brief biography of bob marley

• Born February 6 , 1945 · Nine Miles, St. Ann, Jamaica
• Died May 11 , 1981 · Miami, Florida, USA (metastatic skin cancer)
• Birth name Robert Nesta Marley
• Height 5′ 6¾″ (1.70 m)
• Bob Marley was born on February 6, 1945, in Nine Miles, Saint Ann, Jamaica, to Norval Marley and Cedella Booker . His father was a Jamaican of English descent. His mother was a black teenager. The couple were married in 1944 but Norval left for Kingston immediately after. Norval died in 1957, seeing his son only a few times. Bob Marley started his career with the Wailers, a group he formed with Peter Tosh and Bunny Livingston in 1963. Marley married Rita Marley in February 1966, and it was she who introduced him to Rastafarianism. By 1969 Bob, Tosh and Livingston had fully embraced Rastafarianism, which greatly influence Marley's music in particular and on reggae music in general. The Wailers collaborated with Lee Scratch Perry, resulting in some of the Wailers' finest tracks like "Soul Rebel", "Duppy Conquerer", "400 Years" and "Small Axe." This collaboration ended bitterly when the Wailers found that Perry, thinking the records were his, sold them in England without their consent. However, this brought the Wailers' music to the attention of Chris Blackwell , the owner of Island Records. Blackwell immediately signed the Wailers and produced their first album, "Catch a Fire". This was followed by "Burnin'", featuring tracks as "Get Up Stand Up" and "I Shot the Sheriff." Eric Clapton 's cover of that song reached #1 in the US. In 1974 Tosh and Livingston left the Wailers to start solo careers. Marley later formed the band "Bob Marley and the Wailers", with his wife Rita as one of three backup singers called the I-Trees. This period saw the release of some groundbreaking albums, such as "Natty Dread", "Rastaman Vibration". In 1976, during a period of spiraling political violence in Jamaica, an attempt was made on Marley's life. Marley left for England, where he lived in self-exile for two years. In England "Exodus" was produced, and it remained on the British charts for 56 straight weeks. This was followed by another successful album, "Kaya." These successes introduced reggae music to the western world for the first time, and established the beginning of Marley's international status. In 1977 Marley consulted with a doctor when a wound in his big toe would not heal. More tests revealed malignant melanoma. He refused to have his toe amputated as his doctors recommended, claiming it contradicted his Rastafarian beliefs. Others, however, claim that the main reason behind his refusal was the possible negative impact on his dancing skills. The cancer was kept secret from the general public while Bob continued working. Returning to Jamaica in 1978, he continued work and released "Survival" in 1979 which was followed by a successful European tour. In 1980 he was the only foreign artist to participated in the independence ceremony of Zimbabwe. It was a time of great success for Marley, and he started an American tour to reach blacks in the US. He played two shows at Madison Square Garden, but collapsed while jogging in NYC's Central Park on September 21, 1980. The cancer diagnosed earlier had spread to his brain, lungs and stomach. Bob Marley died in a Miami hospital on May 11, 1981. He was 36 years old. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous & MO840
• Spouse Rita Marley (February 10, 1966 - May 11, 1981) (his death, 5 children)
• Children Sharon Marley Prendergast Cedella Marley Ziggy Marley Stephen Marley Stephanie Rohan Robbie Karen Julian Marley Damian Marley Ky-Mani Marley
• Relatives Charles Mattocks (Niece or Nephew)
• Always had his hair in dreadlocks
• Started every performance by proclaiming the divinity of Jah Rastafari
• Gibson Epiphone
• He is buried in a crypt at Nine Miles, near his birthplace, with his Gibson Les Paul Guitar, a soccer ball, a cannabis bud, and a Bible.
• Refused amputation of his cancer-affected toe due to his religious beliefs.
• Survived an assassination attempt, receiving minor injuries in the chest and arm (December 1976).
• Was arrested in England for possession of a joint of a marijuana.
• Following the attempt on his life, he left Jamaica and lived in England between 1976 and 1978. In England he did not live with his wife Rita, but with Jamaican beauty queen Cindy Breakspeare . In fact, the song "Turn Your Lights Down Low" was written for her. They had a son together, Damian Marley .
• My music will go on forever. Maybe it's a fool say that, but when me know facts me can say facts. My music will go on forever.
• I have a BMW. But only because BMW stands for Bob Marley and The Wailers, and not because I need an expensive car.
• Bob Marley isn't my name. I don't even know my name yet.
• I no have education. I have inspiration. If I was educated I would be a damn fool.
• [on politics] Well, everything is political. I will never be a politician or even think political. Me just deal with life and nature. That is the greatest thing to me.

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Dedicated to the life & legacy of Tuff Gong.

LIFE & 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.”

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.

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.

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” and “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”.

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’s third album for Island Records, “Natty Dread”, released in October 1974, 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, Al Anderson on lead guitar, Tyrone Downie on keyboards and Alvin “Seeco” Patterson playing percussion. Session musicians for the album also included Bernard “Touter” Harvey and Jean Roussel on piano/organ, while Lee Jaffe sometimes played harmonica with the band live. 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, no. 92 on the Pop Albums chart, and no. 43 in the UK album charts. In 2003, the album was ranked No. 181 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

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”, peaking at no. 8 on the Billboard Top 200. 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 rivaling People’s National Party (PNP) and the Jamaica Labor Party (JLP), Bob decided to put on a (non partisan) free concert for the people, 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, and 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. 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.

The reality was, Bob had flown to London (after a couple of weeks stay in the Bahamas), where he would live for the next 14 months. There, he recorded the albums “Exodus” (1977) and most of “Kaya” (1978); with some work on the latter being finished in Miami. 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. It was during this time in London, that lead guitarist Junior Marvin joined the band; Marvin had worked with Stevie Wonder and was about to join his band, but opted instead to join The Wailers because he believed in the message. 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 moment, 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 15, 1978.

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 capital, 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 April 1979, 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 fall of 1979. Featuring now-iconic songs such as “Wake Up and Live”, “So Much Trouble In The World”, “One Drop”, “Ambush In The Night” – his definitive statement on the 1976 assassination attempt – as well as the album’s title track, “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 tear gas 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 been courting 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, U2’s Bono, Sinead O’Connor and Rihanna are but five 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 & summer of 1980, breaking attendance records in several countries. In Milan, Italy, they performed before 110,000 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 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.

The Pittsburgh show took place just two days after Marley learned the cancer that had taken root in his big toe in 1977, revealed 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 forty years after Bob Marley’s transition, his music remains as vital as ever in its celebration of life and embodiment of struggle.

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 countries 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 16, 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 18, 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 every man 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 contrary.” “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.”

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 would know where you’re coming from/then you wouldn’t have to ask me, who the hell do I think I am?”

And in the years since, a number of protests – including 2011’s Occupy Wall St. movement, the 2020 protests against police brutality across the U.S., and many others – have used Bob’s music and message as a voice for their revolutions. The uncompromising sentiments expressed on Bob’s “Get Up Stand Up” in particular are commonplace at these demonstrations, with masses of people around the world chanting: “So now we see the light, we’re gonna stand up for our rights!”

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MARLEY'S MAP

7 Fascinating Facts About Bob Marley

In addition to selling millions of albums — his retrospective Legend has spent more than 570 weeks on the Billboard Top 200 chart since its 1984 debut—Marley received The United Nations Peace Medal of the Third World in 1978. He was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. The BBC proclaimed Marley’s “One Love” as Song of the Millennium. And in 2001, Marley was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammys.

