Bob Marley & the Wailers live at Crystal Palace Park in south-east London, during the Uprising Tour
Gallery of Bob Marley
May 1, 1973, at BBC2S the Old Grey Whistle Test
Gallery of Bob Marley
Kingston, Jamaica
April 22, 1978 - One Love Peace concert at National Stadium
Gallery of Bob Marley
London, United Kingdom
July 17, 1975, at Lyceum
Gallery of Bob Marley
London, United Kingdom
July 17, 1975, at Lyceum
Gallery of Bob Marley
London, United Kingdom
June 2, 1977, at the Rainbow Theater
Gallery of Bob Marley
London, United Kingdom
June 15, 1976, at Hammersmith Odeon
Gallery of Bob Marley
London, United Kingdom
July 7, 1980, at Crystal Palace
Gallery of Bob Marley
Zürich, Switzerland
May 30, 1980, at Hallenstadion
Gallery of Bob Marley
Zürich, Switzerland
May 30, 1980, at Hallenstadion
Gallery of Bob Marley
London, United Kingdom
June 2, 1977, at the Rainbow Theater
Gallery of Bob Marley
London, United Kingdom
June 2, 1977, at the Rainbow Theater
Gallery of Bob Marley
Central Park, New York City, New York, United States
June 18, 1975, at Schaefer Music Festival
Gallery of Bob Marley
London, United Kingdom
July 17, 1975, at Lyceum
Gallery of Bob Marley
Munich, Bavaria, Germany
June 1, 1980, at Open Air Music Festival - BMW Open for Fleetwood Mac
Achievements
In 2006, a statue of Bob Marley was inaugurated, next to the national stadium on Arthur Wint Drive in Kingston to commemorate him.
Membership
Awards
Peace Medal of the Third World
The United Nations’ Peace Medal of the Third World was given to Bob Marley on June 15, 1978, in New York City.
Jamaican Order of Merit
In 1981, Marley was awarded Jamaica’s third highest honour, the Order of Merit, for his outstanding contribution to Jamaican culture.
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
Bob Marley’s music was never recognized with a Grammy nomination, but in 2001 he was bestowed The Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, an honour given by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
Bob Marley’s music was never recognized with a Grammy nomination, but in 2001 he was bestowed The Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, an honour given by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
Bunny Wailer, Jamaican singer-songwriter and percussionist who was an original member of reggae group The Wailers along with Bob Marley and Peter Tosh
Friend: Peter Tosh
Peter Tosh, Jamaican reggae musician. Along with Bob Marley and Bunny Wailer, he was one of the core members of the band the Wailers (1963–1976), after which he established himself as a successful solo artist and a promoter of Rastafari
Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley was a Jamaican singer-songwriter, musician and guitarist who achieved international fame and acclaim, blending mostly reggae, ska and rocksteady in his compositions. Starting out in 1963 with the group the Wailers, he forged a distinctive songwriting and vocal style that would later resonate with audiences worldwide. The Wailers would go on to release some of the earliest reggae records with producer Lee "Scratch" Perry.
Background
Ethnicity:
Bob's mother was African-Jamaican while his father was a white Jamaican originally from Sussex, England, whose family claimed Syrian Jewish origins.
Robert Nesta Marley was born in the rural town of Nine Miles, a suburb of the St. Ann Parish in Jamaica on February 5, 1945. His mother, a black peasant by the name of Cedelia Booker, had married Norval Marley, a captain of the Jamaican army who was on duty in their town. Although Captain Manley, an older man, loved his wife, he eventually left her because his family did not approve of his marriage to a poor woman who they perceived as from an uncultured descent. He continued providing his son with financial support but died when Marley was just ten years old, never having a chance to know him well. Marley's mother then went on to marry Edward Booker, a civil servant from the United States, giving Marley two step-brothers: Richard and Anthony.
Education
Bob Marley received his education at Stepney Primary and Junior High School where he had started to play music with Neville Livingston (later known as Bunny Wailer).
During his adolescence, at the age of 12, Marley was sent to live with his maternal aunt and Neville Livingston in Trenchtown, a suburb of Kingston, to learn music and pursue his musical inclinations. Now that Marley and Livingston were living together in the same house, their musical explorations deepened to include the latest R&B from United States radio stations whose broadcasts reached Jamaica, and the new ska music.
However, Trenchtown was a poor neighbourhood made up of cramped housing projects with a history of violence and hostility. His new surroundings represented a marked contrast from the peaceful rural settings that Marley had known. 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. Eventually, Marley would use his early experiences in Trenchtown as the background for many of his songs.
Uncertain about the prospects of a music career for her son, Bob's mother Cedella encouraged him 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.
