Nesta Robert Marley OM (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981) was a Jamaican singer-songwriter who achieved international fame through a series of crossover reggae albums.Starting out in 1963 with the group the Wailers, he forged a distinctive songwriting and vocal style that would later resonate with audiences worldwide. The Wailers would go on to release some of the earliest reggae records with producer Lee Scratch Perry.After the Wailers disbanded in 1974,Marley pursued a solo career which culminated in the release of the album Exodus in 1977 which established his worldwide reputation.He was a committed Rastafarian who infused his music with a profound sense of spirituality.

Bob Marley - Early Life

Bob and CedellaBob Marley was born Robert Nesta Marley on February 6, 1945. Bob was born to Cedella Marley when she was 18. Bob's early life was spent in rural community of Nine Miles, nestled in the mountainous terrain of the parish of St. Ann. Residents of Nine Miles have preserved many customs derived from their African ancestry especially the art of storytelling as a means of sharing the past and time-tested traditions that are oftentimes overlooked in official historical sources. The proverbs, fables and various chores associated with rural life that were inherent to Bob's childhood would provide a deeper cultural context and an aura of mysticism to his adult songwriting.

Norval and Cedella married in 1945 but Captain Marley's family strongly disapproved of their union; although the elder Marley provided financial support, the last time Bob Marley saw his father was when he was five years old; at that time, Norval took his son to Kingston to live with his nephew, a businessman, and to attend school. Eighteen months later Cedella learned that Bob wasn't going to school and was living with an elderly couple. Alarmed, she went to Kingston, found Bob and brought him home to Nine Miles.

Bob Marley begins his music career

The next chapter in the Bob Marley biography commenced in the late 1950s when Bob, barely into his teens, left St. Ann and returned to Jamaica's capital. He eventually settled in the western Kingston vicinity of Trench Town, so named because it was built over a sewage trench. A low-income community comprised of squatter-settlements and government yards developments that housed a minimum of four families, Bob Marley quickly learned to defend himself against Trench Town's rude boys and bad men. Bob's formidable street-fighting skills earned him the respectful nickname Tuff Gong.

Despite the poverty, despair and various unsavory activities that sustained some ghetto dwellers, Trench Town was also a culturally rich community where Bob Marley's abundant musical talents were nurtured. A lifelong source of inspiration, Bob immortalized Trench Town in his songs "No Woman No Cry" (1974), "Trench Town Rock" (1975) and "Trench Town", the latter released posthumously in 1983.

Early Wailers Line-up

By the early 1960s the island's music industry was beginning to take shape, and its development gave birth to an indigenous popular Jamaican music form called ska. A local interpretation of American soul and R&B, with an irresistible accent on the offbeat, ska exerted a widespread influence on poor Jamaican youth while offering a welcomed escape from their otherwise harsh realities. Within the burgeoning Jamaican music industry, the elusive lure of stardom was now a tangible goal for many ghetto youths.

Uncertain about the prospects of a music career for her son, Cedella encouraged Bob to pursue a trade. When Bob left school at 14 years old she found him a position as a welder's apprentice, which he reluctantly accepted. After a short time on the job a tiny steel splinter became embedded in Bob's eye. Following that incident, Bob promptly quit welding and solely focused on his musical pursuits.

At 16 years old Bob Marley met another aspiring singer Desmond Dekker, who would go on to top the UK charts in 1969 with his single "Israelites". Dekker introduced Marley to another young singer, Jimmy Cliff, future star of the immortal Jamaican film "The Harder They Come", who, at age 14, had already recorded a few hit songs. In 1962 Cliff introduced Marley to producer Leslie Kong; Marley cut his first singles for Kong: "Judge Not", "Terror" and "One More Cup of Coffee", a cover of the million selling country hit by Claude Gray. When these songs failed to connect with the public, Marley was paid a mere $20.00, an exploitative practice that was widespread during the infancy of Jamaica's music business. Bob Marley reportedly told Kong he would make a lot of money from his recordings one day but he would never be able to enjoy it. Years later, when Kong released a best of The Wailers compilation against the group's wishes, he suffered a fatal heart attack at age 37.

