 May 1981 in Miami at the age of 36. He was a committed Rastafari who infused his music with a sense of spirituality.^[7] He is considered one of the most influential musicians of all time and credited with popularizing reggae music around the world, as well as serving as a symbol of Jamaican culture and identity. Marley has also evolved into a global symbol, which has been endlessly merchandised through a variety of mediums.

Early life and career

Robert Nesta Marley was born on the farm of his maternal grandfather in Nine Mile, Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica, to Norval Sinclair Marley (1885–1955) and Cedella Booker (1926–2008).^[8] Norval Marley was a British-born White Jamaican from Sussex, England, whose family possibly had some Syrian Jewish origins.^[9]^[10]^[11] Norval claimed to have been a captain in the Royal Marines,^[12] though at the time of his marriage to Cedella Booker, an Afro-Jamaican then 18 years old, he was employed as a plantation overseer.^[12]^[13] Though Bob Marley was named Nesta Robert Marley, a Jamaican passport official would later reverse his first and middle names.^[14]^[15] Norval provided financial support for his wife and child but seldom saw them as he was often away. Bob Marley attended Stepney Primary and Junior High School which serves the catchment area of Saint Ann.^[16]^[17] In 1955, when Bob Marley was 10 years old, his father died of a heart attack at the age of 70.^[18]
Marley and Neville Livingston (later known as Bunny Wailer) had been childhood friends in Nine Mile. They had started to play music together while at Stepney Primary and Junior High School.^[19] Marley left Nine Mile with his mother when he was 12 and moved to Trenchtown, Kingston. Cedella Booker and Thadeus Livingston (Bunny Wailer's father) had a daughter together whom they named Pearl, who was a younger sister to both Bob and Bunny. Now that Marley and Livingston were living together in the same house in Trenchtown, their musical explorations deepened to include the latest R&B from American radio stations whose broadcasts reached Jamaica, and the new Ska music.^[20] The move to Trenchtown was proving to be fortuitous, and Marley soon found himself in a vocal group with Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh, Beverley Kelso and Junior Braithwaite. Joe Higgs, who was part of the successful vocal act Higgs and Wilson, resided on 3rd St., and his singing partner Roy Wilson had been raised by the grandmother of Junior Braithwaite. Higgs and Wilson would rehearse at the back of the houses between 2nd and 3rd Streets, and it wasn't long before Marley (now residing on 2nd St), Junior Braithwaite and the others were congregating around this successful duo.^[21] Marley and the others didn't play any instruments at this time, and were more interested in being a vocal harmony group. Higgs was glad to help them develop their vocal harmonies, although more importantly, he had started to teach Marley how to play guitar—thereby creating the bedrock that would later allow Marley to construct some of the biggest-selling reggae songs in the history of the genre.^[22]^[23]

Bob Marley and the Wailers

Main article: Bob Marley and the Wailers

1962–1972: Early years

In February 1962, Marley recorded four songs, "Judge Not", "One Cup of Coffee", "Do You Still Love Me?" and "Terror", at Federal Studio for local music producer Leslie Kong.^[24] Three of the songs were released on Beverley's with "One Cup of Coffee" being released under the pseudonym Bobby Martell.^[25]

In 1963, Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh, Junior Braithwaite, Beverley Kelso, and Cherry Smith were called The Teenagers. They later changed the name to The Wailing Rudeboys, then to The Wailing Wailers, at which point they were discovered by record producer Coxsone Dodd, and finally to The Wailers. Their single "Simmer Down" for the Coxsone label became a Jamaican #1 in February 1964 selling an estimated 70,000 copies.^[26] The Wailers, now regularly recording for Studio One, found themselves working with established Jamaican musicians such as Ernest Ranglin (arranger "It Hurts To Be Alone"),^[27] the keyboardist Jackie Mittoo and saxophonist Roland Alphonso. By 1966, Braithwaite, Kelso, and Smith had left The Wailers, leaving the core trio of Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, and Peter Tosh.^[28]

In 1966, Marley married Rita Anderson, and moved near his mother's residence in Wilmington, Delaware in the United States for a short time, during which he worked as a DuPont lab assistant and on the assembly line at a Chrysler plant, under the alias Donald Marley.^[29]

Though raised as a Catholic, Marley became interested in Rastafari beliefs in the 1960s, when away from his mother's influence.^[30] After returning to Jamaica, Marley formally converted to Rastafari and began to grow dreadlocks. The Rastafari proscription against cutting hair is based on the biblical Samson, who as a Nazirite, was expected to make certain religious vows, including the ritual treatment of his hair as described in Chapter Six of the Book of Numbers:

All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the Lord, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow.(Numbers 6: 5 KJV)

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

Bob Marley's flat in 1972 at 34 Ridgmount Gardens, Bloomsbury, London.

