At A Glance: Bob Marley

Bob Marley
Robert Nesta Marley was born in Rhoden Hall, St. Ann on February 6, 1945, to Cedella Booker and Captain Norval Marley. Barely into his teens, Marley moved to Trench Town Kingston in the late '50s with his mother.
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Bob Marley
In 1962, Marley’s first record ‘Judge Not’ was released. By the following year, Bob linked up with Bunny and Peter to form The Wailing Wailers.
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Bob Marley
In 1963 Clement 'Sir Coxsone' Dodd, a record producer and one of the finest sound system men in Kingston, recorded The Wailing Wailers first single, ‘Simmer Down’ at his Studio One company. By the following January it was number one on the Jamaican charts.
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Bob Marley
On February 10, 1966, Bob married a young girl called Rita Anderson (standing) before going to America to join his mother. By October of that same year he returned to Jamaica and reunited with Bunny and Peter to reform the group, now known as The Wailers.
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Bob Marley
Bob Marley made his first move with Island Records in 1971 as a last throw of the dice. Island Records founder Chris Blackwell offered The Wailers £4,000 in advance to make an album. Their first album was ‘Catch A Fire’.
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Bob Marley
By early 1975 Bunny and Peter had quit the group, while the band was renamed Bob Marley and The Wailers. In February 1975 and Bunny and Peter were replaced by the I-Three (from left: Marcia Griffiths, Judy Mowatt and Rita Marley).
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Bob Marley
Just before Marley's free concert, held at Kingston's National Heroes Park on December 5, 1976, gunmen broke into Marley's house and shot him on December 3. On December 5, he came on stage and played a brief set in defiance of the attack.
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Bob Marley
In April 1978, Bob returned from the UK to Jamaica to play the One Love Peace Concert where he invited the heads of the two main political parties, Prime Minister and President of the People’s National Party Michael Manley (left) and Leader of the Jamaica Labour Party, Edward Seaga (right) on stage.
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Bob Marley
Bob played two shows at Madison Square Garden in 1978 but, immediately afterwards, was taken seriously ill. Three years earlier, in London, Bob hurt a toe while playing football. The wound had become cancerous. By 1980, the cancer had begun to spread through Marley's body. He fought the disease for eight months before he succumbed to it on Monday, May 11, 1981. He was 36.
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Bob Marley
On Thursday, May 21, 1981, the Hon. Robert Nesta Marley O.M. was given an official funeral. His body was taken to Nine Mile, where it now rests in a mausoleum. His widow Rita and her two sons, Ziggy, left, and Stephen, attend the funeral.
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