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| Bob Marley |
Today, The Grandma has gone to the library to borrow Les Elegies de Bierville, a wonderful compilation of poems written by the Catalan writter Carles Riba during his exile in Montpellier, Occitania.
The Grandma has wanted to remember Riba, who was born on a day like today in 1893, rereading this work that is a masterpiece and a must.
After borrowing the book, The Grandma has gone to the music section to search some works of Bob Marley, the Jamaican singer and songwriter who offered his last concert in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on a day like today in 1980. Marley was an icon in music but also a great defender of African countries and culture.
Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945-11 May 1981) was a Jamaican singer and songwriter. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by blending elements of reggae, ska, and rocksteady, as well as forging a smooth and distinctive vocal and songwriting style. Marley's contributions to music increased the visibility of Jamaican music worldwide, and made him a global figure in popular culture for over a decade.
Born in Nine Mile, British Jamaica, Marley began his professional musical career in 1963, after forming Bob Marley and the Wailers. The group released its debut studio album The Wailing Wailers in 1965, which contained the single One Love/People Get Ready; the song was immensely popular, peaking in the top five on worldwide music charts, and established the group as a rising figure in reggae.
More information: Bob Marley
The Wailers subsequently released eleven further studio albums; while initially employing louder instrumentation and singing, the group began engaging in rhythmic-based song construction in the late 1960s and early 1970s, which coincided with the singer's conversion to Rastafarianism. During this period Marley relocated to London, and the group typified their musical shift with the release of the album The Best of The Wailers (1971).
The group attained international success after the release of the albums Catch a Fire and Burnin' (both 1973), and forged a reputation as touring artists. A year later the Wailers disbanded, and Marley went on to release his solo material under the band's name.
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| Bob Marley |
His debut studio album Natty Dread (1974) received positive reception, as did its follow-up Rastaman Vibration (1976). A few months after the album's release Marley survived an assassination attempt at his home in Jamaica, which prompted him to permanently relocate to London soon afterward. There he recorded the album Exodus (1977); it incorporated elements of blues, soul, and British rock, enjoyed widespread commercial success, and is widely considered one of the best albums of all time.
Over the course of his career Marley became known as a Rastafari icon, and the singer sought to infuse his music with a sense of spirituality. He is also considered a global symbol of Jamaican culture and identity, and was controversial in his outspoken support for the legalization of marijuana, while he also advocated for Pan-Africanism.
In 1977, Marley was diagnosed with acral lentiginous melanoma; he died as a result of the illness in 1981. His fans around the world expressed their grief, and he received a state funeral in Jamaica. The greatest hits album Legend was released in 1984, and subsequently became the best-selling reggae album of all-time. Marley also ranks as one of the best-selling music artists of all-time, with estimated sales of more than 75 million records worldwide, while his sound and style have influenced artists of various genres. He was posthumously honored by Jamaica soon after his death, as he was designated the nation's Order of Merit award.
More information: Bob Marley Foundation
Bob Marley was born on 6 February 1945 at the farm of his maternal grandfather in Nine Mile, Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica, to Norval Sinclair Marley and Cedella Booker. Norval Marley was a white Jamaican originally from Sussex, who claimed to have been a captain in the Royal Marines; at the time of his marriage to Cedella Booker, an Afro-Jamaican then 18 years old, he was employed as a plantation overseer.
Bob Marley's full name is Robert Nesta Marley, though some sources give his birth name as 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. Norval provided financial support for his wife and child but seldom saw them as he was often away. Bob Marley attended Stepney Primary and Junior High School which serves the catchment area of Saint Ann. In 1955, when Bob Marley was 10 years old, his father died of a heart attack at the age of 70. Marley's mother went on to marry Edward Booker, a civil servant from the United States, giving Marley two half-brothers: Richard and Anthony.
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| Bob Marley |
In February 1962, Marley recorded four songs, Judge Not, One Cup of Coffee, Do You Still Love Me? and Terror, at Federal Studios for local music producer Leslie Kong. Three of the songs were released on Beverley's with One Cup of Coffee being released under the pseudonym Bobby Martell.
