ROBERT NESTA MARLEY (1945 - 1981)
Robert Nesta Marley was born in St. Ann in 1945. At age fourteen he left his rural community in St. Ann for Trench Town, Kingston. Marley along with his friend Neville “Bunny Wailer Livingston” began frequenting the yard of musical teacher Joe Higgs where they received training.
Bob Marley’s first recording attempts came at the beginning of the Sixties. His first two tunes cut as a solo artiste meant nothing in commercial terms and it wasn’t until 1964, as a founding member of a group called the Wailin Wailers, that Marley first hit the Jamaican charts. The record was Simmer Down.
Marley and the Wailers worked with the legendary producer, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, resulting in some of the finest music the band ever made. Tracks like Soul Rebel, Duppy Conqueror, 400 Years and Small Axe were not only classics but they defined the future direction of reggae.
In 1972 the band signed with Christopher Blackwell and their first album Catch a Fire, was released, followed later by Burning. Legendary English guitarist, Eric Clapton, released a version of I Shot the Sheriff from the Burning album. It was very popular and with the attention it garnered as well as the success of the two albums, the Wailers popularity increased in the Caribbean, the US and Western Europe. The Wailers disbanded and a backing trio called the I-Threes was enlisted to perform with the now solo Marley. In 1975 the album Natty Dread was released, followed by Rastaman Vibration in 1976. These albums accompanied with tours cemented his success.
As Marley’s popularity increased, so did his enemies and in 1976 an assassination attempt resulted in him being shot. As a result, Marley went into self-imposed exile but returned in 1977 with the release of Exodus which featured hit singles such as One Love, Waiting in Vain and Jamming. Survival was released in 1979 which was followed by a performance at Zimbabwe’s liberation celebration in 1980 and an international tour. During the US leg of the tour, Marley was jogging with friend, Alan “Skill” Cole, in Central Park when he collapsed. He was diagnosed with cancer. Marley fought the disease for eight months.
He died in a Miami Hospital on May 11, 1981 at age thirty-six. A month before he was awarded Jamaica’s Order of Merit, the nation’s third highest honor, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the country’s culture.
On Thursday, May 23, 1981; the people of Jamaica gave the Honorable Robert Nesta Marley an official funeral. Following the funeral Marley’s body was taken to his birthplace where it now rests in a mausoleum.