Between 1968 and 1972, Bob and Rita Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer re-cut some old tracks with JAD Records in Kingston and London in an attempt to commercialise The Wailers' sound. Bunny later asserted that these songs "should never be released on an album ... they were just demos for record companies to listen to". In 1968, Bob and Rita visited songwriter Jimmy Norman at his apartment in the Bronx. Norman had written the extended lyrics for Kai Winding's "Time Is on My Side" (covered by the Rolling Stones) and had also written for Johnny Nash and Jimi Hendrix.^[31] A three-day jam session with Norman and others, including Norman's co-writer Al Pyfrom, resulted in a 24-minute tape of Marley performing several of his own and Norman-Pyfrom's compositions. This tape is, according to Reggae archivist Roger Steffens, rare in that it was influenced by pop rather than reggae, as part of an effort to break Marley into the American charts.^[31] According to an article in The New York Times, Marley experimented on the tape with different sounds, adopting a doo-wop style on "Stay With Me" and "the slow love song style of 1960's artists" on "Splish for My Splash".^[31] An artist yet to establish himself outside his native Jamaica, Marley lived in Ridgmount Gardens, Bloomsbury, during 1972.^[32]

1972–1974: Move to Island Records

In 1972, Bob Marley signed with CBS Records in London and embarked on a UK tour with American soul singer Johnny Nash.^[33] While in London the Wailers asked their road manager Brent Clarke to introduce them to Chris Blackwell who had licensed some of their Coxsone releases for his Island Records. The Wailers intended to discuss the royalties associated with these releases; instead the meeting resulted in the offer of an advance of £4,000 to record an album.^[34] Since Jimmy Cliff, Island's top reggae star, had recently left the label, Blackwell was primed for a replacement. In Marley, Blackwell recognized the elements needed to snare the rock audience: "I was dealing with rock music, which was really rebel music. I felt that would really be the way to break Jamaican music. But you needed someone who could be that image. When Bob walked in he really was that image."^[35] The Wailers returned to Jamaica to record at Harry J's in Kingston which resulted in the album Catch a Fire.

Primarily recorded on an eight-track Catch a Fire marked the first time a reggae band had access to a state-of-the-art studio and were accorded the same care as their rock 'n' roll peers.^[35] Blackwell desired to create "more of a drifting, hypnotic-type feel than a reggae rhythm",^[36] and restructured Marley's mixes and arrangements. Marley travelled to London to supervise Blackwell's overdubbing of the album which included tempering the mix from the bass-heavy sound of Jamaican music and omitting two tracks.^[35]

The Wailers' first album for Island, Catch a Fire, was released worldwide in April 1973, packaged like a rock record with a unique Zippo lighter lift-top. Initially selling 14,000 units, it didn't make Marley a star, but received a positive critical reception.^[35] It was followed later that year by the album Burnin' which included the song "I Shot the Sheriff". Eric Clapton was given the album by his guitarist George Terry in the hope that he would enjoy it.^[37] Clapton was suitably impressed and chose to record a cover version of "I Shot the Sheriff" which became his first US hit since "Layla" two years earlier and reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on 14 September 1974.^[38] Many Jamaicans were not keen on the new reggae sound on Catch a Fire, but the Trenchtown style of Burnin found fans across both reggae and rock audiences.^[35]

During this period, Blackwell gifted his Kingston residence and company headquarters at 56 Hope Road (then known as Island House) to Marley. Housing Tuff Gong Studios, the property became not only Marley's office, but also his home.^[35]

The Wailers were scheduled to open seventeen shows in the US for Sly and the Family Stone. After four shows, the band was fired because they were more popular than the acts they were opening for.^[39] The Wailers broke up in 1974 with each of the three main members pursuing solo careers. The reason for the breakup is shrouded in conjecture; some believe that there were disagreements amongst Bunny, Peter, and Bob concerning performances, while others claim that Bunny and Peter simply preferred solo work.

1974–1976: Line-up changes and shooting

A crowd of people standing in water and listening to a band perform on stage.

Bob Marley & The Wailers live at Crystal Palace Park in south-east London, during the Uprising Tour

Despite the break-up, Marley continued recording as "Bob Marley & The Wailers". His new backing band included brothers Carlton and Aston "Family Man" Barrett on drums and bass respectively, Junior Marvin and Al Anderson on lead guitar, Tyrone Downie and Earl "Wya" Lindo on keyboards, and Alvin "Seeco" Patterson on percussion. The "I Threes", consisting of Judy Mowatt, Marcia Griffiths, and 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.^[40] This was followed by his breakthrough album in the United States, Rastaman Vibration (1976), which reached the Top 50 of the Billboard Soul Charts.^[41]

On 3 December 1976, two days before "Smile Jamaica", a free concert organised by the Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley in an attempt to ease tension between two warring political groups, Marley, his wife, and manager Don Taylor were wounded in an assault by unknown gunmen inside Marley's home. Taylor and Marley's wife sustained serious injuries, but later made full recoveries. Bob Marley received minor wounds in the chest and arm.^[42] The attempt on his life was thought to have been politically motivated, as many felt the concert was really a support rally for Manley. Nonetheless, the concert proceeded, and an injured Marley performed as scheduled, two days after the attempt. When asked why, Marley responded, "The people who are trying to make this world worse aren't taking a day off. How can I?" The members of the group Zap Pow played as Bob Marley's backup band before a festival crowd of 80,000 while members of The Wailers were still missing or in hiding.^[43]^[44] Marley left Jamaica at the end of 1976, and after a month-long "recovery and writing" sojourn at the site of Chris Blackwell's Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas, arrived in England, where he spent two years in self-imposed exile.

