Bob Marley
- First Name
- Robert Nesta
- Last Name
- Marley
- Date of Birth
- February 6, 1985
- Place of Birth
- Nine Miles, St. Ann, Jamaica
- Discography
- The Wailing Wailers (1965), Soul Rebels (1970), Soul Revolution Part II (1971), The Best of the Wailers (1971), Catch a Fire (1973), Burnin’ (1973), Natty Dread (1974), Rastaman Vibration (1976), Exodus (1977), Kaya (1978), Survival (1979), Uprising (1980), Confrontation (1983)
- Notable Awards
- Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
Bob Marley is widely seen as the most dominant and influential figure in reggae music. A shamanesque, dreadlocked singer and performer, he wrote many of the songs that have become synonymous with the music, and he was the first major international star to emerge from reggae, taking it from the streets of Jamaica to global stages.
Born in Jamaica, Marley grew up partly in Trench Town, the desperately poor part of West Kingston. After discovering ska music, he recorded his first single in 1961, which eventually led to the formation of the original Wailers, a vocal trio featuring Marley, Peter Tosh, and Bunny Wailer. The group released a series of singles in Jamaica. But it wasn’t until the early Seventies, with the addition of bassist Aston Barrett and his brother, drummer Carlton, that the Wailers solidified. With the help of Island Records, the group’s first two albums, Catch a Fire and Burnin’, introduced them to the rock world.
After Wailer and Tosh left the band, Marley became the group’s true focal point, and his onstage magneticism and intensity soon made him reggae’s biggest name. In addition to “I Shot the Sheriff,” which became a hit for Eric Clapton in 1974 and helped spread the word on Marley, Marley also wrote many of the songs — “No Woman No Cry,” “Stir It Up,” “Is This Love,” “Buffalo Soldier,” “Waiting in Vain,” “Could You Be Loved,” and the uncharacteristically acoustic “Redemption Song” — that became part of the classic reggae songbook. In the midst of political turmoil in his native country, he was the target of an attempted assassination in 1976, after which he left Jamaica and moved to England for several years.
In 1980, Marley and the Wailers played before 120,000 in Milan, Italy — their biggest crowd ever and a sign of how internationally beloved reggae had become. It would prove to be his final tour. Marley had early been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and collapsed in New York soon after that Italy performance. After receiving treatments in the U.S. and Europe, Marley died on May 11, 1981, at 36. Legend, a posthumous compilation, remains the beat-selling reggae album of all time. —David Browne