Marley’s music continues to inspire and influence music, fashion, politics and culture around the world. But as the seven facts below illustrate, he lived an exceptionally full life in a very short amount of time.

He was derogatorily nicknamed “White Boy”

Nesta Robert Marley was born on February 6, 1945, in St. Ann Parish, Jamaica. His father was a white British naval captain named Norval Sinclair Marley, who was nearly 60 at the time. His mother, Cedella, was a 19-year-old country village girl. Because of his mixed racial makeup, Bob was bullied and derogatorily nicknamed “White Boy” by his neighbors. However, he later said the experience helped him develop this philosophy: "I’m not on the white man’s side, or the Black man’s side. I’m on God’s side.”

He liked to spook people by predicting their futures

When he was a small child, Marley seemed to have a knack for spooking people by successfully predicting their futures by reading their palms. At seven, after a year spent living in the ghettos of Kingston, he returned to his rural village and declared that his new destiny was to become a singer. From then on, he refused all requests to read palms. By his early teens, Marley was living in Kingston’s Trench Town, a desperately poor slum.

He and his friends Bunny Livingston (given name, Neville O’Riley Livingston) and Peter Tosh (given name, Winston Hubert McIntosh) spent a lot of time listening to rhythm and blues on American radio stations. They named their band the Wailing Wailers (later shortened to the Wailers) because they were ghetto sufferers. As practicing Rastafarians, they grew their hair in dreadlocks and smoked ganja (marijuana) because they believed it to be a sacred herb that brought enlightenment.

He achieved international stardom

The Wailers recorded for small Jamaican labels throughout the 1960s, during which time ska became the hot sound. Marley’s lyrics took a more spiritual turn, and Jamaican music itself was changing from the bouncy ska beat to the more sensual rhythms of rock steady. When the group signed with Island Records in the early 1970s, they became popular with international audiences.

He produced a string of politically charged albums

When Livingston and Tosh left for solo careers, Marley hired a new band and took center stage as singer, songwriter and rhythm guitarist. He produced a string of politically charged albums that reflected the keen social consciousness that came to define his lyrics. He wrote about the soaring unemployment, rationed food supplies and pervasive political violence he saw in Jamaica, which transformed him into an influential cultural icon.

In 1976, two days before he was set to play a free “Smile Jamaica” concert aimed at reducing tensions between warring political factions, an unknown gunman attacked him and his entourage. Though bullets grazed Bob and his wife Rita Marley, they electrified a crowd of 80,000 people when both took to the stage with the Wailers. The gesture of defiant survival heightened his legend and further galvanized his political outlook, resulting in the most militant albums of his career.

Marley had several children and adopted children as well

A little history of Marley and his wife Rita: He married her at 21 (she was a Sunday school teacher at the time) and stayed married to her until his death. He adopted her daughter and they had four children together during their marriage. Marley also had at least eight more children with eight different women. Rumors allude to several other unclaimed children but those named officially are Imani, Sharon, Cedella, David (aka Ziggy) , Stephen, Robbie, Rohan, Karen, Stephanie, Julian, Ky-Mani, Damian and Madeka.

He is the front of a global marijuana brand

As celebrity endorsements go, it certainly seems like a perfect fit: Under the label Marley Natural, the reggae icon fronts a global marijuana brand. Products include the “heirloom Jamaican cannabis strains”—purportedly the very same one Marley himself enjoyed—along with smoking accessories, creams, lotions and other items. Marley’s daughter Cedella calls the brand an “authentic way to honor his legacy by adding his voice to the conversation about cannabis and helping end the social harms caused by prohibition. My dad would be so happy to see people understanding the healing power of the herb.”

He's one of the top-earning dead celebrities

In late 2018, Forbes Magazine listed Marley as fifth on the list of the highest-earning dead celebrities. In addition to Marley Natural, his family has also licensed brands of coffee, audio equipment, apparel and lifestyle goods. Of course, Marley has also sold more than 75 million albums in the past two decades. Legend , a retrospective of his work, is the best-selling reggae album ever. More than 12 million copies have been sold internationally and several thousand new units sell every week.

Marley died of cancer on May 11, 1981, in Miami. His body was flown back to Jamaica to be buried and, in one day, 40,000 people filed past his coffin as his body lay in state in Jamaica’s National Arena.

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Bob Marley (born Robert Nesta Marley; February 6, 1945–May 11, 1981) was the most influential Jamaican musician in history, the defining figure of reggae music and a spiritual icon and prophet to many. His music remains globally popular and his work has strong spiritual and political messages. Marley died of cancer in 1981 at age 36.

Fast Facts: Bob Marley

• Known For : The defining figure of reggae music, spiritual icon
• Also Known As : Robert Nesta Marley
• Born : February 6, 1945 in Nine Mile, St. Ann Parish, Jamaica
• Parents : Norval Sinclair Marley and Cedella Malcolm
• Died : May 11, 1981 in Miami, Florida
• Education : Stepney Primary and Junior High School
• Selection of Albums : "The Wailing Wailers," "Soul Rebels," "Catch a Fire," "Burnin'," "Natty Dread," "Rastaman Vibration," "Exodus," "Kaya," "Survival," "Uprising"
• Awards and Honors : Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, Time 's Album of the Century ("Exodus"), BBC's Song of the Millenium ("One Love")
• Spouse: Rita Marley
• Children : 12, including Damian "Jr. Gong," Julian, Ziggy, Stephen, Ky-Mani, Cedelia, Sharon
• Notable Quote : “Babylon is everywhere. You have wrong and you have right. Wrong is what we call Babylon, wrong things. That is what Babylon is to me. I could have born in England, I could have born in America, it make no difference where me born, because there is Babylon everywhere.”

Bob Marley was born in 1945 in Nine Mile, St. Ann Parish, Jamaica. His father Norval Sinclair Marley was a white Englishman who died when Bob was 10 years old. Bob's mother Cedella Malcolm moved with him to Kingston's Trenchtown neighborhood after his father's death.

As a young teen, Bob Marley befriended Bunny Wailer, and they learned to play music together. At 14, Marley dropped out of school to learn the welding trade and spent his spare time jamming with Bunny Wailer and ska musician Joe Higgs.

Early Recordings and the Formation of the Wailers

Bob Marley recorded his first two singles in 1962 while he was still a teenager, but neither garnered much interest at the time. In 1963, he began a ska band with Bunny Wailer and Peter Tosh that was originally called "The Teenagers."

Later the band became "The Wailing Rudeboys," then "The Wailing Wailers," and finally just "The Wailers." Their early Studio One hits, which were recorded in the popular rocksteady style, included "Simmer Down" (1964) and "Soul Rebel" (1965), both written by Marley.

Marriage and Religious Conversion

Marley married Rita Anderson in 1966 and spent a few months living in Delaware in the United States with his mother. When Marley returned to Jamaica, he began practicing the Rastafarian faith and started growing his signature dreadlocks.

"The Rastafari Movement," is an Abrahamic faith that believes that Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie was the second coming of the Messiah. Rastafari believe that Western Culture, and Anglo-Saxon culture, in particular, is legendary Babylon, evil, and oppressive. As a devout Rasta, Marley partook in the ritual usage of ganja (marijuana).

Worldwide Success

The Wailers gained popularity in Jamaica during the 1960s with their ska-inflected music and in 1972 they signed with the international label Island. Their 1973 album "Catch a Fire" garnered them worldwide interest. Their 1974 album "Burnin'" contained "I Shot The Sheriff" and "Get Up, Stand Up," both of which gathered cult followings in both the U.S. and Europe.