1977–1978: Relocation to England

Whilst in England, he recorded the albums Exodus and Kaya. Exodus stayed on the British album charts for fifty-six consecutive weeks. It included four UK hit singles: "Exodus", "Waiting in Vain", "Jamming", and "One Love" (a rendition of Curtis Mayfield's hit, "People Get Ready"). During his time in London, he was arrested and received a conviction for possession of a small quantity of cannabis.^[45] In 1978, Marley returned to Jamaica and performed at another political concert, the One Love Peace Concert, again in an effort to calm warring parties. Near the end of the performance, by Marley's request, Michael Manley (leader of then-ruling People's National Party) and his political rival Edward Seaga (leader of the opposing Jamaica Labour Party), joined each other on stage and shook hands.^[46]
Under the name Bob Marley and the Wailers eleven albums were released, four live albums and seven studio albums. The releases included Babylon by Bus, a double live album with thirteen tracks, were released in 1978 and received critical acclaim. This album, and specifically the final track "Jamming" with the audience in a frenzy, captured the intensity of Marley's live performances.^[47]

"Marley wasn't singing about how peace could come easily to the World but rather how hell on Earth comes too easily to too many. His songs were his memories; he had lived with the wretched, he had seen the downpressers and those whom they pressed down."

– Mikal Gilmore, Rolling Stone^[48]

1979–1981: Later years

Survival, a defiant and politically charged album, was released in 1979. Tracks such as "Zimbabwe", "Africa Unite", "Wake Up and Live", and "Survival" reflected Marley's support for the struggles of Africans. His appearance at the Amandla Festival in Boston in July 1979 showed his strong opposition to South African apartheid, which he already had shown in his song "War" in 1976. In early 1980, he was invited to perform at 17 April celebration of Zimbabwe's Independence Day. Uprising (1980) was Bob Marley's final studio album, and is one of his most religious productions; it includes "Redemption Song" and "Forever Loving Jah".^[49] Confrontation, released posthumously in 1983, contained unreleased material recorded during Marley's lifetime, including the hit "Buffalo Soldier" and new mixes of singles previously only available in Jamaica.^[50]

Illness and death

Marley in concert in 1980, Zürich, Switzerland

In July 1977, Marley was found to have a type of malignant melanoma under the nail of a toe. Contrary to urban legend, this lesion was not primarily caused by an injury during a football match that year, but was instead a symptom of the already-existing cancer. Marley turned down his doctors' advice to have his toe amputated, citing his religious beliefs, and instead the nail and nail bed were removed and a skin graft taken from his thigh to cover the area.^[51]^[52] Despite his illness, he continued touring and was in the process of scheduling a world tour in 1980.^[53]
The album Uprising was released in May 1980. The band completed a major tour of Europe, where it played its biggest concert to 100,000 people in Milan. After the tour Marley went to America, where he performed two shows at Madison Square Garden in New York City as part of the Uprising Tour.
Bob Marley appeared at the Stanley Theater (now called The Benedum Center For The Performing Arts) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on 23 September 1980; it would be his last concert. The only known photographs from the show were featured in Kevin Macdonald's documentary film Marley.^[54]
Shortly afterwards, Marley's health deteriorated as the cancer had spread throughout his body. The rest of the tour was cancelled and Marley sought treatment at the Bavarian clinic of Josef Issels, where he received a controversial type of cancer therapy (Issels treatment) partly based on avoidance of certain foods, drinks, and other substances. After fighting the cancer without success for eight months Marley boarded a plane for his home in Jamaica.^[55]

While Marley was flying home from Germany to Jamaica, his vital functions worsened. After landing in Miami, Florida, he was taken to the hospital for immediate medical attention. Bob Marley died on 11 May 1981 at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Miami (now University of Miami Hospital) at the age of 36. The spread of melanoma to his lungs and brain caused his death. His final words to his son Ziggy were "Money can't buy life."^[56]
Marley received a state funeral in Jamaica on 21 May 1981, which combined elements of Ethiopian Orthodoxy^[57]^[58] and Rastafari tradition.^[59] He was buried in a chapel near his birthplace with his red Gibson Les Paul (some accounts say it was a Fender Stratocaster).^[60]^[61]
On 21 May 1981, Jamaican Prime Minister Edward Seaga delivered the final funeral eulogy to Marley, declaring:

