Few figures have inspired the world as much as Bob Marley.
As an artist, his popularity is right up there with the Beatles and Led Zeppelin.
But as a cultural icon?
He might be even bigger.
And his strong beliefs were the product of his troubled upbringing.
Here's his tragic real-life story.
The history of Jamaica is a tale of both oppression and rebellion, with slaves pitted against
colonial subjugation.
The origin of Bob Marley was a microcosm of this bigger story.
His mother Cedella was a descendant of slaves, and his father Captain Norval Sinclair Marley
was a privileged white politician working for the British government.
The power imbalance here is obvious enough, but to make things worse, he was 41 years
older than her, as she was only 18 when they married.
With promises of economic stability, Norval Marley manipulated Cedella into a romantic
relationship.
But as soon as she became pregnant, he hit the road.
She named her son Robert, and though he carried his father's surname, he never felt attached
to the unknown man who had treated his mother so cruelly.
As for Norval himself, he died when his son was only 10 years old.
When Bob Marley was 12 years old, he and his mom left the rural village of Nine Mile for
the Jamaican capital city of Kingston.
They set up shop in the Trenchtown neighborhood, one of the city's most economically disadvantaged
areas.
The Trenchtown "yard," as it was described, was composed of cheap corrugated metal shacks,
usually without any plumbing.
Conditions were harsh.
Fights and stabbings were common.
Everyone had to work hard to survive.
During Marley's youth, Trenchtown's street gangs grouped together into a bigger unit
called the Rude Boys, which often got into violent battles with the local police force.
Marley never considered himself a true member of the Rude Boys, and it's hard to imagine
him being part of a gang, but he was comfortable hanging out with them.
From an early age, he learned to stand up for himself, and even earned the street name
"Tuff Gong."
Years later, he used this old moniker as the name of his recording studio.
By 1976, most of the world saw Bob Marley as a symbol of Jamaica.
Within the country itself, he'd become a potent political force, and his every statement was
intensely scrutinized, a burden he was well aware of.
Jamaica had only been independent from colonial power for two decades, resources were increasingly
scarce, and tensions were getting hotter and hotter.
"There was a level of brutality to the political violence that no one had ever seen before."
Political parties started begging Marley for his endorsement, knowing the weight it carried.
He refused, preferring to stay neutral in the conflict.
He'd already opened up his home in Kingston as a safe zone for troubled youth to get away
from the violent polarization happening outside.
Then on December 3, 1976, a vehicle drove up to Marley's residence.
An explosion of gunfire burst out of the car, and then three gunmen rushed into the house
and tried to finish the job.
They shot Marley, his wife Rita, and his manager, before fleeing into the night.
Though all three victims survived their wounds, the incident left Marley deeply shaken.
Reeling from his near-death experience, Marley almost immediately hopped on a flight to London.
During his two years of self-imposed exile from his home, he poured his creative energies
into the album Exodus.
The 1977 release drew parallels between the scriptural Exodus, his own tortured leave
of absence from Jamaica, and his Rastafarian belief in an eventual return to Ethiopia,
the promised land.
When Marley finally made his triumphant return to Jamaica, he spearheaded the famous "One
Love" concert.
Though conflict and polarization were still burning in the air, he wanted to make a show
of peace and unity.
During a performance of his song "Jamming," he invited the two biggest rival political
leaders onto the stage, and held hands with both of them before a cheering crowd.
But while his brain was doing good, his body was quietly working against him.
In 1977, Marley injured his toe in a soccer game and noticed a small dark spot under the
nail.
He initially wrote it off as a simple bruise, nothing serious.
But in reality, it was the first sign of melanoma, the cancer that would eventually take his
life.
After Marley's foot injury worsened, he finally got it checked out, and the cancer was diagnosed,
but he objected to the proposed treatment of removing his toe.
Even though this procedure could've stopped the spread of the disease, he adhered to Rastafari
code, which states that it's a sin to cut into one's flesh unless it's absolutely necessary.
To Marley, losing a toe didn't seem essential.
The only medical treatment he agreed to was a skin graft, which didn't work, and then
a controversial diet-based treatment in Germany, which proved similarly ineffective.
By 1980, his condition got so bad that he collapsed while jogging through Central Park
and was forced to cancel his remaining live shows.
When Marley's cancer didn't go into remission after more than six months of treatment in
Germany, he decided to fly back to Jamaica.
Sadly, he never made it home.
During the flight, his condition rapidly spiraled downhill.
When the plane stopped in Miami, he was rushed into emergency care.
He died shortly afterward, at only 36 years old.
His remains were brought to Jamaica, and he was given a state funeral.
12,000 people came to view his body and another 10,000 waited outside.
Decades after his death, Marley's popularity has only grown.
Though many of his friends and family fell into a series of lawsuits after his death,
as he hadn't gotten around to making a will, his enduring legacy is one of peace, love,
and compassion.
His message, his achievements, and his dreams will always be remembered.
"There was something in this thing.
I did something in it."
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