Bob Marley

Bob Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981) was a Jamaican reggae singer, songwriter, and guitarist, widely considered one of the genre’s pioneers. Born in Nine Mile, Saint Ann Parish, he moved to the Trenchtown area of Kingston at age 12. There he formed a vocal group with Bunny Wailer and Peter Tosh that became the Wailers. Their 1964 single “Simmer Down” was a Jamaican No. 1 and launched their career at Studio One.

During the 1960s he embraced Rastafari, which shaped both his spirituality and his music. After working with producers like Leslie Kong and Lee “Scratch” Perry, the Wailers signed to Island Records and released Catch a Fire and Burnin’ (both 1973), which brought reggae to rock audiences. Eric Clapton’s cover of “I Shot the Sheriff” became a US No. 1 hit, and Marley’s live “No Woman, No Cry” gave him his own international breakthrough in 1975.

He survived an assassination attempt in December 1976, performed at the Smile Jamaica concert two days later, and then spent two years in England, where he recorded Exodus and Kaya. In 1978 he returned to Jamaica for the One Love Peace Concert, where he brought political rivals Michael Manley and Edward Seaga together on stage. His later work, including Survival (1979) and Uprising (1980), reflected his pan-Africanist and anti-apartheid views. He was diagnosed with acral lentiginous melanoma in 1977 and died in Miami at age 36. He was given a state funeral in Jamaica. The compilation Legend (1984) became the best-selling reggae album of all time, and he has sold an estimated 75 million records worldwide.