His voice was an omnipresent cry in our electronic world. His sharp features, majestic looks, and prancing style a vivid etching on the landscape of our minds. Bob Marley was never seen. He was an experience which left an indelible imprint with each encounter. Such a man cannot be erased from the mind. He is part of the collective consciousness of the nation.^[62]

Personal life

Religion

Rastafari

Main doctrines
Jah Ital Zion Cannabis use
Central figures
Haile Selassie I Jesus Menen Asfaw Marcus Garvey
Key scriptures
Bible Kebra Nagast My Life and Ethiopia's Progress The Promise Key Holy Piby Royal Parchment Scroll of Black Supremacy
Branches
Mansions in the U.S. Bobo Ashanti Nyabinghi Twelve Tribes of Israel
Festivals
Shashamane Grounation Day Reasoning
Notable individuals
Leonard Howell Joseph Hibbert Archibald Dunkley Mortimer Planno Vernon Carrington Charles Edwards Bob Marley Peter Tosh
See also
Vocabulary Persecution Dreadlocks Reggae Roots reggae Lion of Judah Ethiopian Christianity Chalice Index of Rastafari articles
v t e

Bob Marley was a member for some years of the Rastafari movement, whose culture was a key element in the development of reggae. Bob Marley became an ardent proponent of Rastafari, taking their music out of the socially deprived areas of Jamaica and onto the international music scene. He once gave the following response, which was typical, to a question put to him during a recorded interview:

Interviewer: "Can you tell the people what it means being a Rastafarian?"

Marley: "I would say to the people, Be still, and know that His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia is the Almighty. Now, the Bible seh so, Babylon newspaper seh so, and I and I the children seh so. Yunno? So I don't see how much more reveal our people want. Wha' dem want? a white God, well God come black. True true."^[63]

According to Marley's biographers, he affiliated with the Twelve Tribes Mansion, one of the Mansions of Rastafari. He was in the denomination known as "Tribe of Joseph", because he was born in February (each of the twelve sects being composed of members born in a different month). He signified this in his album liner notes, quoting the portion from Genesis that includes Jacob's blessing to his son Joseph.

Archbishop Abuna Yesehaq baptized Marley into the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, on 4 November 1980, shortly before his death.^[64]^[65]

Family

Bob Marley married Alpharita Constantia "Rita" Anderson in Kingston, Jamaica, on 10 February 1966. Jason Toynbee (2013). Bob Marley: Herald of a Postcolonial World. p. 88. Rita has claimed that she was raped there [Bull Bay] by Bob in 1973 after he returned from London, and asked her to care for another child he was going to have by a woman there (Roper 2004). The formulation changes to 'almost raped' in her autobiography (Marley 2005: 113). But in any event, it seems clear that Bob behaved in an oppressive way towards her, always providing financial support for herself and the children it is true, yet frequently humiliating and bullying her.
Marley had a number of children: three with his wife Rita, two adopted from Rita's previous relationships, and several others with different women. The Bob Marley official website acknowledges eleven children.

Those listed on the official site are:

Sharon, born 23 November 1964, daughter of Rita from a previous relationship but then adopted by Marley after his marriage with Rita
Cedella born 23 August 1967, to Rita
David "Ziggy", born 17 October 1968, to Rita
Stephen, born 20 April 1972, to Rita
Robert "Robbie", born 16 May 1972, to Pat Williams
Rohan, born 19 May 1972, to Janet Hunt
Karen, born 1973 to Janet Bowen
Stephanie, born 17 August 1974; according to Cedella Booker she was the daughter of Rita and a man called Ital with whom Rita had an affair; nonetheless she was acknowledged as Bob's daughter
Julian, born 4 June 1975, to Lucy Pounder
Ky-Mani, born 26 February 1976, to Anita Belnavis
Damian, born 21 July 1978, to Cindy Breakspeare

Other sites have noted additional individuals who claim to be family members,^[66] as noted below:

Makeda was born on 30 May 1981, to Yvette Crichton, after Marley's death.^[67] Meredith Dixon's book lists her as Marley's child, but she is not listed as such on the Bob Marley official website.
Various websites, for example,^[68] also list Imani Carole, born 22 May 1963 to Cheryl Murray; but she does not appear on the official Bob Marley website.^[67]

Football

Aside from music, football played a major role throughout his life.^[69] As well as playing the game, in parking lots, fields, and even inside recording studios, growing up he followed the Brazilian club Santos and its star player Pelé.^[69] Marley surrounded himself with people from the sport, and in the 1970s made the Jamaican international footballer Allan “Skill” Cole his tour manager.^[69] He told a journalist, “If you want to get to know me, you will have to play football against me and the Wailers.”^[69]

