A childhood disrupted by the death of his father
Robert Nesta Marley was born on February 6, 1945 in Nine Miles, a small village in the hills above Saint Ann. His mother, Cedella Malcolm, was 19 years old and his father, Captain Norval Marley, a Jamaican officer in the East India Regiment, was nearly 50. They got married in June 1944 to the great dismay of the white, middle-class Marley family. Norval died 10 years later and Cedella left for Kingston in the hope of finding a job there. The little family settles in Trench Town, a ghetto where poverty and violence reign. The Rude Boys, urban teenagers left to their own devices, became Bob Marley's second family. It was there that he met Bunny Livingston, later known as Bunny Wailer, with whom he escaped from everyday life through music
Ska, rock steady and roots reggae
Bob soon became convinced that music was his true path. He recorded his first song in 1962 and formed the Wailing Rude Boys in 1963 - later the Wailing Wailers - with Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh, Junior Braithwaite and two backing singers. They moved from ska rhythms to rock steady and then to reggae. The success was immediate on the island. But due to financial difficulties, the group disbanded. Bob married Rita Anderson in 1966 and she gave him five children. The day after his marriage, he left to join his mother who had remarried and was now living in the United States. His exile was short-lived, and eight months later he was back in Jamaica. His musical group was reborn as a trio, The Wailers, now made up of Bob, Peter and Bunny, who, under Lee Perry's leadership, were to enjoy extraordinary success throughout the Caribbean
Bob the politically committed Rastafarian
Bob embraces the Rasta movement which is gaining more and more followers on the island. He became more radically involved, siding with the poor and the excluded. His music echoes his new beliefs and his spiritual and social struggle; love, militancy and religion will be the three themes of his songs from now on. But the group is still not profitable. In addition, Bunny Wailer is put away for a year for marijuana use. Once again, Bob Marley will temporarily abandon music to retire in his native countryside and live in contact with nature by cultivating the land. This exile is short-lived.
Tuff Gong, Chris Blackwell and the rest of the world
In 1970, the Wailers created their own studio Tuff Gong, an old nickname of Bob, where they recorded Trench Town Rock. Until then unknown on the international scene, they flooded the airwaves after their meeting with British producer Chris Blackwell in 1971. In 1972, the Wailers joined forces with the Upsetters to record Catch a Fire and Burnin'. The concerts follow one another, consolidating the extraordinary aura of the group and consecrating the reggae. The group dissolved again in 1975, Bob's charisma overshadowing the other members who wanted their share of the glory. Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer launched solo careers. On his side, Bob Marley pursues his career by keeping the name of the Wailers. He adds a trio of chorus, the I Threes, composed of his wife, Rita, Marcia Griffiths and Judy Mowatt. The albums follow one another, Natty Dread, Rastaman Vibration, Exodus, Survival ..
A historic handshake
His influence grows in Jamaica where the firmness of his Rastafarian positions meets the best reception with the youth of the ghettos, less with the authorities. In the turmoil of the pre-election period of 1976, in a context of acute economic and social crisis, Bob Marley almost died in an assassination attempt two days before the Smile Concert, which Marley hoped would help ease the political climate. It is wounded that he will go on stage on December 5, 1976 for a free concert given at the National Heroes Park in Kingston. He would later write a song, Ambush in the Night, recalling this episode. In 1978, the political rivalries of the two enemy parties exploded into a wave of violence. In April, Marley gave the One Love Peace Concert in Kingston. During the show, he symbolically reconciled Prime Minister Michael Manley and his opponent Edward Seaga, whose supporters were killing each other by making them sing "One Love, one Heart, let's get together and feel allright..." The concerts resume in Europe and Africa, where Bob receives an unparalleled welcome. He was in Salisbury on April 17, 1981, the day of the independence of Zimbabwe, the former Rhodesia, to celebrate the birth of the young African state with a concert
Bob swept away by a huge tragedy
The recordings follow one another until 1981, when the musician was diagnosed with cancer. One month before his death, he was decorated with the National Order of Merit for his contribution to the international development of reggae and the promotion of the island's culture. At the end of 18 months of a trying fight, he died in a Miami hospital on May 11, 1981 before being able to return to his native island. He was 36 years old and at the height of his fame. On May 21, 1981, it is all Jamaica which pays a last homage to him: his body dressed of jeans is exposed all one day in the national stadium of Kingston, with a Bible in the right hand, a guitar in the left hand, and a beret with the colors of the Ethiopian flag, green, red and yellow. A huge crowd of over 25,000 people, led by the head of government and officials, marched past his remains all day. The next day, a religious ceremony was held in accordance with the Ethiopian Orthodox faith and his body was taken back to the village of Nine Miles, in the hills of the parish of Saint Ann, where he was born. He is now buried in a modest white marble mausoleum in Nine Miles (which can be visited). His sons Marley, Damian Junior Gong and Ziggy Marley continue to carry the torch of music high. Bob Marley's legacy to the music world is considerable and can be seen in Kingston at the Bob Marley Museum, the Trench Town Culture Yard Museum and Tuff Gong Studios.
