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Bob Marley Biography
Robert Nesta Marley
BORN: February 6, 1945, St. Ann, Jamaica
DIED: May 11, 1981, Miami, FL
In the year 1944, Captain Norval Marley married
a young Jamaican girl named Cedalla Booker. On
February 6, 1945 at two thirty in the morning
their son, Robert Nesta Marley was born in his
grandfather's house. Soon after Bob was born
his father left his mother. He did however give
financial support and occasionally returned to
see his son.
It was now the late fifties, jobs were scarce
in Jamaica, so Bob followed his mother from
their home in St. Ann to Trenchtown (West
Kingston) to seek employment in the big city.
Trenchtown got it's name because it was built
over a ditch which drained the sewage of old
Kingston. In Trenchtown Bob spent a lot of his
time with his good friend Neville Livingstone
who people called by his nickname, Bunny. Also
in the big city Bob was more exposed to the
music which he had loved, including such greats
as Fats Domino and Ray Charles. Bob and Bunny
attended a music class together which was held
by the famous Jamaican singer Joe Higgs. In
that class they met Peter Macintosh and soon
became good friends.
In the meantime Jamaican music evolving and
became very popular throughout the Caribbean
due to it's invention of Ska music. When Bob
was 16, he started to follow his dream of
becoming a musician. Music to many young
Jamaicans was an escape from the harshness of
everyday life. One of those kids was Jimmy
Cliff who at the age of 14 had already recorded
a couple of hits. After meeting Bob, Jimmy
introduced him to Leslie Kong, a local record
producer. Bob followed his advice and
auditioned for Leslie Kong. Bob's musical
talents shone much more brightly then anyone
else that day and found himself in the studio
recording his first single "Judge Not".
Unfortunately neither "Judge Not" nor his 1962
single "One more cup of Coffee" did very well.
Bob soon left Kong after she failed to give him
his pay.
The following year Bob, Bunny and some other
friends formed the Wailing Wailers. The didn't
get off to a great start, after just a couple
recording sessions two members, Cherry and
Junior Braithwait left the band. The band
continued on and were introduced to Clemet
Dodd, a producer of the record company Coxsone.
It was here where the Wailing Wailers recorded
the first song "Simmer Down" which did quite
well in Jamaica. To help with the recording of
their songs the studio provided several
talented Ska musicians. The Wailing Wailers
consisting now of Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and
Bunny were starting to become quite popular
locally. Their audiences rapidly grew and they
recorded several more songs on the Coxsone
label which included "It Hurts to be Alone" and
"Rule the Roadie" Bob soon took on the role of
the leader, being the main songwriter and
all.
Bob's life continued to look more bright on
February 10, 1966 when Bob Marley married
girlfriend Rita Anderson. The next day Bob left
for the United States to visit his mother who
lived in Delaware. While in the US he worked to
better finance his music and soon returned
home. When Bob Marley returned the Wailing
Wailers' music evolved from Ska to Rock Steady.
This evolution conflicted with Coxsone who
wanted a Ska band. So the newly Wailing Wailers
left Coxsone to form and renamed themselves the
Wailers. Instead of looking around for a new
label the Wailers decided to form their own
which they called Wail 'N' Soul. This coincided
with the birth of the Marley's first born who
they named Cedalla. They released a couple
signals on their label such as "Bend down low"
and "Mellow Mood" before it folded the very
same year.
The ending of their label affected the band
greatly, it wasn't until they met Lee Perry
that they got back on track. With the help of
Lee Perry the Wailers produced such great
tracks as "Duppy Conquerer", "Soul Rebel", "400
Years" and "Small Axe".
1970 saw the Wailers family grow with the
addition of Aston "Family Man" Barret and his
brother Carleton. The Wailers were now quite
popular throughout the Caribbean but still
internationally unknown. With this popularity a
second more successful label was formed by the
Wailers called Tuff Gong after a nickname of
Bob Marley. The Wailers met Johnny Nash and
soon Bob accompanied Nash to Sweden and London.