Personal views

Pan-Africanism

Marley was a Pan-Africanist, and believed in the unity of African people worldwide. His beliefs in Pan-Africanism were rooted in his Rastafari religious beliefs.^[70] He was substantially inspired by Marcus Garvey, and had anti-imperialist and pro-African themes in many of his songs, such as "Zimbabwe", "Exodus", "Survival", "Blackman Redemption", and "Redemption Song". "Redemption Song" draws influence from a speech given by Marcus Garvey in Nova Scotia, 1937.^[71] In the song "Africa Unite", Bob Marley sings of a desire for all peoples of the African diaspora to come together and fight against "Babylon", which represents imperialist and colonialist ideals that have oppressed African people through the eradication of their original culture and beliefs. Marley believed that independence of African countries (such as Zimbabwe) from European domination was a victory for all peoples of the African diaspora.^[72]

Cannabis

Legacy

Awards and honors

1976: Band of the Year (Rolling Stone).
June 1978: Awarded the Peace Medal of the Third World from the United Nations.^[76]
February 1981: Awarded Jamaica's third highest honour, the Jamaican Order of Merit.^[77]
March 1994: Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
1999: Album of the Century for Exodus by Time Magazine.^[78]
February 2001: A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
February 2001: Awarded Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.^[79]
2004: Rolling Stone ranked him No. 11 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.^[80]
"One Love" named song of the millennium by BBC.
Voted as one of the greatest lyricists of all time by a BBC poll.^[81]
2006: An English Heritage blue plaque was unveiled at his first UK residence in Ridgmount Gardens, London, dedicated to him by Nubian Jak community trust and supported by Her Majesty's Foreign Office.^[82]
2010: Catch a Fire inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame (Reggae Album).^[83]

Other tributes

Statue of Bob Marley in Kingston

A statue was inaugurated, next to the national stadium on Arthur Wint Drive in Kingston to commemorate him.^[84] In 2006, the New York City Department of Education co-named a portion of Church Avenue from Remsen Avenue to East 98th Street in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn as "Bob Marley Boulevard".^[85]^[86] In 2008, a statue of Marley was inaugurated in Banatski Sokolac, Serbia.^[87]

Internationally, Marley's message also continues to reverberate among various indigenous communities. For instance, the Australian Aborigines continue to burn a sacred flame to honor his memory in Sydney's Victoria Park, while members of the Amerindian Hopi and Havasupai tribe revere his work.^[76] There are also many tributes to Bob Marley throughout India, including restaurants, hotels, and cultural festivals.^[88]^[89]

Marley has also evolved into a global symbol, which has been endlessly merchandised through a variety of mediums. In light of this, author Dave Thompson in his book Reggae and Caribbean Music, laments what he perceives to be the commercialized pacification of Marley's more militant edge, stating:

Bob Marley ranks among both the most popular and the most misunderstood figures in modern culture ... That the machine has utterly emasculated Marley is beyond doubt. Gone from the public record is the ghetto kid who dreamed of Che Guevara and the Black Panthers, and pinned their posters up in the Wailers Soul Shack record store; who believed in freedom; and the fighting which it necessitated, and dressed the part on an early album sleeve; whose heroes were James Brown and Muhammad Ali; whose God was Ras Tafari and whose sacrament was marijuana. Instead, the Bob Marley who surveys his kingdom today is smiling benevolence, a shining sun, a waving palm tree, and a string of hits which tumble out of polite radio like candy from a gumball machine. Of course it has assured his immortality. But it has also demeaned him beyond recognition. Bob Marley was worth far more.^[90]

Several film adaptations have evolved as well. For example, a feature-length documentary about his life, Rebel Music, won various awards at the Grammys. With contributions from Rita, The Wailers, and Marley's lovers and children, it also tells much of the story in his own words.^[91] In February 2008, director Martin Scorsese announced his intention to produce a documentary movie on Marley. The film was set to be released on 6 February 2010, on what would have been Marley's 65th birthday.^[92] However, Scorsese dropped out due to scheduling problems. He was replaced by Jonathan Demme,^[93] who dropped out due to creative differences with producer Steve Bing during the beginning of editing. Kevin Macdonald replaced Demme^[94] and the film, Marley, was released on 20 April 2012.^[95] In March 2008, The Weinstein Company announced its plans to produce a biopic of Bob Marley, based on the book No Woman No Cry: My Life With Bob Marley by Rita Marley. Rudy Langlais will produce the script by Lizzie Borden and Rita Marley will be executive producer.^[96] In 2011, ex-girlfriend and filmmaker Esther Anderson, along with Gian Godoy, made the documentary Bob Marley: The Making of a Legend, which premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.^[97]

In October 2015, Jamaican author Marlon James' novel A Brief History of Seven Killings, a fictional account of the attempted assassination of Marley, won the 2015 Man Booker Prize at a ceremony in London.^[98]

Discography

Main article: Bob Marley and the Wailers discography

Studio albums

The Wailing Wailers (1965)
Soul Rebels (1970)
Soul Revolution (1971)
The Best of the Wailers (1971)
Catch a Fire (1973)
Burnin' (1973)
Natty Dread (1974)
Rastaman Vibration (1976)
Exodus (1977)
Kaya (1978)
Survival (1979)
Uprising (1980)
Confrontation (1983)

Live albums

Live! (1975)
Babylon By Bus (1978)

References

Notes

Jason Toynbee (8 May 2013). Bob Marley: Herald of a Postcolonial World. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 1969–. ISBN 978-0-7456-5737-0. Retrieved 23 August 2013.