The same year, however, the Wailers broke up to pursue solo careers. At this point, Marley had made a full transition from ska and rocksteady to a new style, which would forever be called reggae . The word reggae originates from "rege-rege," a slang word for tattered clothing ("rags") and likely refers to its hodgepodge of influences, including both traditional and contemporary  Jamaican music , like ska and  mento , as well as American  R&B . 

Bob Marley & the Wailers

Bob Marley continued to tour and record as "Bob Marley & the Wailers," though he was the only original Wailer in the group. In 1975, "No Woman, No Cry" became Bob Marley's first major breakthrough hit song, and his subsequent album "Rastaman Vibration" became a Billboard Top 10 Album. In a few short years, Bob Marley produced such classic songs as "Exodus," "One Love," "Coming in from the Cold," "Jamming," and "Redemption Song."

Political and Religious Activism

Bob Marley spent much of the late 1970s trying to promote peace and cultural understanding within Jamaica. Marley survived an attempted assassination (along with his wife and manager, who also survived) shortly before a peace concert in 1976, through which Marley was trying to bring a truce between Jamaica's political factions.

Marley also acted as a global cultural ambassador for the Jamaican people and the Rastafarian religion. He remains revered as a prophet by many, and certainly a religious and cultural icon by many more.

In 1977, Marley found a wound on his foot, which he believed to be a soccer injury. It was later discovered to be malignant melanoma. Doctors recommended amputation of his toe, but he refused treatment for religious reasons. The cancer eventually spread. When he finally decided to get medical help in 1980, Marley's cancer had become terminal.

Marley wanted to die in Jamaica, but he could not withstand the flight home and died in Miami on May 11, 1981. He received a state funeral. His final recording, at Pittsburgh's Stanley Theatre, was recorded and released for posterity as "Bob Marley and the Wailers Live Forever."

Bob Marley is revered the world over, both as the defining figure of Jamaican music and as a spiritual leader. His wife Rita carries on his work, and his sons Damian "Jr. Gong," Julian, Ziggy , Stephen, Ky-Mani, as well as his daughters Cedelia and Sharon, carry on his musical legacy (the other siblings do not play music professionally).

Among the awards and honors that have been given to Bob Marley are a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. His songs and albums have also won numerous honors, such as Time magazine's Album of the Century (for "Exodus") and BBC's Song of the Millenium for "One Love."

• Steffens, Roger. So Much Things to Say: The Oral History of Bob Marley. W.W. Norton and Company, 2017.
• White, Timothy.  Catch a Fire: The Life of Bob Marley . Macmillan, 2006.
• White, Timothy. “ Bob Marley .” Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2 Feb. 2019.
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Timeline: Bob Marley

February 6 1945: Robert Nesta Marley is born in Nine Miles, St Ann's, Jamaica , the son of a middle-aged white British naval officer and teenage Jamaican mother.

1962: Records his first song in Kingston, Judge Not, recorded by legendary reggae producer Leslie Kong.

1963: He forms the original Wailers - then known as the Teenagers - with Peter Tosh, Bunny Livingstone, Junior Braithwaite, Beverley Kelso and Cherry Smith.

1963 - 1966: The band, who change their name to Bob Marley and the Wailers, record over 70 songs for producer Coxsone Dodd, including many tracks Marley would re-record to international acclaim in the 1970s.

1966: Marley marries soul singer Rita Anderson, a member of The Soulettes and later the I-Threes, with whom he will have five children. Shortly after marrying, he moves to the US to work in a factory.

1969-71: The band record with noted Jamaican producer Lee "Scratch" Perry. This period includes many classic tracks such as Small Axe, My Cup and Sun is Shining.

1971: Marley forms his own record label, Tuff Gong.

1973: Bob Marley and the Wailers sign to Chris Blackwell's Island Records. They release the album Catch a Fire, the first to make a major impression in music markets outside the Caribbean. Livingston and Tosh, however, leave the band to embark on solo careers.

1974: Eric Clapton covers The Wailers' I Shot the Sheriff and takes it into the UK top 10, further adding to their reputation.

1975: The band release the seminal album Natty Dread, which contains their landmark song No Woman, No Cry. Marley becomes a star all over the globe.

December 3, 1976: Marley and wife Rita are injured in an assassination attempt in Jamaica. Days later, he takes to the stage with his arm in a sling.

July 1977: Marley breaks one of the toes on his right foot in a football accident in Paris. Doctors find cancerous cells and remove them.

1978: He holds the One Love Peace Concert in Kingston, bringing the leaders of Jamaica's rival political factions to the stage to shake hands.

1980: Marley and The Wailers kick off the year with a concert in the newly-independent African nation of Zimbabwe. Later in the year, while jogging in New York's Central Park, Marley collapses. Doctors discover cancer has spread to his lungs, liver and brain.

May 11, 1981: Marley dies in hospital in the US, aged 36.

May 1986: The Marley Museum is opened in Kingston, on the site of his former home.

1990: Marley's birthday is declared a national holiday in Jamaica.

1994: Bob Marley is posthumously admitted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

• Bob Marley: 60th anniversary

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Bob Marley - Biography

Bob Marley Biography

Robert Nesta Marley (February 6, 1945 - May 11, 1981), better known as Bob Marley , was a singer , guitarist , songwriter from the ghettos of Jamaica . He is the best known reggae musician of all times, famous for popularising the genre outside of Jamaica. Much of his work deals with the struggles of the impoverished and/or powerless. He has been called the Charles Wesley of the Rastafarian faith for the way he spread Rastafari through his music.

He was the husband of Rita Anderson Marley (who was one of the I Threes , who acted as the Wailers' back up singers after they became a global act). She had 4 of his 9 children, including David Ziggy Marley and Stephen Marley who continue their father's musical legacy in their band The Melody Makers. Another of his sons Damien Marley (aka 'Jr Gong') has also started a career in Music.

Bob Marley was born on February 6, 1945 in Jamaica to Norval Marley, a middle-aged white plantation overseer from England, and Cedella Booker, a black teenager from the north country. Cedella and Norval were to be married on June 9th, 1944. Approximately a week before the wedding, however, Norval informed Cedella that his chronic hernia had begun to trouble him and as a result he would be changing jobs and moving to Kingston. Norval never really knew his son because of the white upper class' disdain for interracial relationships. As a youth, Bob Marley was often the object of bitter ridicule by both white and black Jamaicans for his mixed heritage.

Musical career

Marley started his musical experimentation in ska and gravitated towards reggae as the music evolved, playing, teaching and singing for a long period in the 1970s and 1980s . Marley is perhaps best-known for work with his reggae group 'The Wailers', which included two other celebrated reggae musicians, Bunny Wailer and Peter Tosh . Livingstone and Tosh later left the group and went on to become successful solo artists.

Much of Marley's early work was produced by Coxsone Dodd at Studio One . That relationship later deteriorated due to financial pressure, and in the early 1970s he produced what is believed by many to be his finest work with Lee Perry . This pair also split apart, this time over the assignment of recording rights. They did work together again in London, though, and remained friends until Marley's death.

Marley's work was largely responsible for the mainstream cultural acceptance of reggae music outside of Jamaica. He signed to Chris Blackwell 's Island Records label in 1971, at the time a highly influential and innovative label. Island Records boasted a retinue of successful and diverse artists including Genesis , John Martyn and Nick Drake . Though many people believe that Blackwell interfered with what Marley wanted to do with his own music, truth is that the knowledge this producer brought to the scene was critical in Marley's wish to bring reggae to the world.

