Bob Marley Biography
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Bob Marley is without a doubt the greatest musician a third world country ever produced. Through Rastafarian ideas, he influenced many others with songs that touched the lives of millions with his constant message of unity. His wisdom through experience helped him achieve a grand distinction over other artists.
Marley was a great ambassador to the world preaching unity and justice for all. He wanted everyone to get along without violence. Not many people can measure the importance of Bob Marley to his people of Jamaica. He gave them an identity and a way to express. Bob Marley was a great man who was not only idolized by his country but by others who wanted to achieve freedom as well. His goal was to create peace with his talent of music. Throughout his music Marley ultimately changed the way we look at life as we know it.
In 1944, British Captain Norval Marley married Cedalla Booker, an extremely young Jamaican girl. On February 6, 1945 at 2:30am she gave birth to a Robert Nesta Marley in the small village of Nine Miles, Jamaican. Soon after Bob’s birth, his father was recalled and returned to England. Still he financially supported his son and occasionally returned to visit him. Around his 10th birthday his father died of a heart attack.
Through the years Bob suffered racial prejudice because of his mixed races of black and white. Although he questioned his own racial identity often, he never settled for one side.
“I dont have prejudice against myself. My father was a white and my mother was black. Them call me half-caste or whatever. Me dont dip on nobodys side. Me dont dip on the black mans side nor the white mans side. Me dip on Gods side, the one who create me and cause me to come from black and white.” ~Bob Marley
In the late fifties the scarcity of jobs forced Bob and his mother from their home to seek employment in the big city of Trenchtown. Trenchtown got its name because it was built over a huge trench which was used to drain the sewage. In Trenchtown Bob was bullied and taunted for his racial mix, which forced him into taking self defense classes. He then gained a reputation for his physical strength, which earned him the nickname “Tuff Gong”. Bob spent a lot of his time in Trenchtown with his friend Neville Livingstone or as people called him, Bunny.
Bob was also exposed to the music he had loved in the big city, like Fats Domino and Ray Charles. Bob and Bunny attended a music class together which was held by Joe Higgs a famous Jamaican singer. There they met Peter Macintosh and soon became great friends. In their spare time Bob, Bunny and Peter would sit around writing and singing songs. During this time Jamaican music was evolving and was becoming very popular all through the Caribbean. Music too many young Jamaicans was an escape from the harshness of everyday life. One of those young Jamaicans was Jimmy Cliff who had already recorded a couple good hits at the age of 14. Jimmy introduced Bob to Leslie Kong, who was local record producer. That day he found himself recording his first song “Judge Not” and later “One more Cup of Coffee”. But neither of these singles did very well and Bob left Kong soon after she failed to pay him.
In 1963 Bob, Bunny, Peter McIntosh, Junior Braithwaite, Beverley Kelso, and Cherry Smith form a group called “The Teenagers”. Later they changed the name to “The Wailing Rudeboys” and then again to “The Wailing Wailers”. By now they were discovered by Coxsone Dodd and changed the name again to “The Wailers”. It was with Dodd where the Wailers recorded their first song “Simmer Down” which did very well in Jamaica. The Wailers consisting now of Bob, Peter Tosh and Bunny were starting to become really popular within Trenchtown. They recorded several more songs with Dobbs label which included “It Hurts to be Alone” and “Rule the Roadie”. Their audiences grew rapidly and Bob eventually became the leader, since he was already the main songwriter and lead singer.
On February 10, 1966 Bob married his girlfriend Rita Anderson and moved near his mother’s residence in Wilmington, Delaware. While living in the US Bob worked as a DuPont lab assistant and on the assembly line at a Chrysler plant, under the alias Donald Marley. When he had collected enough money to further finance his music he returned home to Jamaica to continue his music career. Upon returning to Jamaica, Marley became a member of the Rastafari movement and started his dreadlocks. The Wailers music had evolved from Ska to Rock Steady. This conflicted with Dobbs who wanted a Ska band. So The Wailers left Dobbs and decided to form their own label which they called Wail’N Soul. This corresponded with the birth of Bob’s first daughter who they named Cedalla. The Wailers released a couple of singles on their label like “Bend Down Low” and “Mellow Mood” . That same year their label ended and affected the band significantly. They got back on track when they met Lee Perry, who helped them produce their greatest tracks yet “Duppy Conqueror”, “Soul Rebel”, “400 Years” and “Small Axe”.
In 1970 the Wailer group took in “Family Man” Barret and his brother Carleton. The Wailers were at this point really popular throughout the Caribbean but still unknown internationally. Their second successful label “Tuff Gong”, named after Bobs nickname, caught the attention of Johnny Nash. Johnny brought Bob to Sweden and London where Bob recorded “Reggae on Broadway”. A month later the rest of the Wailers arrived in London to help Bob promote the single only to find that they were out of money and stuck there. Bob bearing in mind one a few options, walked into Island Records and asked to speak with Chris Blackwell, the manager, in the company of hopes for a record deal. Blackwell went for it instantly for he had heard of The Wailers and gave them eight thousand pounds so they could get back home and record their album for Island Records.
This was the first time a reggae band had ever had access to premium recording facility. They worked hard knowing this was their big chance and released the album “Catch Fire”, which did extremely well and was one of the first reggae albums as of before it was sold on singles or compilation albums.
In the spring of 1973 the Wailers returned to London to start their first three month tour of Britain. When they returned to Jamaica, Bunny decided to quit touring and was replaced