The Bob Marley Influence and Legacy

The Bob Marley influence upon various populations remains unparalleled, irrespective of race, color or creed. Bob Marley's revolutionary yet unifying music, challenging colonialism, racism, "fighting against ism and scism" as he sang in "One Drop", has had profound effects even in country's where English isn't widely spoken. In August 2008, two musicians from the war scarred countries of Serbia and Croatia (formerly provinces within Yugoslavia) unveiled a statue of Bob Marley during a rock music festival in Serbia; the monument's inscription read "Bob Marley Fighter For Freedom Armed With A Guitar". "Marley was chosen because he promoted peace and tolerance in his music," said Mirko Miljus, an organizer of the event.

In Koh Lipe, Thailand, Bob Marley's February 6th birthday is celebrated for three days with a cultural festival. In New Zealand, his life and music are now essential components of Waitangi Day (February 6) observances honoring the unifying treaty signed between the country's European settlers and its indigenous Maori population. When Bob visited New Zealand for a concert at Auckland's Western Springs Stadium on April 6, 1979, the Maori greeted him with a traditional song and dance ceremony reserved for visiting dignitaries. Marley's former manager, the late Don Taylor, referred to the Maori welcoming ritual as "one of my most treasured memories of the impact of Bob and reggae music on the world".

On April 17, 1980 when the former British colony of Rhodesia was liberated and officially renamed Zimbabwe and the Union Jack replaced with the red, gold, green and black Zimbabwean flag, it is said that the first words officially spoken in the new nation were "ladies and gentlemen, Bob Marley and the Wailers". For the Zimbabwean freedom fighters that listened to Bob Marley, inspiration and strength were drawn from his empowering lyrics. Marley penned a tribute to their efforts, "Zimbabwe", which was included on the most overtly political album of his career, 1979's "Survival" and he was invited to headline their official liberation celebrations. Zimbabwean police used tear gas to control the crowds that stampeded through the gates of Harare's Rufaro Stadium to get a glimpse of Marley onstage. As several members of Marley's entourage fled for cover, he returned to the stage to perform "Zimbabwe", his words resounding with a greater urgency amidst the ensuing chaos: "to divide and rule could only tear us apart, in everyman chest, there beats a heart/so soon we'll find out who is the real revolutionaries and I don't want my people to be tricked by mercenaries." "There was smoke everywhere, our eyes filled with tears so we ran off," recalls Marcia Griffiths, who sang backup for Marley, alongside Rita Marley and Judy Mowatt, as the I-Threes. "When Bob saw us the next day he smiled and said now we know who are the real revolutionaries."

Bob Marley Inspiration

A generation later a group of political refugees from Sierra Leone living in Guinean concentration camps and traumatized by years of bloody warfare in their country, found through the music of Bob Marley, inspiration to form their own band and write and record their own songs. The Refugee All Stars won international acclaim for their 2006 debut "Living Like A Refugee" and their 2010 album "Rise and Shine", each utilizing a blend of reggae, Sierra Leone's Islamic rooted bubu music and West African goombay.

Further evidence of Bob Marley's ongoing influence arrived on October 13, 2010 when Victor Zamora, one of 33 Chilean miners rescued after being trapped in a San Jose mine for 69 days, asked to hear Marley's "Buffalo Soldier" shortly after his release. Recorded in 1980 and posthumously released in 1983, "Buffalo Soldier" recounts the atrocities of the slave trade. Like so many of Bob Marley's songs, it highlights the importance of relating past occurrences to present-day identities: "if you know your history then you will know where you are coming from, then you wouldn't have to ask me, who the hell do I think I am?"

As 2011 draws to a close, Occupy Wall St. styled protests spread around the world, challenging social and economic inequality, as well as corporate greed and its influence upon government policy. The uncompromising sentiments expressed on Bob's "Get Up Stand Up", lyrics that are repeatedly chanted at these demonstrations, seem to have directly inspired the protesters' dissenting stance: "Some people think a great God will come down from the sky, take away everything and make everybody feel high/but if you know what life is worth, you will look for yours on earth and now we see the light, we're gonna stand up for our rights!"

