Bob Marley

Robert Nesta Marley popularly had known as Bob Marley, born on February 6th, 1945 and died on the 11th of May 1981, a Jamaican reggae singer who is well known both locally and internationally.

 

He first enter the music world in 1963 with the group the Wailers, he was born on the farm of his maternal grandfather in Nine Mile, Saint Ann a parish in Jamaica, to Norval Sinclair Marley and Cedella Booker.

 

In 1963, Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh, Junior Braithwaite, Beverley Kelso, and Cherry Smith were called The Teenagers. 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.

 

When he was 12 years old he moved to the poverty stricken Trenchtown area of Kingston where he decided that his future lay in making music. Marley worked with many musicians throughout his teenage years, including Peter McIntosh (Peter Tosh) and Neville Livingstone (Bunny Wailer).

 

In 1966, Marley married 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 at a Chrysler plant, under the alias Donald Marley.

Bob

Bob Marley had twelve children: four with his wife Rita, two adopted from Rita’s previous relationships, and several others with different women. In 1975 Bob Marley & the Wailers released the extraordinary Natty Dread album, and toured Europe that summer. The shows were recorded and the subsequent live album, together with the single, “No Woman No Cry,” both made the UK charts. By that time Bunny and Peter had officially left the band to pursue their own solo careers.

 

In 1976, during a period of spiralling political violence in Jamaica, an attempt was made on Marley’s life but no one got hurt. Marley left for England, where he lived in self-exile for two years. In England, one of his hit songs “Exodus” was produced, and it remained on the British charts for 56 straight weeks.

 

This was followed by another successful album, “Kaya.” In 1977 Marley consulted with a doctor when a wound in his big toe would not heal and thought he got it from playing soccer. More tests revealed malignant melanoma. He refused to have his toe amputated as was recommended by doctors, claiming it contradicted his Rastafarian beliefs. Others, however, claim that the main reason behind his refusal was the possible negative impact on his dancing skills.

 

The cancer was kept secret from the general public while Bob continued working. The cancer diagnosed earlier had spread to his brain, lungs and stomach. Bob Marley died in a Miami hospital on May 11, 1981. He was 36 years old.

 

Bob Marley continues to be a legend, his hit songs are played worldwide on a daily basis, a devoted Rastafarian who is loved by many. Bob was awarded Jamaica’s Order of Merit, the nations’ third highest honour, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the country’s culture. Bob’s body was taken to his birthplace where it now rests in a mausoleum.

 

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