Religious and political convictions

Marley was well known for his devotion to the Rastafarian religion . It was his wife Rita who first inspired him in his faith , and he then received teachings from Mortimer Planner . He served as a de facto missionary for the faith (his actions and lyrics suggest that this was intentional) and brought it to global attention. Through his music he preached brotherhood and peace for all of mankind. Towards the end of his life he was also baptised into the Ethiopian Orthodox Church with the name Berhane Selassie.

As a Rasta, Bob Marley was a great defender of cannabis which he used as a sacrament. On the cover of Catch a Fire he is seen smoking a big spliff , and the spiritual use of cannabis is mentioned in many of his songs.

In 1976, just two days before a scheduled free concert that Marley and the then Jamaican PM Michael Manley had organized, Marley, his wife Rita and manager Don Taylor, were shot inside the star's 56 Hope Road home. Marley received minor injuries in the arm and chest. Don Taylor took most of the bullets in his legs and torso as he accidentally walked in the line of fire. He was registered in serious condition after he was rushed to the hospital but fully recovered later. Rita also recovered of the head wound she received that night. It is generally believed that this shooting was politically motivated. Jamaican politics being somewhat violent at the time, especially when close to elections time as it was then. The concert was seen as being in support of the progressive prime minister of Jamaica, Michael Manley . It is widely held that he was shot by supporters of the conservative political party of Jamaica, the Jamaica Labour Party . However, there is little evidence to support this. Though the police never caught the gunmen, Marley devotees later 'caught up' with them on the streets of Kingston.

Marley was known to have connections with the Twelve Tribes of Israel sect of Rastafari, and he expressed this with a biblical quote about Joseph, son of Jacob on the album cover of Rastaman Vibration . The tribe of Joseph is Aquarius

Battle with cancer

In July 1977, Marley was found to have a wound on his right big toe, which he thought was from a soccer injury. The wound would not completely heal, and his toenail later fell off during a soccer game. It was then that the correct diagnosis was made. Marley actually had a form of skin cancer, malignant melanoma , which grew under his toenail. He was advised to get his toe amputated , but he refused because of the Rastafarian belief that doctors are samfai , confidence men who cheat the gullible by pretending to have the power of witchcraft. He also was concerned about the impact the operation would have on his dancing; amputation would profoundly affect his career at a time when greater success was close at hand. Still, Marley based this refusal on his Rastafarian beliefs, saying, 'Rasta no abide amputation. I and I don't allow a mon ta be dismantled.' Catch a Fire , Timothy White He did have surgery to try to excise the cancer cells. The cancer was kept a secret from the wider public.

The cancer spread to his brain , his lungs and his stomach . While on tour in the summer of 1980, he collapsed while jogging in NYC's Central Park after a series of shows at Madison Square Garden . The illness made him unable to continue with the large tour planned. Marley sought help, mostly from the controversial cancer specialist Josef Issels , but it was discovered that his illness was terminal. A month before his death, he was awarded Jamaica's Order of Merit. He wanted to spend his final days in Jamaica but he became too ill on the flight home from Germany and had to land in Miami. He passed away at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Miami, Florida on May 11, 1981. His funeral in Jamaica was a dignified affair with combined elements of Ethiopian Orthodoxy (he had secretly been baptized into the Ethiopian Orthodox Church as Bernahe Selassie) and Rastafarianism. He is buried in a crypt at Nine Miles, near his birthplace. His early death brought him nearly mythic status in music history similar to that of Elvis Presley and John Lennon . His image and music continue to produce a huge stream of revenue for his estate. He was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001.

Recent events

In January 2005, it was reported  ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4168883.stm ) that Rita Marley is planning to have her late husband's remains exhumed and reburied in Shashamane , Ethiopia . In announcing the decision to move Marley's remains to Ethiopia, Rita Marley said: 'Bob's whole life is about Africa , it is not Jamaica.' There is as lot of resistance to this proposal in Jamaica, including from the establishment , who contradicted Rita by saying that Bob was entirely a product of Jamaican culture . The birthday celebrations for what would have been his 60th birthday on February 6th 2005 were celebrated in Shashamane for the first time, having previously always been held in Jamaica. Bob Marley birthday celebrations marked by dispute over possible reburial

• 1  ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4225239.stm )

Rewards and honors

• 1976 - Band of the Year ( Rolling Stone )
• June 1978 - Awarded the Peace Medal of the Third World from the United Nations
• February 1981 - Awarded Jamaica's highest honor, the Order of Merit
• 1999 - Album of the Century ( Time Magazine ) for Exodus )
• February 2001 - A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
• February 2001 - Awarded Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award

Discography

• Judge Not (1961) ( Single )
• Simmer Down (1964) (Single)
• 'Concrete Jungle'
• 'Midnight Ravers'
• 'Stir It Up'
• 'Small Axe'
• 'Trench Town Rock'
• 'Get Up, Stand Up'
• 'I Shot the Sheriff'
• 'Lively up yourself'
• 'No Woman No Cry'
• 'Natty Dread'
• 'Talking blues'
• 'Revolution'
• 'No Woman No Cry' (the famous live version)
• 'Crazy Baldhead'
• 'Jammin'' (1977)
• 'Natural mystic'
• 'One Love / People Get Ready'
• 'Three Little Birds'
• 'Waiting in Vain'
• 'Is This Love'
• 'Satisfy My Soul'
• 'So Much Trouble In The World'
• 'Top Rankin''
• 'Babylon System'
• 'Africa Unite'
• 'Ride Natty Ride'
• 'Ambush In The Night'
• 'Wake Up And Live'
• 'Could You Be Loved'
• 'Redemption Song'
• 'Reggae On Broadway' (earlier single (by CBS ))
• 'Buffalo Soldier'

Sound samples

• Download sample of ' Redemption Song '

External links

• Bob Marley at 60, what's planned?  ( http://www.tributetobobmarley.com/ )
• Bob Marley Lyrics  ( http://www.jamaicalyrics.com.ar/index.php?mod=search&type=0&find=bob+marley )
• Bob Marley Lyrics  ( http://lyrics.rare-lyrics.com/B/Bob-Marley.html )
• Bob Marley  ( http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0002490/ ) at the Internet Movie Database
• On October 4, 1963, Haile Selassie addressed the United Nations with his famous peace speech  ( http://www.bobmarley.com/life/rastafari/war_speech.html ) from which Bob Marley made the song 'War'.
• www.bobmarley.com
• Lovers and Children of the Natural Mystic: The Story of Bob Marley, Women and their Children  ( http://debate.uvm.edu/dreadlibrary/dixon.html )
• Family tree of Bob Marley  ( http://hem.passagen.se/ielbo/wail/wailerft.htm )
• Bob Marley Forever - Posters, Shirts, Books, Lyrics and more  ( http://www.bobmarleyforever.com )
• Christian site critical of Marley's Rasta beliefs  ( http://www.av1611.org/crock/pod_rast.html )

Bibliography

Timothy White. Catch a Fire: The Life of Bob Marley. Owl Books (NY), 1998.

Filmography

Rebel Music: The Bob Marley Story

Roots reggae , Rastafarianism , Ras Tafari , Jamaican English , Amharic , Ethiopia , List of reggae musicians .

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Bob Marley: A Biography , and: Bob Marley (review)

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Short Biography of Bob Marley

Reading Comprehension – A Short Biography of Bob Marley

Develop your reading skills. Read the following short biography of Bob Marley and do the comprehension task.

