Bob Marley
Bob
was born
February 6, 1945 in Nine Mile in the parish of St.Ann, Jamaica
to Norval & Cedella Marley.
In 1961, at the
age of sixteen, Bob released his first song, Judge Not, which did not do well.
He continued to pursue a career in music and in 1965,
he formed a group called The Wailers with Bunny Livingstone and Peter Tosh. Bob
acted as front man for the group and wrote most of the groups
material. The trio released Simmer Down, Rule Them Rudie and It Hurts To Be Alone, all of which were hits in Jamaica.
1966 Bob Marley
had married Rita Anderson and the next year Bob and Ritas first child, Cedella,
was born. In 1967 Bob and Rita had their own recording label called 'Wail
N Soul M'. Their next child, David was born in 1968. The Wailers continued
to release singles without producing an album.
In 1976 the
'Rolling Stone Magazine' named Bob Marley and the Wailers the Band of
the Year. Reggae fever had swept the United States. On December 3, 1976,
Bob his wife and two friends were attacted in Bob's house, fortunately nobody
died. Bob Marley and the Wailers went on to produce their next album, Exodus,
in 1977. The release of this album made Bob to a
international superstar. Later, in May of the same year, Bob found out that he
had cancer in his toe. Doctors recommended that he have the toe removed, but he
refused, this was against his Rastafarian beliefs. In 1978, the band released
another album, Kaya. Later that year he received a Peace Medal of the Third World form the United Nations. Bob also traveled to
Africa for the first time, making stops in Kenya,
Ethiopia and Zimbabwe.
The band went
touring throughout the US
and Europe and produced a few more albums,
including Uprising. However, in 1980, Marley fell gravely ill. The cancer in
his toe had spread upwards through his body and had infected his liver, stomach
and brain. In September, Bob fainted during a concert in New York City. The next day he collapsed
while jogging through a park and was rushed to the hospital. The tumor in his
brain had greatly enlarged and that Bob had less than a month to live.
Bob wanted to
continue the tour, and he performed a spectacular show in Pittsburgh on September 22. The concert was
canceled the next day. Five days later, in a last attempt to save his life, Bob
flew to a controversial treatment center in Germany with Rita. Three month
later on May 11, 1981, Bob Marley died at the young age of 36.
Bob funeral was
held in Jamaica
on May 21, and hundreds of thousands of people attended, including the Prime
Minister of Jamaica.
