Bob Marley was born in 1945 in Jamaica. Cedella is the name of his mother, who was a farm girl. Bob’s father was a white man called Norval Marley. Norval left Cedella a day after the wedding. Cedella brought up Bob in a two-room house without a floor in Nine Mile. When Bob was 10 years old they went out of Nine Mile and wanted to go to Kingston. But Cedella and Bob went to Trenchtown, because they didn’t have enough money. Trenchtown was a very small place with many bad gangs and many illnesses. When he was a teenager, Bob and his best friend learned to play guitar and learned to sing by Joe Higgs. Bob didn’t have money, so he listened all what came in the radio. They made songs with old instruments.
The first band with Bob was “The Wailers”. They recorded a first single called “Simmer Down” in 1963. It was a great hit and they made other songs. On the 10th of February in 1966 was the wedding of Bob and Rita. Rita was 19 and Bob 21 years old. “The Wailers” was the best band in Jamaica. But they got only 5 Dollars a week. So Bob went alone to America to make quick money. After 8 months he came back with 700 dollars and went to Rita and his friends. In 1972 they met an old friend, who had a lable. Their friend Chris, gave “The Wailers” 12 000 dollars to make new songs and to buy new instruments. So they wrote many good songs.
In 1973 they seperated and Bob went on alone. In 1974 Bob toured the world with three female background singers. After the world tour he produced the song “No women no cry”. And that was his first international song. After a gang tried to kill him at home in 1976, he went away from Jamaica. He continiued with his career and fought for the rights of the black people. In spring 1981 Bob Marley died from cancer.
I wrote about Bob Marley, because I think he was a very special person and he made beautiful music, and because Bob fought for the rights of the black people. And he was a strong personality.