Bob Marley: A Musical Legacy

The Beginning

Bob Marley was born on February 6, 1945. He was a Jamaican reggae singer, songwriter, musician, and guitarist who achieved international fame and acclaim. Starting out in 1963 with the group The Wailers, he forged a distinctive songwriting and vocal style that later resonated with audiences worldwide. After The Wailers disbanded in 1974, Marley pursued a solo career that culminated in the release of the album Exodus in 1977. This album established his worldwide reputation and solidified his status as one of the world’s best-selling artists of all time, with sales of more than 75 million records.

Bob Marley was a committed Rastafari, an Abrahamic religion that developed in Jamaica in the 1930s. This religion infused his music with a sense of spirituality. The Rastafari movement played a crucial role in the development of reggae music. As a staunch proponent of Rastafari, Bob Marley took reggae music out of the socially deprived areas of Jamaica and onto the international music scene.

Illness and Death

In July 1977, Marley was diagnosed with a type of malignant melanoma under the nail of a toe. He declined his doctors’ advice to have his toe amputated due to his religious beliefs. Despite his illness, he continued touring until his health deteriorated as the cancer spread throughout his body. He passed away on May 11, 1981, at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Miami (now University of Miami Hospital) at the age of 36. The melanoma had spread to his lungs and brain, leading to his demise. His final words to his son Ziggy were:

“Money can’t buy life.”

Source: Wikipedia

Bob Marley: A Reggae Icon

by arthinkal · Published August 23, 2021 · Updated March 3, 2024

Bob Marley. Image by jackdoylelfc from Pixabay

Bob Marley was a Jamaican singer, songwriter, and musician, who is considered one of the most influential musicians of all time and a pioneer of reggae.

Over the course of his short life, Marley became a Rastafari and cultural icon, who increased the awareness of Jamaican music and culture across the world.

Through his work and his beliefs, Marley became a global symbol of peace and Jamaican identity and culture. He is now widely regarded as one of the greatest singer-songwriters of all time.

Bob Marley was born on 6th February 1945, at the farm of his maternal grandfather in Nine Mile, a district in Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica.

Marley’s father, Norval Marley was from Crowborough, East Sussex in England, then residing in Clarendon Parish in Jamaica. He was said to be a captain in the Royal Marines.

Marley’s mother, Cedella Malcolm, was a Jamaican singer. At the time of her marriage to Norval, she was just 18 years old. And Norval was employed as a plantation overseer.

Even though Norval provided financial support to Cedella and Marley, he rarely saw them as he was often away from home.

Early Musical Explorations

When Bob Marley began attending Stepney Primary and Junior High School, he met Neville Livingston (who would come to be known as Bunny Wailer), and they began playing music together.

In 1955, when Marley was 10 years old, his father died of a heart attack at the age of 70.

In 1957, Marley, aged 12, left Nine Mile along with his mother and moved to Trenchtown, Kingston. There Marley’s mother and Bunny’s father had a daughter together whom they named Claudette Pearl.

Marley and Bunny were now living together in the same house in Trenchtown, allowing them to play and explore their music together. They were deeply influenced by R&B music from American radio stations and the relatively new ska music.

The two of them soon found themselves in a vocal group that included Peter Tosh, Junior Braithwaite, and Beverley Kelso.

The group began mingling and rehearsing with Joe Higgs and Roy Wilson, who were a successful singing duo in Jamaica named Higgs and Wilson .

No one in Marley’s group knew how to play any instruments, so Higgs began teaching Marley how to play the guitar. Higgs and Wilson also helped Marley’s group develop their vocal harmonies.

Early Recordings

In February 1962, Bob Marley, aged 17, recorded four songs at Federal Studios for Leslie Kong, an influential Chinese-Jamaican local music producer. The songs were Judge Not , Do You Still Love Me? , Terror , and One Cup of Coffee .

One Cup of Coffee was released as a single under the pseudonym Bobby Martell. The other three songs were released by the record label Beverley’s , owned by Leslie Kong. The label also launched the career of Jimmy Cliff.

Initial Success as a Band

In 1963, Bob Marley and his vocal group were called The Teenagers . Later on, they changed their name to Wailing Rudeboys , then to Wailing Wailers , and then finally to The Wailers . Around this time, they were discovered by the record producer Coxsone Dodd.

In February 1964, their single Simmer Down for Coxson’s label went to No. 1 in the Jamaican charts, selling around 70,000 copies.

After the success of their single, The Wailers began to regularly record for Studio One. They found themselves working with established Jamaican musicians such as the keyboardist Jackie Mittoo, the saxophonist Roland Alphonso, and the guitarist and composer Ernest Ranglin.

In 1965, The Wailers released their debut album The Wailing Wailers through the Studio One label, produced by Dodd. The album contained the hit single One Love , which would go on to become a popular song internationally, thereby establishing the group as pioneers of reggae.

By 1966, Kelso, Braithwaite, and Cherry Smith (a backing vocalist) had left the group due to various reasons, leaving behind the core trio of Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and Bunny Wailer.

Marriage and Move to America

In 1966, Bob Marley, aged 21, married Rita Anderson, a Cuban-born Jamaican singer who was a backing vocalist for The Wailers.

Shortly after his marriage, Marley moved to Delaware, in the United States, and lived near his mother’s residence in Wilmington. The reason for his move is unclear.

For the brief period that he lived in America, Marley worked as a lab assistant at DuPont and on the assembly line at a Chrysler plant in Newark, under the name Donald Marley.

But Marley did not stay there for long. He did not like the pace of life in America and soon decided to head back to Jamaica.

Change in Beliefs

Bob Marley was raised a Catholic by his mother. But when his mother moved to America, Marley was left alone with no one to influence his beliefs.

He grew interested in Rastafari beliefs and became a supporter of the Rastafari movement. Rastafari was a religion that developed in Jamaica in the 1930s and was regarded as both a social and religious movement.

Upon his return from America, Marley officially converted to Rastafari and began growing dreadlocks.

Association with Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry

After a financial disagreement with Dodd, The Wailers teamed up with Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry and his studio band The Upsetters .

Perry was a record producer and singer, known for his production style and innovative studio techniques.

Together, they produced Soul Rebels , the second studio album by The Wailers, in December 1970. Perry’s production is haunting and sparse, featuring guitar, drums, electronic organs, bass, and vocals, with no horns or other embellishments.

In 1971, they produced Soul Revolution , the third studio album by The Wailers.

The two albums with Perry are considered some of the finest works by The Wailers.

But shortly after the release of Soul Revolution, the alliance came to an end. The Wailers and Perry decided to part ways after a dispute regarding the assignment of recording rights.

In spite of this, they continued to work together on and off.

Change in the Jamaican Music Scene

In 1969, the Jamaican music scene changed once again. The new beat was a slow, steady, ticking rhythm that was first heard on The Maytals’ song Do the Reggay .

After splitting with Lee Perry, The Wailers collaborated with Leslie Kong once again, working with his studio musicians called Beverley’s.

With the new collaboration, the saxophones and ska trumpets of the earlier songs disappeared, and instrumental breaks were now being played by the electric guitar.

The collaboration resulted in The Best of The Wailers , the fourth studio album by The Wailers, released in August 1971. In spite of what the title of the album might suggest, it is not a compilation album.

A week after the album was released, Leslie Kong died of a heart attack at the age of 38.

Deal with Island Records

In 1972, The Wailers signed with CBS Records in London and then embarked on a UK tour with the American soul singer Johnny Nash.

While touring London, The Wailers met with Chris Blackwell of Island Records to discuss the royalties associated with their Coxsone releases, which had been licensed for Island Records. But instead, the meeting resulted in the offer of a 4000 pounds advance to record an album.

