By Elliott West
“You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have”.
Bob Marley
Introduction
Described as the voice of the oppressed, reggae expresses the sounds and pressures of ghetto life. A vibrant type of music that bears its soul to the listener with every word and beat of the music heartfelt, and driven by inspiration. Born out of Ska music, its roots lie deep in Jamaica. A music that was waiting for someone to be the prophet and voice of the music and take it on a global journey. Songs that encapsulated the political turmoil that Jamaica’s independence from Britain caused in 1962 and nurtured in Dodd’s Studio One.
During this period of development, reggae formed a connection with the Rastafarian movement. A movement that encourages the relocation of the African diaspora to Africa, deifies the Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie and endorses the sacramental use of marijuana. Rastafarianism advocates equal rights and justice and draws on the mystical consciousness of Kumina, an earlier Jamaican tradition that ritualised communication with ancestors. A musical crusade that would fall on the shoulders of Robert Nesta Marley.
Nine Mile
Bob Marley as he came to be known came from the humblest of backgrounds. Born on February 6, 1945, to Norval and Cedella Marley, Bob was a native of Nine Mile, a village in Jamaica that had no running water or electricity. Little is known about his father, Norval, an older white man who came to the village to oversee the subdivision of its land for veterans’ housing. A seriously unstable man who rarely saw his family and died from a heart attack in 1955, at the age of seventy. A father whom Marley craved to know but ended up being the monkey on his back throughout his life.
Bob was a shy child who sheltered in the warmth of his mother’s embrace. A child with brimming talent but who constantly doubted his purpose in life. A resourceful and clever being who was constantly teased for his mixed blood, being called “the little yellow boy” or “the German boy”. In 1957, Bob moved with his mother to the ramshackle neighbourhood of Trench Town in Kingston. Unknown to Marley at the time, this would be the place that put him on the music path. He fell in with a crowd of boys who dreamed of making music. This musical possy consisted of Neville (Bunny Wailer) Livingston, Peter Tosh, Beverley Kelso, and Junior Braithwaite. A group that would become known as the Wailers. A period when he would also fall in love with his soulmate Rita, a Cuban-born beauty. A woman whom he would marry and go on to have five children with.
Discovery
Like any brilliant musician, there is always a time to find yourself. Bob formed the Wailers and initially based their brand of music on fused American-style soul harmonies with the island’s jumpy ska rhythms. Catching the eye of Joe Higgs, a local singer and producer, the band recorded several tracks in his studio and became a local sensation by the mid-sixties. Yet the financial reward was minimal. Bob decided to go with his mother to live in Wilmington, Delaware for a brief period.
The Renaissance
Returning to Jamaica in 1969, Marley couldn’t have timed a better moment. Ska music was being cast into the shadows by a new revolution in music, the new craze of Reggae. With the assistance of an eccentric producer, Lee (Scratch) Perry, the group would go on to record two brilliant albums, “Soul Rebels” (1970) and “Soul Revolution” (1971). Yet this distinctive brand of music still didn’t have a far-reaching voice. This was a period of soul-searching. Bob invited the drummer Bernard (Pretty) Purdie to join the group. A man who had already performed on tracks with Aretha Franklin.
Working with the producer Johnny Nash, a man who had experimented with pop reggae in the late sixties and early seventies on songs like Hold Me Tight” and “I Can See Now.” Under his wing, the band began an English tour in late 1970 but left them stranded there. Penniless and picked on by the police, the group decided to seek out another manager. They found it in Chris Blackwell, the owner of Island Records. A man who was raised in Jamaica and who had formed his record label as a means of exporting the music he had grown up with. He gave them money to return to Jamaica to record a new album. This would be “Catch A Fire” (1973). A turning point in the group’s music with an aim to appeal to rock fans fans by adding guitar solos and synthesizer to the album’s final mix.
Tragedy
In 1976 whilst at home, several armed men stormed into Bob’s house at 56 Hope Road. Firstly shooting his wife Rita outside in a car before shooting Bob in the chest and arm, his manager, Don Taylor in the legs and torso and band employee Louis Griffiths in the torso. An incident that although there were no fatalities, physically shook Marley. This all happened two days before the Smile Peace Concert, a concert aimed at quelling recent violence and easing political tension. Bob fled Jamaica and sought solace in London. This was not before he played for 90 minutes, despite only initially promising one song. The crowd at National Heroes Park, Kingston exploded with applause.
London
London was a place where Bob could live and breathe. He played football in the park and spent hours in his flat trying to find a new direction. It was here that he poured his worth into the album Exodus in 1977. An album that received critical acclaim, incorporating blues, soul and British rock into its mix and selling millions of albums with its simplistic record sleeve. An album that would lead to a tour of Europe and one with the promise of a tour of the USA and Africa. Yet a fall whilst playing football would lead to a problematic toe that wouldn’t stop bleeding and heal.
After much persuasion, Bob saw a London doctor who diagnosed him with skin cancer. Melanoma that could only slowed down by cutting off his infected toe. Marley refused and said this was his fate, choosing only to have his toenail removed and a skin graft taken from his thigh to cover the area. Despite this diagnosis, Bob vowed to play on and toured Europe and America with his new album Uprising in 1980. His last performance was at the Benedum Centre For The Performing Arts in Pittsburgh on 23 September 1980.
Seeing the Light
Whilst jogging in Central Park, Bob Marley collapsed. Taken to the hospital, where it was found that the cancer had spread to his brain, lungs and liver. It was a diagnosis that he never recovered from. This was despite seeking Issels treatment in Bavaria, Germany. An alternative form of treatment that cuts out certain forms of food and drink from your diet. A programme that lasted eight months but ended with no resolution. Bob decided to return to Jamaica to end his days but in the end, only got as far as Miami when his condition worsened. He died in the University of Miami Hospital on 11 May 1981. His last words to his son Ziggy were “On your way up, take me up. On your way down, don’t let me down” and to his son Stephen “Money can’t buy life”. His body was returned to Jamaica where he was given a state funeral, and buried in a chapel in Nine Mile. His casket contains his red Gibson Les Paul guitar, a Bible opened at Psalm 23 and a stalk of ganja placed there by his wife Rita. A music icon that never left a will, dying at the tender age of thirty-six.