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. Additional Wailing Wailers members included Junior Braithwaite, Beverly Kelso, and Cherry Smith but they departed after just a few recording sessions. During their first artistic period, the Wailing Wailers were signed by producer Coxsone Dodd under the label Studio One. 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.
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.
When Marley returned to Jamaica, he reconstituted the Wailers, but this time only with Livingston and Tosh. This started the most important period in Marley's career. The group changed from ska, a traditional and lively Jamaican rhythm popular at the time, to a new rhythm that eventually became known as reggae, filled with bass and acoustics. The band also established the Wail’N Soul’M label/record shop in front of his aunt’s Trench Town home. The label’s name identified its primary acts: The Wailers and The Soulettes, a female vocal trio featuring Rita Marley. A few successful Wailers’ singles were released including "Bend Down Low" b/w "Mellow Mood" but due to lack of resources, the Wailers dissolved Wail’N Soul’M in 1968.
Since the label was not very successful in promoting their music, Marley founded the label Tuff Gong, after one of his nicknames. The band was immensely popular in Jamaica and in the Caribbean but not known in the rest of the world. There was a perception, in part motivated by the look of its members, that the musicians were rebels and troublemakers who were not likely to conform to the demands of the music industry at large.
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, and signed them to his company's label. Using the same marketing and promotion strategies that had been successful in promoting rock bands in Europe and the United States, Blackwell was able to make them a huge success. Their two records with the company, Catch Fire (1973) and Burning (1973), were immediate international hits and were seen as one of the first reggae albums ever to be released to an international market. Marley and his group had access to the best recording studios and booking and touring arrangements that put them in the forefront of the recording and entertainment industry.
In 1973, 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.
Makintosh and Livingston eventually left the band and Marley became the central figure. The successes of the band escalated and in 1976 they released Rastaman Vibration, which was seen as the best reggae album of the time. Marley and the Wailers were awarded the Band of the Year Award by Rolling Stone magazine. Marley established his own recording studios and manufacturing plant in Jamaica to record and distribute his own work.
Bob Marley’s third album for Island Records "Natty Dread", released in October 1975, was the first credited to Bob Marley and The Wailers; the harmonies of Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer were replaced with the soulfulness of the I-Threes, Rita Marley, Marcia Griffiths and Judy Mowatt. The Wailers band now included Family Man and Carly Barrett, Junior Marvin on rhythm guitar, Al Anderson on lead guitar, Tyrone Downie and Earl "Wya" Lindo on keyboards and Alvin "Seeco" Patterson playing percussion.
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.
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.
Two days prior to his concert Smile Jamaica, a free concert organised by the Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley in an attempt to ease tension between two warring political groups, as Bob Marley and The Wailers rehearsed at his Kingston home, an unsuccessful assassination attempt was made on his life. The attempt on his life was thought to have been politically motivated, as many felt the concert was really a support rally for Manley. However, 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.
Marley left Jamaica at the end of 1976, and after a month-long "recovery and writing" sojourn at the site of Chris Blackwell's Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas arrived in England, where he spent two years in self-imposed exile.
Whilst in England, he recorded the albums Exodus and Kaya. Exodus stayed on the British album charts for 56 consecutive weeks. It included four UK hit singles: "Exodus", "Waiting in Vain", "Jamming", and "One Love" (a rendition of Curtis Mayfield's hit, "People Get Ready"). During his time in London, he was arrested and received a conviction for possession of a small quantity of cannabis.
In 1978, Marley returned to Jamaica and performed at another political concert, the One Love Peace Concert, again in an effort to calm warring parties. Near the end of the performance, by Marley's request, Michael Manley and his political rival Edward Seaga (leader of the opposing Jamaica Labour Party), joined each other on stage and shook hands.
"Survival", a defiant and politically charged album, was released in 1979. His appearance at the Amandla Festival in Boston in July 1979 showed his strong opposition to South African apartheid, which he already had shown in his song "War" in 1976. In early 1980, he was invited to perform at 17 April celebration of Zimbabwe's Independence Day.
"Uprising" was Bob Marley's final studio album, and is one of his most religious productions; it includes "Redemption Song" and "Forever Loving Jah". Confrontation, released posthumously in 1983, contained unreleased material recorded during Marley's lifetime, including the hit "Buffalo Soldier" and new mixes of singles previously only available in Jamaica.
In 1980, the band completed a major tour of Europe, where it played its biggest concert to 100,000 people in Milan. After the tour, Marley went to the United States, where he performed two shows at Madison Square Garden in New York City as part of the Uprising Tour.
Marley's last concert occurred at the Stanley Theater (now called The Benedum Center For The Performing Arts) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on 23 September 1980. Just two days earlier he had collapsed during a jogging tour in Central Park and was brought to the hospital where he learned that his cancer had spread to his brain.