Jimmy Cliff had recently left the label and Blackwell was looking for a replacement, which he found in The Wailers.

Having accepted the deal, The Wailers returned to Jamaica to record the new album.

Catch a Fire

Catch a Fire was the fifth studio album by The Wailers, released in April 1973. It was their first album with Island Records. It was also the first time that a reggae band had access to a state-of-the-art studio for their recording.

The album contains nine songs, seven of which were written by Bob Marley and two by Peter Tosh.

After the recording was completed, Marley went to London with the tapes, where Blackwell began restructuring Marley’s mixes and arrangements in order to create a more drifting and hypnotic feel than just a reggae rhythm.

The album received a positive critical reception and sold around 14,000 copies initially. The supporting concert tour across England and America established The Wailers as international stars.

In October of 1973, Burnin’ , the sixth studio album by The Wailers, was released.

The album was mostly written by Bob Marley and produced by Chris Blackwell. It includes two of Marley’s most famous songs, I Shot the Sheriff and Get Up, Stand Up .

Eric Clapton , who was given the album by the guitarist George Terry, was so impressed by I Shot the Sheriff , that he recorded a cover version of it.

Clapton’s cover became his first US hit since Layla two years earlier, and it reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1974.

The album was a great critical and commercial success in America, and the Trenchtown style of the album attracted admirers from both rock and reggae audiences.

During this period, Blackwell gifted his Kingston residence and company headquarters to Marley. The residence included Tuff Gong studios, and it became Marley’s house and office.

Tuff Gong was the brand name associated with a number of businesses started by Bob Marley.

Disbanding of The Wailers

In 1974, The Wailers officially disbanded.

Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer departed to start their solo careers and the band came to be known as Bob Marley and the Wailers . Marley continued to record and tour with his new backing band.

In 1975, Marley had his first international breakthrough with a live version of No Woman, No Cry from the Live! album (their seventh studio album). The song would go on to become Marley’s most popular and iconic song.

In April 1976, the band released Rastaman Vibration , their eighth studio album. The album was Marley’s breakthrough album in the United States, reaching the top 50 of the Billboard Soul Charts.

Assassination Attempt

In December 1976, the Jamaican Prime Minister, Michael Manley, organized a free concert called Smile Jamaica Concert , in an attempt to ease tensions between the two warring political groups.

On 3rd December, two days before the concert, Bob Marley, Rita, and their manager Don Taylor were shot at by an unknown gunman inside Marley’s house.

Marley received minor wounds in the chest and arm, while Rita and Taylor were seriously injured. Fortunately, all three of them made full recoveries.

The assassination attempt was believed to be politically motivated.

Despite the attack on his life, Marley, still injured, went on to perform at the concert two days later as scheduled. The Jamaican reggae band Zap Pow played as his backup band in front of 80,000 people, while the members of The Wailers were still missing or in hiding.

When Marley was later asked why he went on to perform after the attack, he said, “The people who are trying to make this world worse aren’t taking a day off. How can I?”

Moving to England

Toward the end of 1976, Bob Marley left Jamaica for England, where he would spend the next two years.

While living in England, The Wailers recorded Exodus , their ninth studio album, which was released in June 1977 through Island Records.

Exodus is a reggae album, with elements of blues, British rock, soul, and funk. The album revolves around the themes of religious politics, change, and sex. It was a critical and commercial success, receiving gold certifications in the US, Canada, and the UK.

With the success of the album, Marley had truly become a global icon.

Return to Jamaica

In 1978, Bob Marley returned to Jamaica and performed at another political concert called the One Love Peace Concert . Once again, the concert was organized to calm the two warring parties.

Toward the end of the performance, upon Marley’s request, Michael Manley (leader of the ruling People’s National Party) and Edward Seaga (leader of the opposing Jamaica Labour Party) came up on stage and shook hands.

The same year, Bob Marley and the Wailers released their tenth studio album, Kaya .

The album has a relaxed, laid-back sound, lacking the energetic and militant quality of their previous albums. The songs primarily revolved around love and marijuana.

Some of the well-known songs from the album include Is This Love and Satisfy My Soul .

Diagnosed with Cancer

In July of 1977, Bob Marley was diagnosed with a type of malignant melanoma under a toenail.

It was generally believed that this lesion was caused by an injury while playing football. But that is not true. It was actually a symptom of already-existing cancer.

Marley saw two doctors before a biopsy was made, which confirmed acral lentiginous melanoma. This type of melanoma is the most common melanoma in people with dark skin, but it was not widely recognized.

His doctors advised him to have his toe amputated, but he refused to do so, citing religious reasons. Instead, the nail and nail bed were removed, and a skin graft was taken from his thigh to cover the area.

Despite his illness, Bob Marley continued to tour and record.

On 2nd October 1979, Bob Marley and the Wailers released Survival , their eleventh studio album.

The album is politically charged and has a defiant and militant theme. The songs in the album such as Africa Unite , Zimbabwe , and Survival , reflect Marley’s wholehearted support for Pan-African solidarity and the struggle of the African people.

The album was originally supposed to be called Black Survival to highlight the urgency of African unity. But it was later shortened to Survival to avoid any misinterpretation of the theme.

In July 1979, Marley performed at the Amandla Festival in Boston, to show his support for the South African Liberation Movement and his opposition to Apartheid.

On 17th April 1980, Marley was invited to perform his song Zimbabwe at Zimbabwe’s Independence Day celebration.

Final Album and Tour

On 10th June 1980, Bob Marley and the Wailers released Uprising , their twelfth and final studio album before Marley’s death.

It is one of Marley’s most religious albums, with almost all songs referring to Rastafarian beliefs. The album also includes one of his most loved and poignant songs, Redemption Song .

After the album’s release, Bob Marley and the Wailers began a major tour of Europe, where they played their biggest concert to 100,000 people in Milan.

After the Europe tour, they made their way to America, where they played two shows at Madison Square Garden, New York City.

One day, while jogging in Central Park, Marley collapsed and was taken to the hospital. It was then that he found out that his cancer had spread to his brain, lungs, and liver.

Two days after the incident, on 23rd September 1980, Marley performed at the Stanley Theater in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in what would be his last concert.

After the performance, Marley’s health drastically deteriorated. His cancer had spread throughout his body by now, and the rest of the tour was canceled.

Marley went to the clinic of Josef Issels (a German physician known for promoting an alternative cancer therapy regimen, called the Issels treatment) in Bavaria, Germany.

At the clinic, he underwent the Issels treatment that was partly based on avoidance of certain foods, drinks, and other substances.

After eight months of treatment, there was no improvement in Marley’s condition. His cancer continued to spread.

Bob Marley decided to head back to Jamaica.

During the flight to Jamaica, Marley’s vital functions worsened. Upon landing in Miami, he was rushed to the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital for urgent medical attention.

On 11th May 1981, Bob Marley, aged 36, died due to the spread of melanoma to his lungs and brain.

Marley’s final words to his son Ziggy were, “Money can’t buy life.”

On 21st May 1981, Marley was given a State funeral in Jamaica, which included elements of Ethiopian Orthodoxy and Rastafari tradition.

Bob Marley was buried in a chapel near his birthplace along with his guitar.

Since his death, Bob Marley has become one of the most iconic and famous figures in history. His music continues to stand the test of time and is more popular now across the world than even during his lifetime.

Marley is known and revered not just as a musician, but as someone who stood for something greater and more significant. His message of peace, love, and unity is what makes him the global and cultural icon he is today.

