Death of Bob Marley

Bob was diagnosed with malignant melanoma in 1977, and continued working, releasing the album “Kaya”, which was on the charts in Britain for 56 weeks. He began to tour around the world, and performed in Zimbabwe in 1980 to celebrate the country's independence from the United Kingdom.

While jogging, Bob collapsed and in the examination, it was found that the cancer had spread to his brain, liver, and lungs.

Family Tree of Bob Morley

First some history, because “in this great future, you can’t forget your past”, as Bob sang on ‘No Woman, No Cry’. The son of English sea captain Norval Marley and Jamaican beauty Cedella Marley, Bob made two solo singles in 1963 then formed The Wailers, a vocal group, principally with Peter Tosh and Bunny Livingstone, which enjoyed numerous Jamaican hits in the 60s and early 70s. In 1974, the group split and Marley found global fame with a new Wailers, a band this time, and a supporting female group that included his wife Rita. Bob became the first third-world “rock” superstar and, after he died, remained an icon: his cheerful 70s dreadlocked rebel visage, shrouded in ganja smoke, sold millions of posters.

Bob and Rita had three children: Cedella (born 1967), David “Ziggy” Marley (1968) and Stephen (1972). Bob also adopted Rita’s daughter from an earlier relationship, Sharon (born 1964). In 1979, the four siblings started a group, The Melody Makers, later known as Ziggy Marley And The Melody Makers, and released their debut single, ‘Children Playing In The Streets’, that year. Between 1989 and 1998 they won three Grammy Awards. Stephen Marley began recording solo in 2007, scoring a Top 40 US hit with his first album, Mind Control, in that same year, and cutting the excellent Revelation Part 1: The Root Of Life in 2011.

Julian Marley was Bob’s only British-born child, to one of his extra-curricular girlfriends, Lucy Pounder, who ensured their son was part of the wider Marley family and regularly took him to Jamaica to be with his half-siblings. Julian (born 1975) is a multi-instrumentalist but is often seen playing a Gibson Les Paul Special, like his father. He started releasing singles in the early 90s and remains an active, progressive singer, as his fine 2016 single ‘War Zone’ makes clear.

Damian Marley (born 1978), the fruit of Bob’s relationship with the 1976 Miss World, Cindy Brakespeare, did not follow in the footsteps of his father in the way that many of his siblings have: Damian, known as Jr Gong (Bob was known as Tuff Gong), elected to talk rather than sing, being the family’s lone reggae DJ. His debut LP, Mr Marley, arrived in 1996; since then he has been the Marley clan’s most effective performer in the urban arena since his father. His powerfully contemporary Welcome To Jamrock album went Gold in the US in 2005 and the title track became a modern reggae anthem. In 2010, his acclaimed joint album with Nas, Distant Relatives, delivered the massive underground hit ‘As We Enter’: it was built on a sample of Ethiopian jazz, roots of which his father would have been proud. He has since collaborated with Mick Jagger and Dave Stewart on the SuperHeavy project, and also worked with Skrillex, Cypress Hill and Sean Paul.

Ky-Mani Marley (born 1976) is the happy result of Bob’s relationship with Anita Belnavis, a top-level Jamaican table tennis player. Growing up in Miami, Ky-Mani understandably concentrated on sport in his childhood before his mother encouraged him to examine his musical inheritance. He started off as a talking artist but discovered a singing voice which would betray his genetic legacy even if his surname wasn’t Marley: at times he can sound remarkably like his father.
The remarkable Bob Marley family musical gene has most recently brought success to one of Bob and Rita’s grandchildren, Skip Marley (born 1996), son of Cedella. Born in Jamaica and raised in Miami, he released his mellow debut single, ‘Cry To Me’, in 2015 – its title shared with a 1966 Wailers hit, though the song was very different. His media profile was raised by an ad for Gap jeans in 2016, and he signed to Island, Bob’s alma mater label, in 2017, cutting the superb single ‘Lions’, as well as appearing on (and co-writing) Katy Perry’s massive hit ‘Chained To The Rhythm’. They delivered an acclaimed performance together at the 2017 Grammy Awards.

He was awarded the Jamaican Order of Merit in February of 1981. He went to Germany to see a cancer specialist, and on his way to Jamaica, he stopped in Miami to receive emergency medical care. He died at the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital on May 11, 1981, at the age of 36.

Bob Marley has been called a visionary, a Third World superstar, and a revolutionary artist. He was all this and more, and brought Jamaican music to the world.


whydidbobmorleydied

Jamaican Music

Ska is a type of music which originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s. It combines Jamaican folk music, calypso, American jazz, and rhythm and blues. It has a walking bass line with rhythms on the upbeat, rather than the downbeat.

Rocksteady came on the scene after ska, around 1966. It came from a dance style which was slower than ska dances. It has a more relaxed feel to it than ska, with the bass being more noticeable and the bass line has more discontinuity.

Reggae developed in the late 1960s, and is a very rhythmic style of music. The emphasis is on the second and fourth beats, giving it that characteristic lifting feel. Reggae is slower than ska but faster than rocksteady.

Biography of Bob Marley

He was born Nesta Robert Marley on February 6th, 1945, in a small village in Jamaica. When he started going to school, he also began reading palms and telling the villagers their future. His father took him to live in Kingston, and a year later, his mother brought him back home. He became friends with the son of his mother’s boyfriend Neville "Bunny" Livingston, and soon told her that he was now going to sing instead of reading palms.

In 1957, he and Bunny made guitars from sticks and cans, they sang, and wrote songs. He left school at 14 to be a welder’s apprentice. In 1961, he began to focus on music, making a singing group called “The Teenagers” with Bunny and another friend, Peter McIntosh. Bob’s first singles were recorded in 1962, on the Beverley label:
"Judge Not (Unless You Judge Yourself)"
"Terror"
"One Cup of Coffee"
In the next few years, there were more members added to the band, and soon the name was changed to The Wailing Rudeboys," then to "The Wailing Wailers," and finally, "The Wailers.” Their first single, “Simmer Down” rose to number one on Jamaica’s JBC Radio chart.

Bob married Rita Anderson in 1966, but moved the next day to Delaware where his mom lived and worked, returning home later in the year. He set up his own recording label and converted to the Rastafarian religion. He started dreading his hair and eating a natural diet according to his new religion. In 1967 The Wailers recorded over 80 songs, and in 1971, they released “Soul Rebels” that was their first song to be released outside of Jamaica. The Wailers’ first album, “Catch a Fire” was released in 1973, as was their next album, “Burnin,’” which included the song “Get Up, Stand Up.” In 1974, The Wailers disbanded and Bob found other musicians to continue. He saw more hits in 1975, and in 1976, he relocated his family to England.

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