bob marley
Robert Nesta Marley was born on the 6th of February, 1945 in Saint Ann, Jamaica. Norval Sinclair Marley, a white Englishman, was his father. Cedelia Booker, a black Jamaican, his mother. Bob Marley, unfortunately, died on the 11th of May, 1981 from cancer. Bob Marley had 12 children, four of which were with his wife, Rita. Bob Marley was a devout Rastafarian. To buy Bob Marley music and memorabilia click here.
At the age of 10, Bob Marley’s father died and he moved to Kingston’s Trenchtown with his mother. In his early teenage years, Bob Marley became friends with Bunny Wailer. Dropping out of school at the age of 14, Marley became trained in the trade of welding, while spending his spare time jamming with Bunny Wailer, and Joe Higgs, a renowned ska musician.
In 1962, Bob Marley recorded his first two singles, but to no avail. With his friends, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer, “The Teenagers” were formed in 1963, later to become “The Wailing Rudeboys”, “The Wailing Wailers”, and then finally “The Wailers”. In the then popular rocksteady style, Bob Marley wrote “Simmer Down” in 1964, and “Soul Rebel” in 1965. Both of which were hits on Studio One.
Bob Marley and Rita Anderson married in 1966, and after living with his mother in Delaware for a short-while, eventually returned to Jamaica and started to practice the Rastafarianism inclusive of the signature dreadlocks and the ritual usage of marijuana or Ganja.
Gaining worldwide success and global recognition in 1974, “Get Up, Stand Up” and “I Shot the Sheriff” from the “Burnin’” album gathered huge followers from both Europe and America. Later in the year, The Wailers went their separate ways to concentrate on solo careers. Moving from ska and rocksteady, Bob Marley’s full transition to reggae was complete. Interestingly, Bob Marley continued to record and tour as “Bob Marley and The Wailers” and the success in 1975 of “No Woman, No Cry” ensured his musical breakthrough with his subsequent album, “Rastaman Vibration” reaching the Top 10 Billboard Album chart.
In the late 1970′s, Bob Marley undertook the role of Activist, and actively promoted cultural understanding and peace within his motherland, Jamaica. Shot alongside his wife and manager, all of who survived, before an ironically named peace concert. As a willing ambassador for the Rastafarian religion, Bob Marley achieved a god-like status among Rastafarians and Jamaicans globally.