 

 

 

Bob and Rastafarian Beliefs

The pan-African consciousness, progressive political ideologies and deep spiritual convictions heard in Bob Marley's music were derived from his firmly rooted commitment to Rastafarian beliefs and its attendant lifestyle. "The combination of his own inquisitiveness and the profound depth and influence of the Rastafari movement transformed Bob Marley into an artist who reshaped reggae music and the course of world history," says Carlyle McKetty, President of the Brooklyn, NY based Coalition to Preserve Reggae Music. "The intricate relationship between reggae and Rasta is seminal to understanding and preserving the reggae form and Bob Marley's keen understanding and internalization of the tenets of the Rastafari movement have yet to be adequately explored."

Rastafari Roots

Many principles of the Rastafari movement were constructed from the teachings of Jamaica's Marcus Mosiah Garvey. Born in St. Ann Jamaica on August 17, 1887, Garvey was the founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) and a proponent of repatriation to Africa for Africans throughout the Diaspora. Garvey urged his people to know their history lest they be doomed to repeat it. He preached the importance of Africans worshipping God in their own image. "We Negroes believe in the God of Ethiopia, the everlasting God, the one God of all ages; we shall worship him through the spectacles of Ethiopia," Garvey said. Garvey's associate Reverend James Morris Web, a clergyman from Chicago and the author of "A Black Man Will Be the Coming Universal King, Proven By Biblical History" stated at a UNIA convention "look to Africa where aBlack king shall be crowned he shall be the redeemer", a prediction that is often attributed to Garvey.

Another primary source from which Rastafari tenets were drawn was The Holy Piby, The Black Man's Bible, a controversial book compiled by Robert Athlyi Rogers published in 1924. Barbadian minister Charles F. Goodridge and Grace Jenkins Garrison brought the Holy Piby to Jamaica in 1925. The Piby's Afro-centric teachings, intended to counteract the distortions allegedly made by white leaders when the bible was translated into English, engendered staunch opposition from traditional Christian church leaders in Jamaica. Goodridge and Garrison faced ongoing persecution for preaching the Piby's doctrines so they eventually fled to the rural interior of the eastern Jamaican parish of St. Thomas. There the seeds of the Rastafarian movement were planted and quickly proliferated through the leadership of Leonard P. Howell.

When Ras Tafari Makonnen the great grandson of Saheka Selassie of Shoa was crowned His Imperial Majesty Halie Selassie Emperor of Ethiopia on Nov 2, 1930 in Addis Ababa, Howell told his followers "the king of all kings has now been crowned in Ethiopia and all tribute is due to him." Howell's followers, Garveyites and others saw Selassie I's coronation as the fulfillment of a prophecy of deliverance.

Born in 1892, Haile Selassie I is the 225th in an unbroken line of Ethiopian monarchs descended from the Biblical King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Rastafarians claim that His Majesty, the Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974, was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ, and a manifestation of Jah upon Earth. Rastafarians maintain that Halie Selassie I's (supposed) death on August 28, 1975 was a hoax because God cannot die.

Bob Marley wrote the solemn "Jah Live" as a direct response to newspaper headlines announcing the death of His Imperial Majesty: "Fool say in their heart Rasta your God is dead/But I and I know, Jah Jah Dread it shall be Dreader Dread/Jah Live children yeah."

Early Rastafari References on Record

Before the rise of Bob Marley, Rastafari doctrines and practices were sporadically referenced in Jamaican popular music throughout the early 60s. The Jamaican jazz percussionist Oswald Williams, aka Count Ossie, inspired by African burru drumming established several Rastafarian camps in the 1940s where he invited musicians to be a part of his musical experiments. Ossie led a troupe of Rastafarian Nyabinghi drummers on the 1960 hit "Oh Carolina" by the Folkes Brothers, marking the first incorporation of Rastafarian practices into Jamaican popular music.