In 1963, Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh, Junior Braithwaite, Beverley Kelso, and Cherry Smith were called the Teenagers. They later changed the name to the Wailing Rudeboys, then to the Wailing Wailers, at which point they were discovered by record producer Coxsone Dodd, and finally to the Wailers.
In 1966, Marley married Rita Anderson, and moved near his mother's residence in Wilmington, Delaware in the United States for a short time, during which he worked as a DuPont lab assistant and on the assembly line at a Chrysler plant in nearby Newark, under the alias Donald Marley.
Though raised as a Catholic, Marley became interested in Rastafari beliefs in the 1960s, when away from his mother's influence. After returning to Jamaica, Marley formally converted to Rastafari and began to grow dreadlocks.
More information: Bob Marley Museum
In 1972, Bob Marley signed with CBS Records in London and embarked on a UK tour with soul singer Johnny Nash.
The Wailers disbanded in 1974, with each of the three main members pursuing a solo career.
In 1975, Marley had his international breakthrough with his first hit outside Jamaica, No Woman, No Cry, from the Natty Dread album. This was followed by his breakthrough album in the United States, Rastaman Vibration (1976), which reached the Top 50 of the Billboard Soul Charts.
Marley left Jamaica at the end of 1976, and after a month-long recovery and writing sojourn at the site of Chris Blackwell's Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas, arrived in England, where he spent two years in self-imposed exile.
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| Bob Marley |
Whilst in England, he recorded the albums Exodus and Kaya. Exodus stayed on the British album charts for 56 consecutive weeks. It included four UK hit singles: Exodus, Waiting in Vain, Jamming, and One Love (a rendition of Curtis Mayfield's hit, People Get Ready). During his time in London, he was arrested and received a conviction for possession of a small quantity of cannabis.
Survival, a defiant and politically charged album, was released in 1979. Tracks such as Zimbabwe, Africa Unite, Wake Up and Live, and Survival reflected Marley's support for the struggles of Africans.
In July 1977, Marley was found to have a type of malignant melanoma under the nail of a toe.
The album Uprising was released in May 1980. The band completed a major tour of Europe, where it played its biggest concert to 100,000 people in Milan. After the tour, Marley went to the United States, where he performed two shows at Madison Square Garden in New York City as part of the Uprising Tour.
Marley's last concert occurred at the Stanley Theater, now called The Benedum Center For The Performing Arts, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on 23 September 1980. Just two days earlier he had collapsed during a jogging tour in Central Park and was brought to the hospital where he learned that his cancer had spread to his brain.
More information: The New Yorker
While Marley was flying home from Germany to Jamaica, his vital functions worsened. After landing in Miami, Florida, he was taken to the hospital for immediate medical attention.
Marley died on 11 May 1981 at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Miami, now University of Miami Hospital, aged 36. The spread of melanoma to his lungs and brain caused his death. His final words to his son Ziggy were Money can't buy life.
Marley was a Pan-Africanist and believed in the unity of African people worldwide.
His beliefs were rooted in his Rastafari religious beliefs. He was substantially inspired by Marcus Garvey, and had anti-imperialist and pan-Africanist themes in many of his songs, such as Zimbabwe, Exodus, Survival, Blackman Redemption, and Redemption Song.
Redemption Song draws influence from a speech given by Marcus Garvey in Nova Scotia, 1937.
Marley held that independence of African countries from European domination was a victory for all those in the African diaspora. In the song Africa Unite, he sings of a desire for all peoples of the African diaspora to come together and fight against Babylon; similarly, in the song Zimbabwe, he marks the liberation of the whole continent of Africa, and evokes calls for unity between all Africans, both within and outside Africa.
Marley considered cannabis a healing herb, a sacrament, and an aid to medication; he supported the legalisation of the drug.
More information: African News
The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires,
but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.
Bob Marley
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