Bob Marley 

by Masha Chernitskaya

Robert Nesta Marley was born on February 6, 1945. “Bob” Marley was raised in a small village called Nine Mile in Jamaica. Nine Mile is an extremely poor area of Jamaica and because Marley came from mixed race parents he grew up with a lot of prejudice against him from other villagers. His mother, Cedella Booker was an Afro-Jamaican and his father, Norval Sinclair Marley, was an English man. His father was a sailor, and was therefore rarely at home, so Marley was raised exclusively by his mother. When Marley was growing up, Jamaican music was mainly in the Calypso and Mento style, but by the time he was a teenager, American Rock & Roll and R&B became extremely popular in Jamaica. Marley liked that music so much, that at the age of fourteen, he dropped out of school and started his first band. His initial records weren’t very popular, but later, he became a hit when he teamed up with Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh, Junior Braithwaite, Beverly Kelso, and Cherry Smith to form a Ska band, “The Teenagers.” Ska was a type of music that was based on American Rock & Roll but with the accent on the offbeat. The band eventually changed its name to “The Wailers,” and were given a record contract when they were discovered by a major Jamaican record producer.

When Marley was just settling in with his new band, the more established group, “Toots and the Maytals” became a large influence on his music. Toots wrote a new hit called “Do the Reggay,” and Marley loved the song so much, that instead of singing Ska and rock music, he switched genres and soon was writing great songs to the Reggae beat.

In 1974, English rock star Eric Clapton made a hit cover of Marley’s “I Shot the Sheriff” making Marley and instant success in both England and America. Fans started to search out Marley and his music.

Marley was also influenced by his Rastafari Religion and the politics of a divided Jamaica. The Rastafari Religion forbids eating meat so Marley became vegetarian. When Marley and the Wailers gave a free concert to try to ease tensions between two political groups, it upset a few radicals from one of the groups. They got so angry that they went to Marley’s house and took out there guns. Marley, his wife, and his manager all were shot. Marley was hit in the chest and arm, but the damage to Marley was very minor compared to that of his wife and manager, who received very serious wounds. Despite the shooting, Marley went on stage with a substitute band and bravely preformed the concert, as The Wailers were too scared to come out of hiding. In 1976, Marley moved to England where he had some of his biggest hits, such as “Jammin’” and “Exodus.” When he returned to Jamaica, things had changed enough politically, that he was able to give another concert where the two warring political groups shook hands on stage.

While playing soccer with friends, Marley suffered an injury that developed into acral lentiginous melanoma - a kind of skin cancer. Instead of going to a traditional doctor, Marley went to a German doctor who put him on a special diet, instead of prescribing typical Western cancer treatments. When his cancer worsened, Marley tried to fly back home to Jamaica, but his illness forced him to stop in Miami, Florida where he ended up dying. Sadly he was only 36 years old.

Bob Marley influenced hundreds of fellow musicians and his contributions to Reggae music helped spread its popularity throughout the world. When Marley gave a concert at the Roxy in Los Angeles, in 1976, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Stevie Wonder, Neil Diamond, Robbie Robertson, Bob Dylan, Carole King, and Bernie Taupin all cheered him from the audience. Bob Marley also influenced Sting and The Police, Blondie, The Specials, The Clash, Paul Simon, Elvis Costello and hundreds of other musicians. Bob Marley, despite his poor beginnings, brought people together and changed the world of music.