Marley’s message continues to resonate with various oppressed communities across the world. He is also revered among various indigenous communities around the world. The Australian Aboriginal People burn a sacred flame to honor his memory. And the Native American Havasupai and Hopi also revere and admire him and his work.

Over the years, Marley has become an important cultural icon, achieving a status similar to that of Che Guevara. His image and style have been merchandized and commercialized to no end.

Today, Marley has come to be associated with his catchy hit songs, but few realize that he stood for much more. He was a man who understood the need for Africa to unite in order to fight and win its freedom. And he understood the ensuing bloodshed that was inevitable. He actively and openly supported the liberation movements of oppressed nations.

Marley was not just a musician but also an activist.

Several festivals, hotels, and restaurants across the world pay tribute to Marley today. He has become a permanent and important part of our culture and history.

Bob Marley was one of those rare personalities such as Muhammad Ali and Pele , who transcended his field of operation and stood for much more in the eyes of humanity.

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Short Biography of Bob Marley

Reading comprehension – short biography of bob marley.

Develop your reading skills. Read the following short biography of Bob Marley and do the comprehension questions

The beginning

Bob Marley , was born on February 6, 1945. He was a Jamaican reggae singer, songwriter, musician, and guitarist who achieved international fame and acclaim. Starting out in 1963 with the group The Wailers , he forged a distinctive songwriting and vocal style that would later resonate with audiences worldwide. After The Wailers disbanded in 1974, Marley pursued a solo career 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.

Bob Marley was a committed Rastafari, an Abrahamic religion which developed in Jamaica in the 1930s.This religion infused his music with a sense of spirituality. The Rastafari movement was a key element in the development of reggae. As an ardent proponent of Rastafari, Bob Marley took the reggae music out of the socially deprived areas of Jamaica and onto the international music scene.

Illness and death

In July 1977, Marley was found to have a type of malignant melanoma under the nail of a toe. Marley turned down his doctors” advice to have his toe amputated, citing his religious beliefs. Despite his illness, he continued touring until his health deteriorated as the cancer had spread throughout his body. He 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.”

Source: Wikipedia

Comprehension:

Related materials.

• Fact Sheet about Jamaica
• Points of interest

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Bob Marley: A Short Biography (Narratives for Teens and Adults) Hardcover – March 20, 2024

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Bob Marley , an iconic figure of the 20th century, was a Jamaican singer-songwriter, musician, and cultural ambassador who brought reggae music to the forefront of the global stage. His music, infused with spirituality and calls for social justice, resonated with audiences worldwide, making him a symbol of peace and unity. Marley's contributions to music were not only limited to his innovative blend of reggae, rocksteady, and ska, but also to his lyrical prowess that spoke of love, freedom, and resistance against oppression.

This biography delves into the life of Bob Marley, tracing his humble beginnings in Nine Mile, Jamaica, to his meteoric rise as a music legend. It encapsulates Marley's profound influence on music and culture, his role as a proponent of Rastafarianism, and his legacy as a unifier through music. Despite its concise nature, the book is rich with details about Marley's groundbreaking albums, his philosophy, and his enduring influence on music and social movements.

Key Features :

• Concise Coverage : Offers a thorough overview of Marley's life, music, and influence in a succinct format.
• Rich Detail : Filled with crucial information, capturing pivotal moments and contributions.
• Accessible Format : Perfect for those desiring a brief yet deep understanding of Marley's impact.
• Vibrant Narration : Combines factual accuracy with compelling storytelling for a captivating read.
• Legacy Insights : Examines Marley's lasting effect on music, culture, and social activism beyond his years.
• Part of series Narratives for Teens and Adults
• Print length 87 pages
• Language English
• Publication date March 20, 2024
• Reading age 13 - 18 years
• Dimensions 5.5 x 0.39 x 8.5 inches
• ISBN-13 979-8320329260
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• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0CYLVNS9B
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Independently published (March 20, 2024)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 87 pages
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8320329260
• Reading age ‏ : ‎ 13 - 18 years
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 5.9 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.39 x 8.5 inches
• #1,174 in Music History & Criticism (Books)
• #4,813 in Actor & Entertainer Biographies
• #16,089 in Memoirs (Books)

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Bob Marley's 12 Kids: Where Are They Now?

• Following in their father's footsteps, Bob Marley's children have built successful careers in music, entrepreneurship, and activism.
• The Marley family continues to honor Bob's legacy, with his children creating a lasting impact in their respective fields through talent and dedication.
• Bob Marley's children, such as Ziggy, Cedella, and Damian, showcase their musical prowess and humanitarian efforts, carrying on their father's message.

The hit biopic Bob Marley: One Love has showcased the remarkable life of Bob Marley, highlighting his 12 children and the enduring legacy he left behind. Given the rich history of the Marley family, what has become of Bob Marley's children today? This great music biopic , which hit theaters on February 14th, was a labor of love for the Marley family, with Bob's widow Rita Marley and two of his children, Ziggy and Cedella Marley, serving as producers.

Despite the challenge of capturing the entirety of Bob's complex life as an activist, family man, and rising superstar in a single film, the Marleys strived to present an honest portrayal of his legacy. Bob's untimely death from cancer in 1981 at the age of 36 left behind a family that has carried on his message and spirit, with many of his children finding success in music, entrepreneurship, and philanthropy. As the paths his children have taken are explored, it becomes clear that his influence continues to shape their lives and the world around them.

Sharon Marley

November 23, 1964.

Born on November 23, 1964, Sharon Marley is the adopted daughter of Bob Marley, who married her mother, Rita Marley, in 1966. Almost 60 years old, Sharon has made her mark in the arts as a singer, dancer, and curator . As a member of the Grammy-winning group Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers, alongside her siblings Ziggy, Cedella, and Stephen, she has contributed to the band's impressive collection of three Grammy Awards and eight nominations.

Beyond her musical achievements, Sharon is actively involved in her community as an organizer and activist. She also serves as the curator of the Bob Marley Museum in Kingston, Jamaica, preserving and promoting her father's legacy. In 2024, Sharon Marley released her solo EP entitled Steppah , showcasing her individual artistic talents and continuing the family's rich musical tradition and legacy, a legacy that can be heard in the Bob Marley: One Love soundtrack .

Cedella Marley

August 23, 1967.

Cedella Marley, Bob and Rita Marley’s second oldest child, has built an impressive career spanning music, fashion, and literature. As a former member of the Grammy-winning group Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers, she showcased her musical talent before transitioning to leadership roles within the family's various businesses . Cedella's entrepreneurial spirit shines through her ownership and design of the women's casualwear brand Catch A Fire, while she also serves as the CEO of Tuff Gong International and director of The Bob Marley Foundation.

Where To Watch Bob Marley One Love

Her involvement in Hope Road Merchandising, LLC and House of Marley ensures that her father's legacy is preserved and promoted. Cedella has also made her mark as an author, penning several children's books , including her most recent release, Marley and the Family Band , which draws from her experiences as a migrant child in Delaware and highlights the power of music and the importance of sharing migration stories. Balancing her professional achievements with her role as a mother of three boys, Cedella continues to inspire through her multifaceted approach to life and work.

Ziggy Marley

October 17, 1968.

Ziggy Marley followed in his father's footsteps, becoming one of the most renowned musicians among Bob Marley's children. With eight Grammy Awards to his name, Ziggy has released a series of successful albums, including Dragonfly , Love Is a Religion , Family Time, Wild and Free , Fly Rasta , and his self-titled album, with his most recent release being Ziggy Marley Live at Summer Stage New York . Alongside his musical pursuits, Ziggy has ventured into writing, authoring children's books, a cookbook, and even creating a comic book titled MarijuanaMan .

