Bioghrapy The Legend Of Reggae - Bob MarLey
Robert Nesta Marley
BORN: February 6, 1945, St. Ann, Jamaica
DIED: May 11, 1981, Miami, FL
In the year 1944, Captain Norval Marley married a young Jamaican girl
named Cedalla Booker. On February 6, 1945 at two thirty in the morning
their son, Robert Nesta Marley was born in his grandfather's house. Soon
after Bob was born his father left his mother. He did however give
financial support and occasionally returned to see his son.
It was now the late fifties, jobs were scarce in Jamaica, so Bob
followed his mother from their home in St. Ann to Trenchtown (West
Kingston) to seek employment in the big city. Trenchtown got it's name
because it was built over a ditch which drained the sewage of old
Kingston. In Trenchtown Bob spent a lot of his time with his good friend
Neville Livingstone who people called by his nickname, Bunny. Also in
the big city Bob was more exposed to the music which he had loved,
including such greats as Fats Domino and Ray Charles. Bob and Bunny
attended a music class together which was held by the famous Jamaican
singer Joe Higgs. In that class they met Peter Macintosh and soon became
good friends.
In the meantime Jamaican music evolving and became very popular
throughout the Caribbean due to it's invention of Ska music. When Bob
was 16, he started to follow his dream of becoming a musician. Music to
many young Jamaicans was an escape from the harshness of everyday life.
One of those kids was Jimmy Cliff who at the age of 14 had already
recorded a couple of hits. After meeting Bob, Jimmy introduced him to
Leslie Kong, a local record producer. Bob followed his advice and
auditioned for Leslie Kong. Bob's musical talents shone much more
brightly then anyone else that day and found himself in the studio
recording his first single "Judge Not". Unfortunately neither "Judge
Not" nor his 1962 single "One more cup of Coffee" did very well. Bob
soon left Kong after she failed to give him his pay.
The following year Bob, Bunny and some other friends formed the Wailing
Wailers. The didn't get off to a great start, after just a couple
recording sessions two members, Cherry and Junior Braithwait left the
band. The band continued on and were introduced to Clemet Dodd, a
producer of the record company Coxsone. It was here where the Wailing
Wailers recorded the first song "Simmer Down" which did quite well in
Jamaica. To help with the recording of their songs the studio provided
several talented Ska musicians. The Wailing Wailers consisting now of
Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny were starting to become quite popular
locally. Their audiences rapidly grew and they recorded several more
songs on the Coxsone label which included "It Hurts to be Alone" and
"Rule the Roadie" Bob soon took on the role of the leader, being the
main songwriter and all.
Bob's life continued to look more bright on February 10, 1966 when Bob
Marley married girlfriend Rita Anderson. The next day Bob left for the
United States to visit his mother who lived in Delaware. While in the US
he worked to better finance his music and soon returned home. When Bob
Marley returned the Wailing Wailers' music evolved from Ska to Rock
Steady. This evolution conflicted with Coxsone who wanted a Ska band. So
the newly Wailing Wailers left Coxsone to form and renamed themselves
the Wailers. Instead of looking around for a new label the Wailers
decided to form their own which they called Wail 'N' Soul. This
coincided with the birth of the Marley's first born who they named
Cedalla. They released a couple signals on their label such as "Bend
down low" and "Mellow Mood" before it folded the very same year.
The ending of their label affected the band greatly, it wasn't until
they met Lee Perry that they got back on track. With the help of Lee
Perry the Wailers produced such great tracks as "Duppy Conquerer", "Soul
Rebel", "400 Years" and "Small Axe".
1970 saw the Wailers family grow with the addition of Aston "Family Man"
Barret and his brother Carleton. The Wailers were now quite popular
throughout the Caribbean but still internationally unknown. With this
popularity a second more successful label was formed by the Wailers
called Tuff Gong after a nickname of Bob Marley. The Wailers met Johnny
Nash and soon Bob accompanied Nash to Sweden and London. When in London,
Bob recorded "Reggae on Broadway" which was released by CBS. After this
the rest of the Wailers arrived in London to help promote the single
only to find that there were out of money and stranded there. With
little options available, Bob went into the Island Records Basing Street
Studios and asked to speak to the boss, Chris Blackwell with hopes of a
possible record deal.
Mr. Blackwell had already heard of the Wailers and signed them on the
spot. He advanced them eight thousand pounds so that they could fly back
home and record their first album for Island. This was a massive deal,
for the first time a reggae band would have access to the finest
recording facilities. The album they released was "Catch a Fire", it was
very well received by critics and was one of the first reggae albums.
Before the Wailers reggae was sold on signals or compilation albums.
In the Spring of 1973 the Wailers arrived back in London to kick off
their three month tour of Britain. At the conclusion of the tour they
returned back to Jamaica where Bunny decided to quit touring. He was
replaced by Joe Higgs. The Wailers along with Higgs travelled to the US
were they were scheduled to open 17 shows for the number one black act
in the States, Sly and the Family Stone. The Wailers were fired after 4
shows because they were more popular then they band the opened for, the
crowd often chanted "Wail-ers" well into the Sly and the Family Stone
set. Also they opened a couple dates for Bruce Springsteen. After Sly
and the Family Stone axed the Wailers they found themselves once again
without money and stranded, this time in Las Vegas. Somehow they found
their way to San Fransico. While there they did a live concert broadcast
for the radio station KSAN-FM. The whole experience boosted their
popularity in North America.
With 1973 winding down the Wailers released the much anticipated follow
up album to "Catch a Fire" called "Burnin". On this album many Wailer
classics appear such as "I shot the Sheriff" and "Get Up Stand Up". The
Wailers popularity in North America grew even more when Eric Clapton
re-recorded "I Shot the Sheriff", becoming a number one hit on the US
singles charts.