When in London, Bob recorded "Reggae on
Broadway" which was released by CBS. After this
the rest of the Wailers arrived in London to
help promote the single only to find that there
were out of money and stranded there. With
little options available, Bob went into the
Island Records Basing Street Studios and asked
to speak to the boss, Chris Blackwell with
hopes of a possible record deal.
Mr. Blackwell had already heard of the Wailers
and signed them on the spot. He advanced them
eight thousand pounds so that they could fly
back home and record their first album for
Island. This was a massive deal, for the first
time a reggae band would have access to the
finest recording facilities. The album they
released was "Catch a Fire", it was very well
received by critics and was one of the first
reggae albums. Before the Wailers reggae was
sold on signals or compilation albums.
In the Spring of 1973 the Wailers arrived back
in London to kick off their three month tour of
Britain. At the conclusion of the tour they
returned back to Jamaica where Bunny decided to
quit touring. He was replaced by Joe Higgs. The
Wailers along with Higgs travelled to the US
were they were scheduled to open 17 shows for
the number one black act in the States, Sly and
the Family Stone. The Wailers were fired after
4 shows because they were more popular then
they band the opened for, the crowd often
chanted "Wail-ers" well into the Sly and the
Family Stone set. Also they opened a couple
dates for Bruce Springsteen. After Sly and the
Family Stone axed the Wailers they found
themselves once again without money and
stranded, this time in Las Vegas. Somehow they
found their way to San Fransico. While there
they did a live concert broadcast for the radio
station KSAN-FM. The whole experience boosted
their popularity in North America.
With 1973 winding down the Wailers released the
much anticipated follow up album to "Catch a
Fire" called "Burnin". On this album many
Wailer classics appear such as "I shot the
Sheriff" and "Get Up Stand Up". The Wailers
popularity in North America grew even more when
Eric Clapton re-recorded "I Shot the Sheriff",
becoming a number one hit on the US singles
charts.
1975 saw the release of the Wailers's third
album, "Natty Dread" with such great tracks as
"Talking Blues", "No Woman No Cry" and
"Revolution". On the down side though two
thirds of the original Wailing Wailers, Peter
Tosh and Bunny Wailer quit the band to pursue
solo careers. This caused the band to change
their name again. This time to Bob Marley and
the Wailers. The departure of the two members
created a hole in the backing vocal section,
this hole was filled and then some by the
I-Threes (Rita Marley, Judy Mowatts and Marcia
Grittiths). That summer the band started a new
European tour. Two of those shows were at the
Lyceum Ballroom, both shows were considered
among the top of the decade.
Both shows were recorded and made the album
"Live!" which included the unforgettable live
version "No Woman No Cry" which was a world
wide hit. The band underwent more changes with
the addition of Al Anderson and Bernard Harvey
who were later replaced by Junior Marvin and
Tyrone Downie. The last time the original
Wailers ever played together was at a Stevie
Wonder concert for the Jamaican Institute for
the blind. Bob Marley and the Wailers continued
their roll releasing the incredible album
"Rasta man Vibration" in 1976. This capped off
a type of Reggae-Mania happening in the states.
Rolling Stone named them band of the year. On
the Rasta man Vibration album was the powerful
track "War" which lyrics came from a speech
given by Emperor Haile Selassie. Bob Marley
decided to play a free concert at Kingston's
National Heroes Park on December 5, 1976.
The idea behind the concert was a peaceful
message against the ghetto wars happening in
Trenchtown at the time. Tragedy struck two days
before that he get on stage, gunmen broke into
the Marley home and shot at Bob, Rita, and two
friends. Luckily no one was killed. Despite
this Bob Marley went on to put on a memorable
show two days later at the Smile Jamaica
concert. Following the show the band left for
the UK. While they were there they recorded
1977's "Exodus". Possibly their best album to
date, it solidified the band's international
stardom. It went number one in many countries
including England and Germany. It was also one
of the top albums of the year.
