Bob Marley was a Jamaican singer of great international projection, recognized as one of the great names of the reggae and that contributed directly to the popularization of this rhythm. Bob Marley started his musical career with two friends, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer, forming a band called The Wailers.
Despite some success in Jamaica, the band The Wailers ended, because each member decided to pursue a solo career, and that was the moment when Bob Marley reached the peak of his musical career, recording highly successful albums such as exodus. The Jamaican singer passed away early from cancer.
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Topics of this article
- 1 - Summary about Bob Marley
- 2 - Origins of Bob Marley
-
3 - Bob Marley's musical career
- Bob Marley's Solo Career
- 4 - Death of Bob Marley
Summary about Bob Marley
Bob Marley was a Jamaican singer who achieved great international success.
The singer is known as one of the great names of reggae, a musical style that emerged in Jamaica.
Bob Marley's musical career began in a band called The Wailers.
The Wailers consisted of Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailers, in addition to Bob Marley himself.
Bob Marley survived a bombing in 1976.
He died at the age of 36, the victim of a cancer.
Origins of Bob Marley
Robert Nesta Marley, internationally known as Bob Marley, was born in Nine Mile, city dthe interior of jamaica, on February 6, 1945. He was the son of Cedella Malcolm, an Afro-Jamaican woman who married at age 18 a white man of English descent named Norval Sinclair Marley.
Bob Marley's father did not have frequent contact with his son, because he was always traveling for work and died when his son was a ten-year-old child. As a child, Bob Marley was enrolled in a few schools in the Nine Mile region, but At the age of 12, Bob Marley and his mother moved to Kingston, capital of Jamaica. There, they lived in Trenchtown, a poor neighborhood known for its strong cultural scene.
In his childhood, Bob Marley already showed great interest in music and shared this taste with a friend named Neville Livingston (known artistically as Bunny Wailer). The friendship between them narrowed because Bob Marley's mother married Bunny Wailer's father, and both began to share the home in Kingston.
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Bob Marley's musical career
Along with his friend Bunny Wailer, Bob Marley shared a taste for ska, a Jamaican musical genre, and for R&B, which was in great evidence in the U.S. Together, formed a band, which also featured Peter Tosh. This band had different names, but consolidated named after The Wailers, which was adopted only from 1964 onwards.
A very important person in Bob Marley's musical formation was Joe Higgs, who gave great help in the vocal development of the Jamaican musician. The band Bob Marley was in began to gain prominence from 1962, when a music producer from Jamaica decided to record some of the band's singles.
The first single released by the band was Judge nOt, in 1962. In 1964, The Wailers managed to get a song — Simmer down — at the top of Jamaica's most-listened to charts. With success, the band has sold thousands of albums in that country. The Wailers started to play with important Jamaican musicians, but some members of the band who had joined after 1962 decided to abandon it in 1966, leaving it with only the original trio formed by Bob, Bunny and Peter.
Between 1966 and 1968, Bob Marley's life went through some changes. Hemoved to the United States, where he went on to work at companies in the Wilmington area. Before the change, Bob Marley Married Rita Anderson, a singer of Cuban origin who had grown up in Jamaica. Finally, Bob Marley approached Rastafarianism, one religion of Jamaican origin.
The band that Bob Marley was part of, The Wailers, went on to enjoy great success, causing them to break through Jamaican borders. So, starting in 1972, The Wailers passplow to be a known band not only in Jamaica, but in other parts of the planet, such as UK and the United States. Still, the international reach was quite limited.
The success of The Wailers was part of the effort by Bob Marley, Rita Anderson, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer for the band to conquer international space. In 1972, The Wailers began recording an album with support from Island Records. The album called Catch a fgo, was released in April 1973, being a critical success.
The next album, Burnin', had a song covered by Eric Clapton. This album also gave The Wailers some exposure in Jamaica, allowing Island Records to expand its investments in the band. After the second album by The Wailers, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer decided to leave the band to pursue a solo career.. Together they recorded an album called Natty dread, released in 1974.
Bob Marley's Solo Career
With the departure of his friends, Bob Marley pursued a solo career, but renamed the band Bob Marley & The wailers. Bob Marley's international success reached its highest point from that moment on in his career and made him one of the great names of reggae in the entire planet. The band was entirely reformulated by Bob Marley and Rita Anderson, and the first hit of this phase was At the wOman, nO wry.
Bob Marley released rastaman vibration, in 1976, and the album was a huge success. That year, Bob Marley had to go through a very delicate situation. That period was a time of great tension policy in Jamaica due to the rivalry between two parties locations. Because of this political violence, Bob Marley was invited to participate in a show that promoted peace in the country, Smile Jamaica.
A few days before the show, Bob Marley and his band were rehearsing when they had the place where they were invaded by armed men who started shooting at those present. Bob Marley was hit by one shot grazed in the chest and a shot in one of the arms. His wife was injured with a glancing gunshot to the head.
Bob Marley's manager, Don Taylor, was shot five times, requiring emergency surgery. The reason for the attack is not known. against Bob Marley, but it is speculated that it happened for political reasons, due to the singer's political positions and his participation in the show. Even injured, the Jamaican singer maintained his participation.
After the show, Bob Marley Decided to Exile from Jamaica, moving to the England and moving to London. In England, Bob Marley recorded exodus, one of the most critically and publicly recognized albums of Bob Marley's career. In this album, Bob Marley expressed some of his positions in favor of pan-africanism.
bob marley still released other albums, called Kaya (1978), Survival (1979) and uprising (1980). The albums were also huge successes, containing very popular songs by the singer. In 1978, Bob Marley briefly returned to Jamaica to participate in yet another concert that sought to promote peace in the country. The singer even made two popular politicians and from different parties shake hands to pacify the country.
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Death of Bob Marley
In 1977, Bob Marley discovered, during a medical follow-up, that he had a type of cancerin one toes. O tumor it was discovered after a biopsy he had had, and he was advised to amputate the finger that contained the tumor as a way of preventing the illness spread through your body.
Bob Marley refused to follow medical advice, because his religion did not allow parts of his body to be amputated. In 1980, Bob Marley discovered that the cancer had spread through different parts of your body, reaching the brain, liver, stomach It is lungs. The singer was at the height of his career, and his concerts were packed with fans, but the illness interrupted this.
The singer decided to undertake alternative treatments for cancer, but these treatments had no impact. With the disease at an advanced stage, Bob Marley decided to return to Jamaica, but during the trip he deteriorated in condition and he finisheddying in a hospital in Miami, in the United States.
bob marley died on May 11, 1981, to the36 years old. A funeral was held for the singer in Rastafarian tradition, and his body was interred at Nine Mile. Thousands of people attended Bob Marley's funeral to pay their last respects.
image credits
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[2] Stefano Chiacchiarini '74 It is Shutterstock
By Daniel Neves Silva
History teacher
Click here and learn a little more about the geography, culture and characteristics of Jamaica.
Discover here the history of reggae, its styles and most successful songs. See the importance of Bob Marley, the influence of Rastafarianism and reggae in Brazil.