Bob Marley was a Jamaican singer and songwriter who popularized reggae music around the world. He is sometimes called the third world’s first pop superstar.
Nesta Robert Marley was born in 1945 in Saint Ann, Jamaica. He had a white father and a black mother, but he was proudest of his African roots. Bob Marley’s parents split up when he was just a young boy, and he never got to know his dad.
When he was a teen, Marley moved to Kingston and settled in the planned community of “Trench Town.” The Trench Town streets were rough, but also culturally rich. The community became known as the Hollywood of Jamaica because it was full of artists trying to make a name for themselves. Bob Marley fell in love with the sounds and beats of “ska” music. This was a form of dance music with an upbeat tempo. It combined Caribbean mento and calypso with American soul and R & B.
Marley and his friend “Bunny” began taking vocal classes with coach Joe Higgs. In music class, Bob and Bunny joined up with Peter Macintosh and formed a band called the Wailing Wailers. Their lyrics were about the struggles of Jamaica’s poor. At this time, music in Jamaica slowed down a bit. It became known as “rocksteady” and, later, “reggae” music. Unlike the ghetto lyrics that came before, reggae music was more spiritual and connected to the Rastafarian Movement.
In the mid-1960s, the Wailers disbanded. Bob Marley got married and moved to the US to work in a factory. He returned to Jamaica shortly after, and the Wailers reunited. The band got their big break in 1972 when they were signed to Island Records. Bob Marley and the Wailers began touring internationally. Before long, the world fell in love with reggae music, and a legend was born.
In 1980, Bob Marley collapsed while he was out for a jog in New York’s Central Park. He died of cancer eight months later at the age of 36. His hits like “Buffalo Soldier” and “Get Up Stand Up” continue to fill night clubs and living rooms around the world.
