Bob Marley

St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture by Jason King

One of the most important and charismatic champions of human freedoms in the 1970s, Bob Marley emerged from humble beginnings and an early life of austere poverty in his native Jamaica to bring reggae music to international popularity. A rebellious visionary who was unabashedly invested in Rastafari religion, Marley and his group the Wailers became known the world over for songs of universal love and Biblical prophecy, including "No Woman, No Cry," "Jammin'," and others. Although Marley died of cancer in 1981, the singer/songwriter left behind a legacy of socially conscious work that continues to remain popular with audiences worldwide.

The man who would come to be a superstar was born Nesta Robert Marley on February 6, 1945 in St. Ann, Jamaica. After Marley's father died in 1955, young Robert spent his childhood being shuffled between the homes of his grandfather, his aunt, and his mother, Cedella, in Kingston. By the late 1950s, Marley spent much of his time socializing with friends in a government yard (public housing) in Trench Town, a shantytown in Western Kingston. Marley's early abandonment and his rough, impoverished childhood would later become instrumental to his success in songwriting and musical composition. Heavily influenced by the imported sounds of American artists like The Moonglows, The Tams, The Impressions, Elvis, Sam Cooke, and Solomon Burke, Marley developed his adolescent tenor by harmonizing with his friends in the evenings after school.

By 1959, Marley had been taking singing lessons, practicing his musicianship on the guitar and performing in local talent shows. Along with Peter McIntosh (who later came to be known as Peter Tosh), Junior Braithwaite, and two local girls, Marley formed a group called the Teenagers. At 16 years of age, the singer recorded his first single "Judge Not," which demonstrated his budding, if raspy voice. The song also demonstrated his developing writing skills, and his affinity for an emerging sound called ska, which was a mix of calypso, rhythm and blues, and shuffle. In 1962, Marley's mother remarried and relocated to America. Left homeless at 18 years of age, Marley began to frequent squatters' camps and learn more about Rastafari religion, a form vested in contemplative spirituality, philosophy, and asceticism.

In 1964, Marley's musical group renamed itself the Wailing Wailers. "Simmer Down," a politically charged song about Jamaican youth, was released on the Downbeat label and went to number one on Jamaican radio stations. Throughout his career, Marley found himself able to latch on to the social turbulence of the era and channel it into politically charged music. In the 1960s, Marley became a key promoter of what was known as "Rude Boy" music, a form of Jamaican music that spread an anti-racist, anti-colonial, revolutionary message. Eventually, Marley would become the world's most recognized promoter of the Rastafarian religion and its lifestyles.

Over the course of the 1960s, Marley released a series of hit singles in Jamaica; yet his work had little effect outside of his home turf. On February 10, 1966, Marley married Rita Anderson, an 18-year-old member of the up and coming Jamaican singing group, The Soulettes. Throughout the rest of his career, Rita would perform as his back up singer. Marley eventually fathered as many as nine children in his lifetime, although many of his children had different mothers.

By the late 1960s, a new form of music was beginning to become popular in Jamaica. Reggae was directly influenced by Rasta culture, and featured a decidedly slower shuffle than ska. Working with musical producer and reggae mastermind Leslie Kong, Bob Marley and the Wailing Wailers developed a sound that was less polished than their previous recordings, more rough, cutting, and intense. In early summer of 1971, Marley released "Trench Town Rock," a socially energized song that topped the Jamaican charts for five months, recasting Marley as a national folk hero. Soon after, the singer/songwriter began to barter for control of his career, establishing his own recording studio--Tuff Gong Records--at 56 Hope Road in Jamaica. His musical output became more prolific and more openly political, aligned with the People's National Party of Jamaica.

By the early 1970s, Bob Marley was gaining a more significant degree of international recognition. Jamaican music and musicians had gained greater visibility as a result of the work of American artists like Paul Simon and Johnny Nash. After touring and recording with Johnny Nash in the early 1970s, Marley gained some popularity in England, where he met Chris Blackwell of Island Records. Blackwell financially backed Marley, allowing him to record an album in Jamaica called Catch a Fire. The album was released to great acclaim in the winter of 1973 and marked a milestone in the development of reggae music. Before the release of Catch a Fire, reggae had been more concerned with singles rather than the finished product of a full album. Using cutting rock guitars and synthesizers to create an innovative sound, Catch a Fire had great appeal to a lucrative rock audience. In its scathing lyrics that sought to indict slavery and colonialism, the album officially launched the era of reggae music.