During their European tour, the band did a week
of shows at the Rainbow Theatre in London. It
was at the start of the tour when Bob injured
his toe playing football. It was later
diagnosed as cancerous. Also during this tour
Bob received a very important ring, who's
previous owner was the Ethiopian Emperor. In
May Bob was informed of his cancer. His cancer
would most certainly be taken care of by
amputating the toe but Bob refused. To do so
would be against his Rastafarian faith. With
this news the remainder of the Exodus tour was
cancelled. His illness didn't prevent him from
recording music though, 1978 saw the release of
"Kaya" which had a much more mellow sound then
previous albums. Bob was accused of selling out
because many of the songs were love songs or
tributes to ganja (marijuana). Rastafarians
believed the smoking the holy herb would bring
them closer to Jah (god).
In April 1978, Bob returned to Jamaica to play
the One Love Peace Concert. In attendance was
Jamaican President Michael Manley and the
leader of the Opposition Edward Seaga. It was
Bob who got them on stage and even got them to
shake hands. On June 15 he was awarded the
Peace Medal of the Third World from the United
Nations. For the first time he visited Africa
going to Kenya and Ethiopia. On this trip he
started to work on the song "Zimbabwe". The
band also released their second live album
"Babylon by Bus" with was recorded in Paris.
The album which followed it was Survival in
1978. Throughout the album the theme of black
survival was evident.
The Seventies were now coming to a close, Bob
Marley and the Wailers were the most popular
band on the road breaking many festival
records. In 1980 the band found themselves in
Gabon to perform in Africa for the first time.
Here Bob Marley discovered that there manager
had defrauded the band, Bob gave him a beating
and fired him. The Zimbabwean government
invited the whole band to perform at the
countries Independence Ceremony in April. Bob
later said of the invitation to be the biggest
honour of his life.
After the amazing honour and experience Bob
Marley continue to record, "Uprising" was
released in 1980. Everything was looking
bright, the band was planning an American tour
with Stevie Wonder for that winter. Bob's
health was deteriorating, but he still got
clearance from a doctor to go on the road. The
tour started with Boston, followed by New York.
During the New York show Bob's looked very sick
and he almost fainted. The next morning on
Sept. 21 while jogging through Central, Bob
collapsed and was brought to the hospital.
There a brain tumour was discovered and doctors
gave him a month to live. Rita Marley wanted
the tour cancelled but Bob wanted to continue
on. He played an unforgettable show in
Pittsburgh but was too ill to continue so the
tour was finally cancelled.
It would be the last show he ever performed.
Treatment prolonged his life somewhat but the
inevitable was soon to happening. Bob was
transported to a Miami hospital where he was
baptized Berhane Selassie in the Ethiopian
Orthodox Church on November 4. In a final
attempt to save his life he underwent a
controversial treatment in Germany. While in
Germany he celebrated his 36th and final
birthday. Ultimately the treatment didn't work.
Bob wanted to die at home so he was flown back.
Unfortunately he didn't finish the trip, he
died on May 11, 1981 in a Miami hospital. He
was internationally mourned for and thousands
showed up at his May 21 funeral to show their
respects. In attendance wereboth the Jamaican
President and the Leader of the Opposition. Bob
Marley now rests in a mausoleum at his
birthplace.
After his death he was awarded Jamaica's Order
of Merit. The Prophet Gad insisted on becoming
the owner of Bob's ring. However, amazingly the
ring the disappeared and still has yet to be
found. Bob's mother said that the ring was
returned to it's place of origin.
Bob Marley knew of his fate. Being a visionary
he foresaw this, his words will forever be
immortalized in the lyrics in which he
wrote.
"One bright morning when my work is over I will
fly away home"
Thanks to stephenandziggymarley@hotmail.com for
submitting the biography.
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