Today the DAILY NATION continues its Black History Month series on the lives of people of colour who have made their mark on the local, regional and global stage with a look at the life of reggae icon Bob Marley who would have celebrated his 72nd birthday yesterday.
ROBERT NESTA MARLEY, known familiarly as Bob Marley, was born on February 6, 1945, in St Ann Parish, Jamaica. The son of a black teenaged mother and much older, later absent white father, he spent his early years in St Ann Parish, in the rural village known as Nine Miles.
One of his childhood friends was Neville “Bunny” O’Riley Livingston. Attending the same school, the two shared a love of music. Bunny inspired Bob to learn to play the guitar. Later Livingston’s father and Marley’s mother became involved, and they all lived together for a time in Kingston, according to Christopher John Farley’s Before The Legend: The Rise Of Bob Marley.
Arriving in Kingston in the late 1950s, Marley lived in Trench Town, one of the city’s poorest neighbourhoods. He struggled in poverty, but he found inspiration in the music around him. Trench Town had a number of successful local performers and was considered the Motown of Jamaica.
Marley and Livingston devoted much of their time to music. Under the guidance of Joe Higgs, Marley worked on improving his singing abilities. He met another student of Higgs, Peter McIntosh (later Peter Tosh), who would play an important role in Marley’s career.
A local record producer, Leslie Kong, liked Marley’s vocals and had him record a few singles, the first of which was Judge Not, released in 1962. In 1963, Marley, Livingston and McIntosh formed the Wailing Wailers. Their first single, Simmer Down, went to the top of the Jamaican charts in January 1964. By this time, the group also included Junior Braithwaite, Beverly Kelso and Cherry Smith.
The group became quite popular in Jamaica, but they had difficulty making it financially. Braithwaite, Kelso and Smith left the group. The remaining members drifted apart for a time. Marley went to the United States where his mother was now living. However, before he left, he married Rita Anderson on February 10, 1966.
After eight months, he returned to Jamaica and reunited with Livingston and McIntosh to form The Wailers. Around this time, he was exploring his spiritual side and developing a growing interest in the Rastafarian movement which began in Jamaica in the 1930s and drew its beliefs from many sources, including Jamaican nationalist Marcus Garvey, the Old Testament, and African heritage and culture.
For a time in the late 1960s, Marley worked with pop singer Johnny Nash who scored a worldwide hit with Marley’s Stir It Up.
The Wailers got their big break in 1972 when they landed a contract with Island Records, founded by Chris Blackwell, to record a full album. The result was the critically acclaimed Catch A Fire. To support the record, The Wailers toured Britain and the United States in 1973, performing as an opening act for both Bruce Springsteen and Sly The Family Stone. That same year, the group released their second full album Burnin’, featuring the hit song I Shot The Sheriff.
For their next tour, the Wailers performed with I-Threes, a female group whose members included Marcia Griffiths, Judy Mowatt and Marley’s wife Rita. Now called Bob Marley The Wailers, the group toured extensively and helped increase reggae’s popularity abroad. In Britain in 1975, they scored their first Top 40 hit with No Woman, No Cry.
Already a much-admired star in his native Jamaica, Marley was on his way to becoming an international music icon. He made the US music charts with the album Rastaman Vibration in 1976.
Back in Jamaica, Marley continued to be seen as a supporter of the People National Party (PNP). His influence in his native land was seen as a threat to the party’s rivals. This may have led to the assassination attempt on him in 1976. A group of gunmen attacked Marley and The Wailers while they were rehearsing on the night of December 3, 1976, two days before a planned concert in Kingston’s National Heroes Park.
One bullet struck Marley in the sternum and the bicep, and another hit Rita in the head. The Marleys were not severely injured, but manager Don Taylor was not as fortunate. Shot five times, he had to undergo surgery to save his life. After much deliberation, Marley still played at the show but fled the country the day after the concert.
Living in London, England, he went to work on Exodus, which was released in 1977. The title track draws an analogy between the biblical story of Moses and the Israelites leaving exile, and his own situation. The song also discusses returning to Africa. Released as a single, Exodus was a hit in Britain, as were Waiting In Vain and Jamming, and the entire album stayed on the British charts for more than a year.
Marley had a health scare in 1977. He sought treatment in July on a toe he had injured earlier that year, and after discovering cancerous cells, doctors suggested amputation. Marley refused the surgery, however, because his religious beliefs prohibited such.
While working on Exodus, Marley and The Wailers recorded songs that were later released on the album Kaya (1978). With love as its theme, the work featured two hits: Satisfy My Soul and Is This Love. Also in 1978, he returned to Jamaica to perform his One Love Peace Concert, where he got Prime Minister Michael Manley of the PNP and opposition leader Edward Seaga to shake hands onstage.
That same year, Marley made his first trip to Africa, visiting Kenya and Ethiopia, which is viewed as the spiritual homeland of Rastafarians. Perhaps inspired by his travels, his next album, Survival (1979), was seen as a call for both greater unity and an end to oppression on the African continent. In 1980, Bob Marley and The Wailers played at an official independence ceremony for the new nation of Zimbabwe.
They also planned a series of concerts in the United States, but would hold only three there – two at Madison Square Garden in New York City and one at the Stanley Theatre in Pittsburgh, before Marley became ill. The cancer discovered earlier in his toe had spread throughout his body.
He underwent unconventional treatment in Germany, and was subsequently able to fight off the cancer for months. It soon became clear that he didn’t have much longer to live, however, so he set out to return to his beloved Jamaica one last time.
Sadly, he would not manage to complete the journey, dying in Miami, Florida, on May 11, 1981.
Shortly before his death, Marley had received the Order of Merit from the Jamaican government. He had also been awarded the Medal of Peace from the United Nations in 1980. Adored by the people of Jamaica, he was given a hero’s send-off. More than 30 000 people paid their respects to the musician during his memorial service, held at the National Arena in Kingston.
Decades after his passing, Marley’s music remains widely acclaimed. His musical legacy has also continued through his family and long-time bandmates.
Marley’s commitment to fighting oppression also continues through an organisation in his memory – The Bob Marley Foundation – devoted to helping people and organisations in developing nations.
www.biography.com