As a tribute to his father, Ziggy compiled a photo book called Bob Marley: Portrait of the Legend , which led him to reflect on his father's immense accomplishments despite his short life. Beyond his creative endeavors, Ziggy is actively involved in philanthropy , supporting various foundations focused on children in need, the environment, education, and healthcare. A father of seven, including singer Bambaata Marley, Ziggy continues to inspire through his music and dedication to making a positive impact on the world.

Stephen Marley

April 20, 1972.

Stephen Marley began his professional singing career at the tender age of 7, performing alongside his older siblings in The Melody Makers. An eight-time Grammy winner, with six of those awards in the Best Album category, Stephen has not only made his mark as a solo artist, but also as a member of the family band and as a producer for his younger brother Damian's albums . Collaborating with a diverse range of artists, including Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, and The Roots, Stephen has showcased his versatility and talent throughout his career.

Alongside his musical pursuits, he co-founded the Ghetto Youths Foundation with his younger brothers Damian and Julian Marley, demonstrating his commitment to philanthropy. Stephen is currently on tour with his brother Damian, sharing their music with audiences around the world. Through both his charity work and performances, Stephen Marley exemplifies his dedication to making a positive impact through music .

Robbie Marley

May 16, 1972.

Robbie Marley was born on May 16, 1972, to Bob Marley and Pat Williams, but has maintained a more private life compared to his well-known siblings. In 2011, however, he embarked on a transformative journey to Africa alongside his brothers Ziggy and Rohan , which was captured in the documentary film Marley Africa Roadtrip . This adventure followed the three sons as they traced their father's roots and delved into his legacy of music, family, and African unity, three decades after his passing.

Robbie also appeared in the 2012 documentary MARLEY , where he shared his thoughts on being the son of an iconic figure. During an interview with Collider that same year, he contemplated how his father's influence has had a positive impact on his life, emphasizing that it has consistently encouraged him to be a better person and deterred him from making poor decisions. While Robbie's life remains relatively private, his love for graphic arts and his family's heritage continues to shape his journey .

Rohan Marley

May 19, 1972.

Bob Marley’s sixth child, Rohan Marley, made his mark as an entrepreneur, founding the Tuff Gong clothing line and the Marley Coffee business. A former professional American football player , Rohan played for the University of Miami and later for the Ottawa Rough Riders in the Canadian Football League. He is also a father to eight children, five of whom he shares with singer and songwriter Lauryn Hill.

In 2020, Rohan made headlines when his daughter Selah publicly called out both her parents for their parenting methods. In response, Rohan issued a public apology acknowledging his personal growth as a man, spiritual being, and father, and pledging to be the best dad he can be (via Hollywood Life ). Beyond his personal life, Rohan remains active in his family's charitable organization, 1Love , and continues to oversee the operations of Marley Coffee, a venture inspired by his father's dream of combining his passion for music with farming.

Bob Marley One Love Cast & Real-Life Character Comparison

Karen marley, february 26, 1973.

Born to Bob Marley and Janet Bowen, Karen Marley has made her mark in the fashion industry as the designer behind her eco-friendly label, By Karen Marley. Based in Los Angeles, she has garnered recognition for her sustainable clothing brand , which has featured some of her siblings as models. Despite leading a relatively private life, Karen's dedication to her craft and her commitment to honoring her father's legacy are evident in both her work and her words. As she further develops her fashion empire, Karen Marley exemplifies how one can carve their own path while staying true to their roots.

Stephanie Marley

August 17, 1974.

Bob and Rita Marley’s youngest child, Stephanie Marley has largely maintained a private life while still contributing to the family's legacy. In 2015, she worked at B'Unik Modeling Talent Agency, where she was responsible for revitalizing the business by networking with ad agencies and production teams to increase publicity and make it easier for agencies to identify talented children. A graduate of Western University in London, Ontario, Canada, with a bachelor's degree in psychology, Stephanie has been involved with the Bob Marley Museum and the Bob Marley Foundation.

Currently, she serves as the director of her mother's organization, the Rita Marley Foundation , where she upholds the family's values of kindness and service. In a 2015 interview with her alma mater, Stephanie emphasized that she was raised to serve others, believing that her parents' success and fame stemmed from their innate kindness and her father's true purpose of spreading positivity through his music and work (via Western News ).

Julian Marley

June 4, 1975.

Bob Marley and Lucy Pounder’s son, Julian, has followed in his father's footsteps as a musician, songwriter, producer, and humanitarian. A devoted Rastafarian, Julian released his debut album, Lion In The Morning , in 1996, followed by A Time & Place , Awake , and his most recent work, Colors of Royal . Throughout his career, he has collaborated with his siblings, showcasing the family's musical talent and unity .

In a 2020 interview with The Guardian Life , Julian expressed his perspective on living up to his father's legacy, stating that he doesn't feel pressured to achieve the same level of success. He believes that everyone has their own mission and purpose, and he focuses on doing what he is meant to do. Julian's approach to life and music is grounded in his Rastafarian faith , which guides his creative pursuits and humanitarian efforts.

Ky-Mani Marley

February 26, 1976.

Ky-Mani Marley is the son of Bob Marley and table tennis champion Anita Belnavis. Marley has made a name for himself as a talented musician and occasional actor. Despite not growing up in the Marley household like his siblings, Ky-Mani has followed in his father's footsteps, releasing several albums , including Like Father Like Son , Radio , The Journey , and Maestro . His musical prowess earned him a Grammy nomination for best reggae album in 2002 for Many More Roads , although his brother Damian Marley took home the award that year.

Although Bob Marley’s affair with Ky-Mani’s mother was left out of the biopic, Ky-Mani has persistently honored the Marley legacy through his music and creative endeavors. His commitment to preserving his father's heritage echoes in his artistic contributions , securing the Marley legacy for future generations. Despite losing his father at a young age, Ky-Mani has fully embraced his role as a torchbearer of the Marley name.

Damian Marley

July 21, 1978.

Damian Marley, the four-time Grammy Award-winning artist and youngest son of Bob Marley and Cindy Breakspeare, has made a triumphant return to the music scene after a nearly five-year hiatus since his last solo single, "Reach Home Safe." During this time, Marley collaborated with a diverse array of artists, including Wizkid, Common, and Killer Mike, showcasing his versatility and ability to transcend genres. In July of last year, he marked his grand comeback as a solo artist with a captivating cover of George Harrison's classic 1970 song "My Sweet Lord," paying homage to the legendary Beatles member.

Damian, affectionately known as " Jr. Gong, " in reference to his father's nickname " Tuff Gong ,” has consistently proven his skills in the reggae world, earning four of his five Grammy Awards in the Best Reggae Album category. His musical prowess extends beyond reggae, with collaborations spanning various genres, showcasing his versatility and influence in the global music scene. Like all of his siblings, Damian stands as a testament to the enduring impact of the Marley legacy , ensuring its relevance and vibrancy in contemporary music.

Makeda Jahnesta

May 30. 1981.

Makeda Jahnesta was born on May 30, 1981, just days after her father's passing. She is the reggae legend's youngest child, shared with Yvette Crichton. In 2010, Makeda made headlines when she was caught growing marijuana in her home, but she has since channeled her passion for cannabis into a legitimate business venture. While not as much is known about Makeda compared to some of her older siblings, she continues to build her own path while honoring her father's history in her own unique way .

Source: Collider , Hollywood Life , Western News , The Guardian Life