Don Drummond the acclaimed lead trombonist with Jamaican super group The Skatalites is credited with introducing Rastafari to ska, the dominant music genre of the early 60s and the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. The titles of some of the Skatalites' greatest instrumentals recorded between 1964-1965 including "Addis Ababa"and "Tribute to Marcus Garvey" reflected Drummond's Rastafarian faith.

In 1966 The Wailers released the single "Rasta Shook Them Up" their earliest recorded reference to Rastafari, written about His Majesty's visit to Jamaica in 1966. But it was Bob Marley's Island Records releases throughout the 1970s, commencing with "Burnin" and "Catch A Fire" (both recorded with Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer and released in 1973) and subsequent albums with the Wailers band that brought Rastafari to an international audience. Burnin' featured the traditional "Rasta Man Chant", its worshipful lyrics adapted from the Holy Piby.

Rastaman International Vibrations

The title track to "Natty Dread" (1974) the first Bob Marley album to chart in the US, provided an affirmation of Bob's unyielding faith: "Don't care what the world say (Natty Dread) I'n'I couldn't never go astray (Natty Dread)". "Rastaman Vibration" Marley's highest US charting album (at no. 8) rightfully proclaimed Rasta as offering "a new time, a new day" on its title track. Released in 1976, "Rastaman Vibration" also included "War" a stirring equality anthem, its lyrics taken from an address by Haile Selassie I to the United Nations' General Assembly in 1963. "War's" globally pertinent lines ("until the color of a man's skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes...until the ignoble and unhappy regime that holds our brothers in Angola, in Mozambique, in South Africa, in subhuman bondage, have been toppled and utterly destroyed everywhere is war") and the reverence with which Marley regarded His Majesty's words transformed his performances of the song into spellbinding displays. The title track of 1977's "Exodus" was a clarion call to heed the guidance of Rastafari: "Many people will fight ya down when ya see Jah light/let me tell you if you're not wrong then everything is alright".

Bob Marley's most overtly political album "Survival" released in 1979 offers several direct references the Rastafarian way of life. "One Drop" advocates for "the teachings of His Majesty, a we no want no devil philosophy"; "Africa Unite" champions oneness among the Diaspora, declaring: "How good and how pleasant it would be before God and man to see the unification of all RastamanÉWe are the children of the Rastaman". Although it is common nowadays to see people from various walks of life wearing their hair in dreadlocks and donning the red, green and gold colors of the Ethiopian flag, these representations of an uncompromising African identity developed by Rastafarians were once contemptuously viewed as deviations from accepted cultural norms. "Survival's" "Ride Natty Ride" details the opposition Rastafarians have endured: "all and all you see a-gwaan/is to fight against the Rasta man so they build their world in great confusion to force on us the devil's illusion".

Bob Marley reaffirms his adherence to Rastafari on "Forever Loving Jah" from "Uprising" the final album released during his lifetime. "Uprising" features the acoustic "Redemption Song" which implores the listener: "emancipate yourselves from mental slavery none but ourselves can free our mind", reiterating the self-empowering convictions that Rastafarian tenets have sought to establish."

"Blackman Redemption" from the posthumously released "Confrontation" album summarizes Halie Selassie's royal lineage, "coming from the root of King David through to the line of Solomon, His Imperial Majesty is the Power of Authority". On "Rasta Man Live Up" Bob encourages his Rasta brethren and sistren to "keep your culture, don't be afraid of the vulture/grow your dreadlocks/don't be afraid of the wolf pack".

When Rastafarian identity first emerged in Jamaica it allowed displaced Africans to connect to their ancestral homeland despite the persecution they faced for such practices. Today, thirty years after Bob Marley's passing his enlightened lyrics, accompanied by the Wailers' powerful drum and bass driven reverberations continue to provide a voice for the suffering masses, the injustices of political corruption and the indignities of racial oppression, in the all-encompassing spirit of "one love".