Bob MarleyMusical career
The WailersThe Wailers in the mid-1960s. From left to right:
Bunny Wailer, Bob Marley,
Peter Tosh.
In 1963, Bob Marley, Bunny Livingston,
Peter McIntosh,
Junior Braithwaite,
Beverley Kelso, and
Cherry Smith formed a
ska and
rocksteady group, calling themselves "The Teenagers". They later changed their name to "The Wailing Rudeboys", then to "The Wailing Wailers", and finally to "
The Wailers". By 1966, Braithwaite, Kelso, and Smith had left The Wailers, leaving the core trio of Marley, Livingston, and McIntosh.
Marley took on the role of leader, singer, and main songwriter. Much of The Wailers' early work, including their first single
Simmer Down, was produced by
Coxsone Dodd at
Studio One. Simmer Down topped Jamaican Charts in 1964 and established The Wailers as one of the hottest groups in the country. They followed up with songs such as "Soul Rebel" and "400 Years".
In 1966, Marley married
Rita Anderson, and moved near his mother's residence in
Wilmington, Delaware, for a few months. Upon returning to Jamaica, Marley became a member of the Rastafari movement, and started to wear his trademark
dreadlocks (see the
religion section for more on Marley's religious views).
After a conflict with Dodd, Marley and his band teamed up with
Lee "Scratch" Perry and his studio band,
The Upsetters. Although the alliance lasted less than a year, they recorded what many consider The Wailers' finest work. Marley and Perry split after a dispute regarding the assignment of recording rights, but they would remain friends and work together again.
Between 1968 and 1972, Bob and Rita Marley, Peter McIntosh and Bunny Livingston recut some old tracks with
JAD Records in Kingston and
London in an attempt to commercialize The Wailers' sound. Livingston later asserted that these songs "should never be released on an album . . . they were just demos for record companies to listen to".
The Wailers' first album,
Catch A Fire, was released worldwide in 1973, and sold well. It was followed a year later by
Burnin', which included the songs "
Get Up, Stand Up" and "
I Shot The Sheriff".
Eric Clapton made a hit cover of "I Shot the Sheriff" in 1974, raising Marley's international profile.
The Wailers broke up in 1974 with each of the three main members going on to pursue solo careers. The reason for the breakup is shrouded in conjecture; some believe that there were disagreements amongst Livingston, McIntosh, and Marley concerning performances, while others claim that Livingston and McIntosh simply preferred solo work. McIntosh began recording under the name
Peter Tosh, and Livingston continued as Bunny Wailer.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
Despite the breakup, 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,
Junior Marvin and
Al Anderson on lead guitar,
Tyrone Downie and
Earl "Wya" Lindo on keyboards, and
Alvin "Seeco" Patterson on percussion. The "
I Threes", consisting of
Judy Mowatt,
Marcia Griffiths, and Marley's wife, Rita, provided backing vocals.
In 1975, Marley had his international breakthrough with his first hit outside Jamaica, "
No Woman, No Cry" from the
Natty Dread album. This was followed by his breakthrough album in the
US,
Rastaman Vibration (1976), which spent four weeks on the
Billboard charts Top Ten.
In December 1976, two days before "
Smile Jamaica", a free concert organized by
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. Taylor and Marley's wife sustained serious injuries, but later made full recoveries. Bob Marley received only minor injuries in the chest and arm. The shooting was thought to have been politically motivated, as many felt the concert was really a support rally for Manley. Nonetheless, the concert proceeded, and an injured Marley performed as scheduled.
Marley left Jamaica at the end of 1976 for
England, where he recorded his
Exodus and
Kaya albums. Exodus stayed on the British album charts for 56 consecutive weeks. It included four UK hit singles: "Exodus", "Waiting In Vain", "Jamming", and also "One Love", a rendition of
Curtis Mayfield's hit, "
People Get Ready". It was here that he was arrested and received a conviction for possession of a small quantity of
cannabis while travelling in London.
Main article:
One Love Peace ConcertIn 1978, Marley performed at another political concert in Jamaica, the
One Love Peace Concert, again in an effort to calm warring parties. Near the end of the performance, by Marley's request, Manley and his political rival,
Edward Seaga, joined each other on stage and shook hands.
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. In early
1980, he was invited to perform at the
April 17 celebration of
Zimbabwe's Independence Day.
Uprising (1980) was Bob Marley's final studio album, and is one of his most religious productions, including "
Redemption Song" and "Forever Loving Jah". It was in "Redemption Song" that Marley sang the famous lyric,
“Emancipate yourselves from mental slaveryNone but ourselves can free our minds...”
Confrontation, released posthumously in 1983, contained unreleased material recorded during Marley's lifetime, including the hit "
Buffalo Soldier" and new mixes of singles previously only available in Jamaica.
Later yearsCancer diagnosisIn July 1977, Marley was found to have
malignant melanoma in a
football wound on his right
hallux (big toe). Marley refused amputation, citing worries that the operation would affect his dancing, as well as the Rastafari belief that the body must be "whole":
“Rasta no abide amputation. I don't allow a man to be dismantled.”
—From the biography Catch a Fire
Marley may have seen
medical doctors as samfai. True to this belief Marley went against all surgical possibilities and sought out other means that would not break his religious beliefs. He also refused to register a
will, based on the Rastafari belief that writing a will is acknowledging death as inevitable, thus disregarding the everlasting character of life.
Collapse and treatment
The
cancer then spread to Marley's
brain,
lungs,
liver, and
stomach. After playing two shows at
Madison Square Garden as part of his fall 1980
Uprising Tour, he collapsed while jogging in
NYC's Central Park. The remainder of the tour was subsequently cancelled.
Bob Marley played his final concert at the
Stanley Theater in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on
September 23,
1980. The live version of "
Redemption Song" on
Songs of Freedom was recorded at this show. Marley afterwards sought medical help from
Munich specialist
Josef Issels, but his cancer had already progressed to the terminal stage.
Death and posthumous reputation
While flying home from
Germany to Jamaica for his final days, Marley became ill, and landed in Miami for immediate medical attention. He died at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in
Miami, Florida on the morning of
May 11,
1981 at the age of 36. His final words to his son
Ziggy were "Money can't buy life".
[6] Marley received a
state funeral in Jamaica, which combined elements of
Ethiopian Orthodoxy and Rastafari. He was buried in a crypt near his birthplace with his
Gibson Les Paul, a soccer ball, a marijuana bud, a ring that he wore every day that was given to him by the Prince Asfa Wossen of Ethiopia (eldest son of H.I.M), and a
Bible. A month before his death, he was awarded the
Jamaican Order of Merit.
Bob Marley's music has continuously grown in popularity in the years since his death, providing a stream of revenue for his estate and affording him a mythical status in
20th century music history. He remains enormously popular and well-known all over the world, particularly so in Africa. Marley was inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in
1994.
Time magazine chose Bob Marley & The Wailers'
Exodus as the greatest album of the 20th century.
In 2001, the same year that Marley was posthumously awarded the
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, a feature-length documentary about his life, Rebel Music, was nominated for Best Long Form Music Video documentary at
the Grammys. It won various other awards. With contributions from Rita, the Wailers, and Marley's lovers and children, it also tells much of the story in his own words.In Summer
2006, the City of New York renamed a portion of Church Avenue from Ramsen Avenue to East 98th Street in the
East Flatbush Section of
Brooklyn Bob Marley Blvd
Project from
BernardoHigher 1Teacher Cecília S.Centro BritânicoPerdizes Branch