Lou Gooden (2003). Reggae Heritage: Jamaica's Music History, Culture & Politic. AuthorHouse. pp. 293–. ISBN 978-1-4107-8062-1. Retrieved 25 August 2013.

Bunny Lee Interview at Reggae Vibes. Interviewer: Peter I. Retrieved 23 August 2013.

Aston "Family Man" Barrett Interview^{[dead link]} at Pure Guitar. Interviewer: Jas Obrecht. Published 19 February 2013. Retrieved 23 August 2013.

Mcateer, Amberly (15 October 2014). "Deadly profitable: The 13 highest-earning dead celebrities". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 21 October 2014.

Nielsen Business Media, Inc. (6 October 2007). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. pp. 42–. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 23 August 2013.

Jon Masouri (2009-11-11). Wailing Blues – The Story of Bob Marley's Wailers. Music Sales Group. pp. 242–. ISBN 978-0-85712-035-9. Retrieved 7 September 2013.

Moskowitz, David Vlado (2007). Bob Marley: A Biography. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 13–. ISBN 978-0-313-33879-3. Retrieved 10 September 2013.

Observer Reporter, "Ziggy Marley to adopt Judaism?", The Jamaica Observer, Thursday, 13 April 2006: "Of further interest, Ziggy's grandfather Norval, is of Syrian-Jewish extraction... This was confirmed by Heather Marley, who is the daughter of Noel Marley, Norval's brother."

Jean-Pierre Hombach, Bob Marley: The Father of Music, Lulu, 2012 (ISBN 9781471620454), p. 52: "Marley family members, such as Norval's nephew Michael George Marley, have stated that he was a descendant of Syrian Jews... Michael George Marley revealed:"... I was told by my mother, grandmother and uncle, [that] the Marleys were Syrian Jews who migrated from the Middle East to England and then to Jamaica."

The Real Revolutionary, by Rob Kenner, Vibe, May 2006, Vol. 14, No. 5 (Vibe Media Group ISSN 1070-4701), p. 118.

Bob Marley: the regret that haunted his life Tim Adams, The Observer, Sunday 8 April 2012

Moskowitz 2007, p. 2

Moskowitz 2007, p. 9

Stephen Davis wrote that "his name was changed from Nesta Robert to Robert Nesta Marley, at the suggestion of the passport clerk, who thought Nesta sounded like a girl's name."

Stepney Primary and Junior High School Bob Marley Foundation. Published 16 September 2009. Retrieved 1 September 2013.

Bob Marley (31 January 2012). Listen to Bob Marley: The Man, the Music, the Revolution. Open Road Media. pp. 65–. ISBN 978-1-4532-2494-6. Retrieved 1 September 2013.

Moskowitz 2007, p. 4

The Last Wailer – Bunny Wailer interview at GQ. Interviewer: John Jeremiah Sullivan. Published January 2011. Retrieved 22 October 2013.

Bob Marley’s Early Years: From Nine Miles To London Jas Obrecht Music Archive. Retrieved 8 November 2013.

Junior Braithwaite interview at iration. Date: 5 May 1985. Interviewer: Roger Steffens. Retrieved 7 November 2013.

Chuck Foster, "Joe Higgs – No Man Could Stop The Source". Retrieved 12 November 2013.

Jon Pareles, "Joe Higgs, 59, Reggae Performer; Taught a Generation of Singers", New York Times, 22 December 1999. Retrieved 12 November 2013.

Bob Marley Solo, 1962 Wailer – The Bob Marley Compendium. Retrieved 8 November 2013.

"The Beverley Label and Leslie Kong: Music Business". bobmarley.com. Archived from the original on 21 June 2006.

Nielsen Business Media, Inc. (16 July 1994). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. pp. 92–. ISSN 0006-2510.

Ranglin Interview with Angus Taylor (11 February 2011). Retrieved 6 November 2013.

"The Wailers'Biography". Vital Spot. Archived from the original on 1 December 2012. Retrieved 1 October 2009.

White, Timothy (25 June 1981). "Bob Marley: 1945–1981". Rolling Stone. Jann Wenner. Archived from the original on 21 April 2009.

Moskowitz, David Vlado (2007). The Words and Music of Bob Marley. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing, p. 16. ISBN 0-275-98935-6, ISBN 978-0-275-98935-4.

McKinley, Jesse (19 December 2002). "Pre-reggae tape of Bob Marley is found and put on auction". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 January 2009.

Muir, Hugh (27 October 2006). "Blue plaque marks flats that put Marley on road to fame". The Guardian (UK). Retrieved 7 September 2010.

Lloyd Bradley (30 August 2001). Bass Culture: When Reggae Was King. Penguin Adult. pp. 522–. ISBN 978-0-14-023763-4.