Bob Marley died at a Miami hospital on May 11, 1981, and was given a state funeral in Jamaica, characterized by a festive environment filled with celebrations and songs. He was buried in a chapel near his birthplace with his red Gibson guitar, a soccer ball, a Bible open to Psalms 23, and a bud of marijuana.
After converting from Catholicism to Rastafari faith in 1966, Bob Marley was a member for some years of the Rastafari movement, whose culture was a key element in the development of reggae. Bob Marley became an ardent proponent of Rastafari, taking its music out of the socially deprived areas of Jamaica and onto the international music scene.
Marley, however, was baptized by the Archbishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian Church in Kingston, Jamaica, on November 4, 1980, shortly before his death.
Politics
Marley was an immensely political figure despite his protests to the contrary. He was certainly regarded as such by those jockeying for power and influence in Jamaica. By 1976 he was well on his way to international stardom. He planned Smile Jamaica Concert, an attempt to create unity among Jamaicans who were divided along political party lines. Unfortunately, it was perceived by some political sectors as Marley's attempt to boost the popularity of the Labor Party in the upcoming elections.
In November of that year, two days before the Wailers were due to perform at a rally organised by the Peoples National Party (PNP) during a fractious general election campaign, Marley and his wife Rita were shot and wounded. However, even after being injured, he performed at the concert, which was attended by more than 80,000 people (White 2000). However, he was so traumatized by the event that he decided to leave Jamaica for two years.
He returned in 1978 and gave the One Love Peace Concert at Kingston National Stadium. There he succeeded in bringing together Michael Manley and Edward Seaga, the respective warring leaders of the PNP and the Jamaican Labour Party, together at a One Love Peace concert in Kingston. He was probably the only person who could have achieved this in a country dominated by corrupt, divisive and often violent patronage.
Views
Marley was a Pan-Africanist and believed in the unity of African people worldwide. His beliefs were rooted in his Rastafari religious beliefs. He was substantially inspired by Marcus Garvey, and had anti-imperialist and pan-Africanist themes in many of his songs, such as "Zimbabwe", "Exodus", "Survival", "Blackman Redemption", and "Redemption Song". Marley held that independence of African countries from European domination was a victory for all those in the African diaspora.
Marley also considered cannabis a healing herb, a "sacrament", and an "aid to medication"; he supported the legalisation of the drug. He thought that marijuana use was prevalent in the Bible, reading passages such as Psalms 104:14 as showing approval of its usage. Marley began to use cannabis when he converted to the Rastafari faith from Catholicism in 1966. He was arrested in 1968 after being caught with cannabis but continued to use marijuana in accordance with his religious beliefs. Of his marijuana usage, he said, "When you smoke herb, herb reveal yourself to you. All the wickedness you do, the herb reveal itself to yourself, your conscience, show up yourself clear, because herb make you meditate. Is only a natural thing and it grow like a tree." Marley saw marijuana usage as a vital factor in religious growth and connection with Jah, and as a way to philosophise and become wiser.
Quotations:
“You say you love rain, but you use an umbrella to walk under it. You say you love sun, but you seek shelter when it is shining. You say you love wind, but when it comes you close your windows. So that’s why I’m scared when you say you love me.”
“I don’t believe in death, neither in flesh nor in spirit.”
“Don’t trust people whose feelings change with time. Trust people whose feelings remain the same, even when the time changes.”
“If she’s amazing, she won’t be easy. If she’s easy, she won’t be amazing. If she’s worth it, you won’t give up. If you give up, you’re not worthy. … Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you; you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for.”
“Live for yourself and you will live in vain; live for others and you will live again.”
“Just because you are happy, it does not mean that the day is perfect, but that you have looked beyond its imperfections.”
“Don’t gain the world and lose your soul, wisdom is better than silver or gold.”
“The biggest coward of a man is to awaken the love of a woman without the intention of loving her.”
“The people who were trying to make this world worse are not taking the day off. Why should I?”
“Money is numbers and numbers never end. If it takes money to be happy, your search for happiness will never end.”
“Life is one big road with lots of signs. So when you riding through the ruts, don’t complicate your mind. Flee from hate, mischief and jealousy. Don’t bury your thoughts, put your vision to reality. Wake up and live!”
“It takes many a year, mon, and maybe some bloodshed must be, but righteousness someday prevail.”
“I didn’t change, I just found myself.”
“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.”
“The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.”
“You entertain people who are satisfied. Hungry people can’t be entertained – or people who are afraid. You can’t entertain a man who has no food.”