1975 saw the release of the Wailers's third album, "Natty Dread" with
such great tracks as "Talking Blues", "No Woman No Cry" and
"Revolution". On the down side though two thirds of the original Wailing
Wailers, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer quit the band to pursue solo
careers. This caused the band to change their name again. This time to
Bob Marley and the Wailers. The departure of the two members created a
hole in the backing vocal section, this hole was filled and then some by
the I-Threes (Rita Marley, Judy Mowatts and Marcia Grittiths). That
summer the band started a new European tour. Two of those shows were at
the Lyceum Ballroom, both shows were considered among the top of the
decade.
Both shows were recorded and made the album "Live!" which included the
unforgettable live version "No Woman No Cry" which was a world wide hit.
The band underwent more changes with the addition of Al Anderson and
Bernard Harvey who were later replaced by Junior Marvin and Tyrone
Downie. The last time the original Wailers ever played together was at a
Stevie Wonder concert for the Jamaican Institute for the blind. Bob
Marley and the Wailers continued their roll releasing the incredible
album "Rasta man Vibration" in 1976. This capped off a type of
Reggae-Mania happening in the states. Rolling Stone named them band of
the year. On the Rasta man Vibration album was the powerful track "War"
which lyrics came from a speech given by Emperor Haile Selassie. Bob
Marley decided to play a free concert at Kingston's National Heroes Park
on December 5, 1976.
The idea behind the concert was a peaceful message against the ghetto
wars happening in Trenchtown at the time. Tragedy struck two days before
that he get on stage, gunmen broke into the Marley home and shot at
Bob, Rita, and two friends. Luckily no one was killed. Despite this Bob
Marley went on to put on a memorable show two days later at the Smile
Jamaica concert. Following the show the band left for the UK. While they
were there they recorded 1977's "Exodus". Possibly their best album to
date, it solidified the band's international stardom. It went number one
in many countries including England and Germany. It was also one of the
top albums of the year.
During their European tour, the band did a week of shows at the Rainbow
Theatre in London. It was at the start of the tour when Bob injured his
toe playing football. It was later diagnosed as cancerous. Also during
this tour Bob received a very important ring, who's previous owner was
the Ethiopian Emperor. In May Bob was informed of his cancer. His cancer
would most certainly be taken care of by amputating the toe but Bob
refused. To do so would be against his Rastafarian faith. With this news
the remainder of the Exodus tour was cancelled. His illness didn't
prevent him from recording music though, 1978 saw the release of "Kaya"
which had a much more mellow sound then previous albums. Bob was accused
of selling out because many of the songs were love songs or tributes to
ganja (marijuana). Rastafarians believed the smoking the holy herb
would bring them closer to Jah (god).
In April 1978, Bob returned to Jamaica to play the One Love Peace
Concert. In attendance was Jamaican President Michael Manley and the
leader of the Opposition Edward Seaga. It was Bob who got them on stage
and even got them to shake hands. On June 15 he was awarded the Peace
Medal of the Third World from the United Nations. For the first time he
visited Africa going to Kenya and Ethiopia. On this trip he started to
work on the song "Zimbabwe". The band also released their second live
album "Babylon by Bus" with was recorded in Paris. The album which
followed it was Survival in 1978. Throughout the album the theme of
black survival was evident.
The Seventies were now coming to a close, Bob Marley and the Wailers
were the most popular band on the road breaking many festival records.
In 1980 the band found themselves in Gabon to perform in Africa for the
first time. Here Bob Marley discovered that there manager had defrauded
the band, Bob gave him a beating and fired him. The Zimbabwean
government invited the whole band to perform at the countries
Independence Ceremony in April. Bob later said of the invitation to be
the biggest honour of his life.
After the amazing honour and experience Bob Marley continue to record,
"Uprising" was released in 1980. Everything was looking bright, the band
was planning an American tour with Stevie Wonder for that winter. Bob's
health was deteriorating, but he still got clearance from a doctor to
go on the road. The tour started with Boston, followed by New York.
During the New York show Bob's looked very sick and he almost fainted.
The next morning on Sept. 21 while jogging through Central, Bob
collapsed and was brought to the hospital. There a brain tumour was
discovered and doctors gave him a month to live. Rita Marley wanted the
tour cancelled but Bob wanted to continue on. He played an unforgettable
show in Pittsburgh but was too ill to continue so the tour was finally
cancelled.
It would be the last show he ever performed. Treatment prolonged his
life somewhat but the inevitable was soon to happening. Bob was
transported to a Miami hospital where he was baptized Berhane Selassie
in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church on November 4. In a final attempt to
save his life he underwent a controversial treatment in Germany. While
in Germany he celebrated his 36th and final birthday. Ultimately the
treatment didn't work. Bob wanted to die at home so he was flown back.
Unfortunately he didn't finish the trip, he died on May 11, 1981 in a
Miami hospital. He was internationally mourned for and thousands showed
up at his May 21 funeral to show their respects. In attendance wereboth
the Jamaican President and the Leader of the Opposition. Bob Marley now
rests in a mausoleum at his birthplace.
After his death he was awarded Jamaica's Order of Merit. The Prophet Gad
insisted on becoming the owner of Bob's ring. However, amazingly the
ring the disappeared and still has yet to be found. Bob's mother said
that the ring was returned to it's place of origin.
Bob Marley knew of his fate. Being a visionary he foresaw this, his
words will forever be immortalized in the lyrics in which he wrote.
"One bright morning when my work is over I will fly away home"
0 komentar:
Kalo Copy - Paste Cantumin Nama Sumbernya Juga Ya :)