Howard Campbell, "Bunny Wailer sets the record straight", The Gleaner, 22 March 2011. Retrieved 8 November 2013.

Hagerman, Brent (February 2005). "Chris Blackwell: Savvy Svengali". Exclaim.ca. Archived from the original on 27 April 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2010.

Quoted in the liner notes to 2001 reissue of Catch a Fire, written by Richard Williams.

George Terry Interview Hit Channel. Interview: June 2011. Retrieved 10 November 2013.

Nielsen Business Media, Inc. (14 September 1974). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. pp. 64–. ISSN 0006-2510.

"Bob Marley Biography". admin. 9 August 2010. Retrieved November 2010.

Nielsen Business Media, Inc. (15 November 1975). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. pp. 69–. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 8 September 2013.

Nielsen Business Media, Inc. (25 December 1976). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. pp. 77–. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 2 September 2013.

Moskowitz 2007, pp. 71–73

"The shooting of a Wailer".

Walker, Jeff (1980) on the cover of Zap Pow's LP Reggae Rules. Los Angeles: Rhino Records.

"A Timeline of Bob Marley's Career". Thirdfield.com. Retrieved 3 October 2009.

"One Love Peace Concert". Everything2.com. 24 May 2002. Retrieved 3 October 2009.

White, Timothy (28 December 1978). "Babylon by Bus review". Rolling Stone. Jann Wenner. Retrieved 3 October 2009.^{[dead link]}

Henke 2006, p. 61

Morris, Chris (16 October 1980). "Uprising review". Rolling Stone. Jann Wenner. Archived from the original on 24 October 2007. Retrieved 3 October 2009.

Schruers, Fred (1 September 1983). "Confrontation review". Rolling Stone. Jann Wenner. Archived from the original on 1 December 2012. Retrieved 3 October 2009.

"A Death by Skin Cancer? The Bob Marley Story". The Tribune. 11 April 2011. Archived from the original on 17 April 2011. Retrieved 26 July 2011.

Silvera, Janet (22 February 2014). "Marley Sings Of Love As Cindy Fills His Heart". Jamaica Gleaner. Retrieved 22 February 2014.

Slater, Russ (6 August 2010). "The Day Bob Marley Played Football in Brazil". Sounds and Colours. Retrieved 6 August 2010.

Scott, David Meerman (2012-04-20). "Bob Marley and me". Web Ink Now. Retrieved 2015-07-30. Marley's last show was a critical aspect of the film and there was no video or photo record... except mine.

"His story: The life and legacy of Bob Marley". web.bobmarley.com. Retrieved 4 October 2009.^{[dead link]}

"Why Did Bob Marley Die – What Did Bob Marley Die From". Worldmusic.about.com. Retrieved 31 October 2011.

"Bob Marley's funeral program". Orthodoxhistory.org. Retrieved 4 June 2010.

"30 Year Anniversary of Bob Marley's Death". Orthodoxhistory.org. Retrieved 11 May 2011.

Moskowitz 2007, p. 116

"Bob Marley". Find a Grave. 1 January 2001. Retrieved 16 April 2009.

Williams, Richard. "Bob Marley's funeral, 21 May 1981: a day of Jamaican history". the Guardian. Retrieved 2015-10-17.

Henke 2006, p. 58

Davis, Steven, Bob Marley: the biography (1983) p. 115

Marley, Rita. No Woman, No Cry: My Life with Bob Marley.

White, Timothy. Catch A Fire: The Life Of Bob Marley:.

Marley, Rita (2004). No Woman, No Cry: My Life with Bob Marley (1st ed.). Retrieved 23 August 2013.^{[dead link]}

Dixon, Meredith. "Lovers and Children of the Natural Mystic: The Story of Bob Marley, Women and their Children". The Dread Library. Retrieved 21 June 2007.

"Bob Marley's Children". Chelsea's Entertainment reviews. Retrieved 28 December 2009.

"Bob Marley and the Beautiful Game". Paste Magazine. Retrieved 22 December 2014

"Bob Marley Official Site".

Grant, Colin. The Natural Mystics: Marley, Tosh, and Wailer. p. 113.

Bell, Thomas L. Sound, Society and the Geography of Popular Music. p. 100.

Sherry Paprocki, Sean Dolan. Bob Marley: Musician. p. 51.

Booth, Martin. Cannabis: A History. pp. 366, 367, 368.

Moskowitz, David Vlado. Bob Marley: A Biography. p. 15.

Henke 2006, p. 5.

David Vlado Moskowitz (2007). Bob Marley: A Biography. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 132. ISBN 978-0275989354. Retrieved 26 September 2013.

"The Best Of The Century". Time (Time Inc.). 31 December 1999. Retrieved 16 April 2009.

"Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award for Bob Marley". Caribbean Today. 31 January 2001. Retrieved 4 October 2009.

"The Immortals: The First Fifty". Rolling Stone Issue 946. Jann Wenner. Archived from the original on 6 January 2007.