“If you’re white and you’re wrong, then you’re wrong; if you’re black and you’re wrong, you’re wrong. People are people. Black, blue, pink, green – God make no rules about colour; only society make rules where my people suffer, and that why we must have redemption and redemption now.”
“One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.”
“I have no education. I have inspiration. If I was educated, I would be a damn fool.”
“Open your eyes, look within. Are you satisfied with the life you’re living?”
Personality
The traits of Bob Marley would consist of honesty, courtesy, responsibility, compatibility, loyalty, enthusiastic, influential, initiative, compassionate, dedicated, and patient to name a few. He persevered through good times and bad and was interested in helping society and others through his artistic creativity.
Aside from music, football played a major role throughout his life. As well as playing the game, in parking lots, fields, and even inside recording studios, growing up he followed the Brazilian club Santos and its star player Pelé. Marley surrounded himself with people from the sport, and in the 1970s made the Jamaican international footballer Allan "Skill" Cole his tour manager. He told a journalist, "If you want to get to know me, you will have to play football against me and the Wailers." Lesser-known facts include that Bob actually had it built into his touring contracts that he should have ready access to a football pitch.
For a long time Bob drove a BMW Bavaria – not because he had a particular fondness for the model, but because for Marley, the letters stood for his band’s name Bob Marley and the Wailers. The Rastafari later explained it was “not because I need an expensive car,” but simply a classic example of the music icon’s determination to live his life as he saw fit.
There is also an interesting fact that from the age of four it was discovered Bob Marley could read palms. When Cedella (Bob’s mother) first heard of this from relatives and neighbours she took it as a joke. These palm readings invariably came true, which left his mother quite shaken. When Bob was a lot older and returned to Kingston, a woman asked him to read her palm - he replied: “I’m not reading no more hand: I’m singing now.”
Physical Characteristics:
Bob Marley was of medium height and thin. His hair was black, long and always in dreadlocks. His skin was black. Marley had a very round face at the beginning and then it became more geometrical.
In July 1977, Marley was found to have a type of malignant melanoma under the nail of a toe. Contrary to urban legend, this lesion was not primarily caused by an injury during a football match that year but was instead a symptom of already-existing cancer. Marley turned down his doctors' advice to have his toe amputated (which would have hindered his performing career), citing his religious beliefs, and instead, the nail and nail bed were removed and a skin graft was taken from his thigh to cover the area.
By late 1980, his cancer spread to the rest of his body, forcing him to seek aggressive medical treatments both in the United States and in Europe. Unfortunately, the treatments proved ineffective and he died at a Miami hospital on May 11, 1981.
Quotes from others about the person
Bono said: “I carried Bob Marley’s Redemption Song to every meeting I had with a politician, prime minister, or president. It was for me a prophetic utterance or as Bob would say "the small ax that could fell the big tree". The song reminded me that freedom always comes with a cost, but for those who would prepare to pay it, maybe "emancipation from mental slavery" would be our reward.”
Boutros Boutros-Ghali: “I am Boutros Boutros-Ghali; put down your gun and listen to Bob Marley.”
Barack Obama: “You just mentioned Bob Marley - I can remember when I was in college, listening - and not agreeing with his whole philosophy necessarily, but raising my awareness of how people outside of our country were thinking about the struggles for jobs and dignity and freedom.”
Mark Protosevich and Akiva Goldsman wrote in I Am Legend: “He had this idea. It was kind of a virologist idea. He believed that you could cure racism and hate... literally cure it, by injecting music and love into people's lives.”
Edward Seaga: “His voice was an omnipresent cry in our electronic world. His sharp features, majestic looks, and prancing style a vivid etching on the landscape of our minds. Bob Marley was never seen. He was an experience which left an indelible imprint with each encounter. Such a man cannot be erased from the mind. He is part of the collective consciousness of the nation.”
Interests
Soccer
Sport & Clubs
Brazilian club Santos
Athletes
Pelé
Connections
Bob Marley married Alpharita Constantia "Rita" Anderson, a member of the group the Soutlettes, and later one of the backup singers in the I-Threes, in Kingston, Jamaica, on 10 February 1966.
Shortly after marrying, Marley left for Wilmington, Delaware, where his mother had moved. He worked briefly in a factory and in a hotel. He planned to save some money and return to Jamaica, where he could invest the money in his music career. However, he missed his wife and his island so much that he rejoined her in Jamaica after living eight months in the United States.
Marley had many children: four with his wife Rita, two adopted from Rita's previous relationships, and several others with different women.
Bob Marley’s music was never recognized with a Grammy nomination, but in 2001 he was bestowed The Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, an honour given by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
Bob Marley’s music was never recognized with a Grammy nomination, but in 2001 he was bestowed The Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, an honour given by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.