MusicBox - Bob Marley - Jamaica's Music Hero
Mar, 7 2025
Often described as the originator of true reggae music. When the clouds were grey, the sun was always shining for Robert Nesta Marley, better known as his music identity – Bob Marley.
His reggae roots take him back to the place of his birth – Jamaica. 06/02.45. His birth name was Nesta Robert Marley, with a story that when Marley was still a boy, a Jamaican passport official reversed his first and middle names because Nesta sounded like a girl's name.
Happy in his male gender, music began to play an important part in his life. It was his grandfather – Omariah known as Myal who heavily influenced him. Marley collaborated with Neville Livingston during his primary school years.
These two friends shared a love of ska music and the latest R&B from American based radio stations whose broadcasts reached Jamaican soil. They formed a band which would later be the anchor in Bob’s adult career as a musician – The Wailers.
Moderate success was found in the early 1960’s with radio airplay broadcasting songs they had crafted. It was during the late 60’s when Marley seriously formed his image due to a conversion to Rastafari and the growth of dreadlocks.
By 1974 The Wailers disbanded with each of the three main members pursuing a solo career. Marley still kept the name ‘Bob Marley & The Wailers’ despite the break up. Marley departed Jamaica at the end of 1976 and made England his home.
During this time he recorded the albums Exodus and Kaya. Exodus stayed on the British album charts for 56 consecutive weeks. It included the four UK hit singles – ‘Exodus’ – ‘Waiting in Vain’ – ‘Jamming’ and ‘One Love’ (which interpolates Curtis Mayfield’s hit ‘People Get Ready’)
You can experience the latter hit here –
The years that followed saw Bob –
- Release a politically charged album
- Oppose the South African Apartheid
- Release his final and most religious album
- Lose his battle with cancer and subsequent death on 11th May 1981.
Jamaican Prime Minister Edward Seaga delivered the final funeral eulogy to Marley saying –
“His voice was an omnipresent cry in our electronic world. His sharp features, majestic looks, and prancing style a vivid etching on the landscape of our minds. Bob Marley was never seen. He was an experience which left an indelible imprint with each encounter. Such a man cannot be erased from the mind. He is part of the collective consciousness of the nation.”
If Bob was still with us this past February would have been his 80th birthday. Yet his presence still felt amongst reggae fans all over the world and his legacy remains intact as one the most talented musicians to come out of Jamaica.
His website is a fitting tribute and keeps his memory alive –
A year short of what would have been his 80th year came the American biographical drama musical film directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green and starring Kingsley Ben – Adir as Marley in – ‘Bob Marley – One Love’ – it told the story of Jamaica’s music hero and how he stood up for his people when the going got tough even risking his own life but with the power of music he fought through it and that’s a lesson for all us. Marley taught us resilience is the strength that will get you through, that, and an instinctive ear for music and how it can resonate with us all.
^Alex Ashworth CCG UK Blogger