"Who is the greatest lyricist of all time". BBC. 23 May 2001.

"London honours legendary reggae artist Bob Marley with heritage plaque". AfricaUnite.org. Archived from the original on 20 November 2008.

"Grammy Hall of Fame Awards Complete Listing". Grammy.com.^{[dead link]}

"Statue of Bob Marley, Kingston, Jamaica". The Independent. Retrieved 23 December 2014.

Mooney, Jake. "Drum Roll for a Sign With a Reggae Beat", The New York Times, 21 May 2006. Accessed 11 October 2007. "On May 10, the City Council approved a plan to hang Bob Marley Boulevard signs beneath the Church Avenue ones along an eight-block section, from Remsen Avenue to East 98th Street."

"Brooklyn Street Renamed Bob Marley Boulevard". NY1. 2 July 2006. Retrieved 6 October 2009.^{[dead link]}

"n. Marinković, "Marli u Sokolcu"". Politika.rs. Retrieved 31 October 2011.

Singh, Sarina; Brown, Lindsay; Elliot, Mark; Harding, Paul; Hole, Abigail; Horton, Patrick (2009). Lonely Planet India. Oakland, CA: Lonely Planet. p. 1061. ISBN 978-1-74179-151-8. Retrieved 7 July 2011.

"Bob Marley Cultural Fest 2010". Cochin Square. 4 May 2010. Retrieved 7 July 2011.

Reggae and Caribbean Music, by Dave Thompson, Hal Leonard Corporation, 2002, ISBN 0-87930-655-6, pp. 159

Rebel Music – The Bob Marley Story (Rita Marley, Bob Marley). 2001.

Winter Miller (17 February 2008). "Scorsese to make Marley documentary". Ireland On-Line. Retrieved 6 March 2008.^{[dead link]}

"Martin Scorsese Drops Out of Bob Marley Documentary". WorstPreviews.com. 22 May 2008. Retrieved 26 May 2008.

Kevin Jagernauth (2 February 2011). "Kevin Macdonald Takes Over 'Marley' Doc From Jonathan Demme". indieWire. Retrieved 22 February 2012.

"Jamaica premiere for Marley tribute". www.independent.ie. 20 April 2012. Retrieved 20 April 2012.

Miller, Winter (3 March 2008). "Weinstein Co. options Marley". Variety (Reed Business Information). Retrieved 3 March 2008.

Elaine Downs (23 June 2011). "Edinburgh International Film Festival 2011: Bob Marley – the Making of a Legend | News | Edinburgh | STV". Local.stv.tv. Retrieved 26 July 2012.

"Marlon James wins Booker Prize for novel on attempted assassination of Bob Marley". The Washington Post. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

Sources

Farley, Christopher (2007). Before the Legend: The Rise of Bob Marley, Amistad Press, ISBN 0-06-053992-5
Goldman, Vivien (2006). The Book of Exodus: The Making and Meaning of Bob Marley and the Wailers' Album of the Century, Aurum Press, ISBN 1-84513-210-6
Henke, James (2006). Marley Legend: An Illustrated Life of Bob Marley. Tuff Gong Books. ISBN 0-8118-5036-6.
Marley, Rita; Jones, Hettie (2004). No Woman No Cry: My Life with Bob Marley, Hyperion Books, ISBN 0-7868-8755-9
Masouri, John (2007). Wailing Blues: The Story of Bob Marley's "Wailers", Wise Publications, ISBN 1-84609-689-8
Middleton, J. Richard (2000). "Identity and Subversion in Babylon: Strategies for 'Resisting Against the System' in the Music of Bob Marley and the Wailers". Religion, Culture, and Tradition in the Caribbean. St. Martin's Press. pp. 181–198. ISBN 978-0-312-23242-9.
Moskowitz, David (2007). The Words and Music of Bob Marley. Westport, Connecticut, United States: Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0-275-98935-6.
White, Timothy (2006). Catch a Fire: The Life of Bob Marley. New York: Macmillan. ISBN 0-8050-8086-4.

External links

Find more about Bob Marley at Wikipedia's sister projects
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Sound Projections

Welcome to Sound Projections

Saturday, February 6, 2016

BOB MARLEY (1945-1981): Legendary, iconic, and innovative musician, singer, songwriter, arranger, ensemble leader, social activist, philosopher, and teacher

Inspiration

Spreading "Positive Vibrations" from Sierra Leone to Manhattan

Studio Albums

Bob Marley at 70: legend and legacy

Topics

Bob Marley

Contents

Early life and career

Bob Marley and the Wailers

1962–1972: Early years

1972–1974: Move to Island Records

1974–1976: Line-up changes and shooting

1977–1978: Relocation to England

1979–1981: Later years

Illness and death

Personal life

Religion

Family

Football

Personal views

Pan-Africanism

Cannabis

Legacy

Awards and honors

Other tributes

Discography

See also

References

Notes

Sources

External links

Editor's Bio

Blog Archive

Labels