Who is Bob Marley?
1945 Birth of Bob Marley
Robert Nesta Marley was born on 6 February 1945 at the farm of his maternal grandfather in Nine Mile,
Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica, to Norval Sinclair Marley and Cedella Malcolm.
Marley was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter and is considered as one of the
pioneers of reggae. His musical career was marked by fusing elements of reggae,
ska, and rocksteady, as well as his distinctive vocal and songwriting style.
1957 Marley’s Childhood
Bob Marley and Neville Livingston, later known as Bunny Wailer were childhood friends in Nine
Mile. They started to play music together while at Stepney Primary and Junior High School. In 1957,
Marley’s mother moved to Trenchtown, Kingston with Bunny’s father when Marley was 12 years
old. As Marley and Livingston were living together in Trenchtown, Marley formed a vocal
group with Bunny Wailer, and Peter Tosh. The line-up was known as the Teenagers.
1959 Helping friend
Joe Higgs, who was part of the successful vocal act Higgs and Wilson, lived nearby
and encouraged Marley. Marley and the others did not play any instruments at the time,
and were more interested in being a vocal harmony group. Higgs helped them develop
their vocal harmonies, and started to teach Marley how to play guitar.
1963
Beginning of Music Career In 1963, Bob Marley formed the band
known as the Teenagers including, Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh, Junior Braithwaite, Beverley Kelso,
and Cherry Smith . They later changed the name to the Wailing Rudeboys, then to the Wailing Wailers,
at which point they were discovered by record producer Coxsone Dodd, and finally to the Wailers.
1964 Musical Success
The Wailers’ single “Simmer Down” for the Coxsone label became a Jamaican No. 1 in
February 1964 selling an estimated 70,000 copies. The Wailers, regularly recorded for Studio One,
and found themselves working with established Jamaican musicians such as
Ernest Ranglin, the keyboardist Jackie Mittoo and saxophonist Roland Alphonso.
1966
Marley’s Marriage In 1966, Marley married soul
singer Rita Anderson, and moved near his mother’s residence in Wilmington, Delaware, in the United
States for a short time. During which he worked as a DuPont lab assistant, and on the assembly line
and as a fork lift operator at a Chrysler plant in nearby Newark, under the alias Donald Marley.
1974 Solo career
The Wailers disbanded in 1974, with each of the three main members pursuing a
solo career. Despite the break-up, Marley continued recording as “Bob Marley & The
Wailers”. His new backing band included brothers Carlton and Aston “Family Man”
Barrett on drums and bass respectively and the “I Threes”, consisting of Judy Mowatt,
Marcia Griffiths, and Marley’s wife, Rita, provided backing vocals.
1975 International breakthrough
In 1975, Marley had his international breakthrough
with his first hit outside Jamaica, with a live version of “No Woman, No Cry”,
from the Live album. This was followed by his breakthrough album in the United States,
Rastaman Vibration (1976), which reached the Top 50 of the Billboard Soul Charts.
1976 Assassination Attempt
On 3 December 1976, two days before “Smile Jamaica”, a free concert organised by the
Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley in an attempt to ease tension between two warring
political groups, Marley, his wife, and manager Don Taylor were wounded in an
assault by unknown gunmen inside Marley’s home. Nonetheless, the concert proceeded,
and an injured Marley performed as scheduled, two days after the attempt.
1976 Recovery and Writing
Marley left Jamaica at the end of 1976 after a month-long “recovery and writing” sojourn
at the site of Chris Blackwell’s Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas, to recover from the
injuries of assault. Later, he arrived in England, where he spent two years in self-imposed exile.
1977
Diagnosed with cancer In July 1977, Marley was
diagnosed with a type of malignant melanoma under a toenail, which was a symptom of already-existing
cancer. The diagnosis was confirmed as acral lentiginous melanoma. Marley rejected his
doctors’ advice to have his toe amputated, citing his religious beliefs, and instead,
the nail and nail bed were removed and a skin graft was taken from his thigh to cover the area.
Despite his illness, he continued touring and was in the process of scheduling a 1980 world tour.
1978 Awarded Peace Medal
Peace Medal of the Third World was given to Bob Marley at the Waldorf Astoria hotel
in New York City on Thursday, June 15, 1978, by the United Nations. Bob Marley
earned this distinction for his courageous work appealing for justice and peace during a time
of great political unrest and unprecedented violence in the streets of Kingston, Jamaica.
1979 Africa Unite
Survival, a defiant and politically charged album, was released in 1979. Tracks such as “Zimbabwe”,
“Africa Unite”, “Wake Up and Live”, and “Survival” reflected Marley’s support for the struggles of
Africans. His appearance at the Amandla Festival in Boston in July 1979 showed his strong
opposition to South African apartheid, which he already had shown in his song “War” in 1976.
1980 Final album and tour
Uprising was Bob Marley’s final studio album, and is one of his most religious production,
which includes “Redemption Song” and “Forever Loving Jah”. The album
Uprising was released in May 1980.The band completed a major tour of Europe,
where it played its biggest concert to 100,000 people in Milan, Italy.
1980
Declining health After the Europe 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. He collapsed while jogging in Central Park and was taken to the hospital,
where it was found that his cancer had spread to his brain, lungs, and liver.
1980 Last concert
Marley’s last concert took place two days later at the Stanley Theatre in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, on 23 September 1980. Shortly after the last concert,
Marley’s health deteriorated as his cancer spread throughout his body. The rest of the
tour was cancelled and Marley sought treatment at the clinic of Josef Issels in Bavaria, Germany.
1980 Religion
Bob Marley was a member for some years of the Rastafari movement,
whose culture was a key element in the development of reggae. He became an ardent
proponent of Rastafari after he converted to the Rastafari faith from Catholicism in 1966. Later,
Archbishop Abuna Yesehaq baptised Marley into the Ethiopian Orthodox Church,
giving him the name Berhane Selassie, on 4 November 1980, shortly before his death.
1981 Last days
After eight months of failing to effectively treat his advancing cancer, Marley boarded a plane for
his home in Jamaica. During the flight Marley’s vital functions worsened. After landing in Miami,
Florida, he was taken to Cedars of Lebanon Hospital for immediate medical attention,
where he died on 11 May 1981, aged 36, due to the spread of melanoma to his
lungs and brain. His final words to his son Ziggy were: “Money can’t buy life.”
1981 Funeral
Marley was given a state funeral in Jamaica on 21 May 1981 that combined elements of Ethiopian
Orthodoxy and Rastafari tradition. He was buried in a chapel near his birthplace with
his guitar. Jamaican Prime Minister Edward Seaga delivered the final funeral eulogy to Marley.
2001 Rebel Music: the Bob Marley story
A feature-length documentary about Marley’s life, titled Rebel Music: the Bob Marley
story was released in 2001. The film was made with contributions from Rita, The Wailers,
and Marley’s lovers and children, and it also tells much of the story in Marley's own words.