![]() With nothing to lose, Marley approached Island Records' head Chris Blackwell, who at the time ran the hottest independent label in the world. But The Wailers continued struggling to establish themselves on firm footing even after signing a contract with CBS, where they found themselves broke and stranded in London after a tour with soul singer Johnny Nash. Following a failed attempt to form their own record label, Wail N' Soul, the group entered a fruitful period with songs like "Soul Rebel" and "Small Axe" that helped define the new direction that reggae music was making at the time. He reunited with Tosh and Livingston to form The Wailers, only to have a falling out with Clement Dodd over their new musical direction. ![]() Marley's music began to reflect the tenor of his new beliefs and the legacy for which he became known was born. Upon his return, he was drawn to the resurgence of the Rastafarian movement, which had begun to take on a more spiritual commitment toward social issues. Marley spent the next eight months earning a more mundane living at a DuPont lab and a Chrysler assembly line before returning to Jamaica in October 1966. Meanwhile, his mother had remarried and moved to Delaware, where he joined her in 1966 with his new wife, Rita Anderson. Three of the band's members quit, leaving Marley with Tosh and Livingston. The group went on to record 30 or so more songs in the next few years, which solidified their popularity, but did little to help their financial situation. After hooking up with Kingston producer Clement Dodd, Marley's new band recorded the track "Simmer Down," which spent a solid two months atop the Jamaican charts and helped propel The Wailing Wailers into stars on their native island. So in 1963, Marley joined forces with Livingston and Tosh to form The Wailing Wailers. He concluded that his only path to success was by way of forming a band. ![]() Undeterred by his unsuccessful debut, Marley recorded more singles like "Terror" and "One Cup of Coffee," and met with the same results. In 1962, he recorded his first song, "Judge Not," though it failed to gain much traction. Determined to become a musician himself, Marley quit school when he was 14 and began to play music with a local artist named Joe Higgs, where he met another key figure, Peter Tosh. It was at this time that he struck a friendship with Neville "Bunny" Livingston, and soon the pair began exploring the music of Ray Charles, Curtis Mayfield and The Drifters, which was broadcast from a radio station in New Orleans. Toward the end of the 1950s, his mother moved her son to Kingston and eventually settled in nearby Trenchtown, where a growingly aware and dissatisfied Marley began hanging out with other impatient street youths. When he was 10 years old, his father died of a heart attack at the age of 60, leaving his mother to be sole breadwinner. Because of pressure from Norval's family, Marley saw little of his father as a child, though financial support was provided. 6, 1945 in Nine Mile, Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica, Marley was raised by his white father, Norval Marley, a captain in the Royal Marines and plantation overseer, and his Afro-Jamaican mother, Cedella Booker. ![]() Because of his enormous popularity, Marley was the face of reggae music and one of the most influential musicians of the late 20th century, thanks in part to his outspoken dedication to speaking for those without a voice.īorn on Feb. Following his death in 1981, his stature only grew, particularly following the compilation album, Legend (1984), which became the biggest seller of his career. But following the successful release of his final studio album, Uprising (1980), Marley fell ill and discovered cancer rapidly spreading through his body. Marley's influence was felt far and wide with song like "No Woman, No Cry," "Is This Love" and "Jamming," all of which helped advance the popularity of reggae music across the world. Now touring and recording as Bob Marley and the Wailers, the artist spent the next six years recording some of his finest music with albums like Rastaman Vibration (1976), Exodus (1977) and the live recording Babylon by Bus (1978). ![]() While they all achieved a great deal of individual success, it was Marley who went on to legendary status. But as soon as the group started to become known outside of Jamaica, the three decided to pursue their own solo careers. In joining forces with future reggae stars Bunny Livingston and Peter Tosh, Marley rose to international acclaim as the front man for The Wailers with such acclaimed albums as Catch a Fire (1973) and Burnin' (1974). As the most popular and influential reggae musician of all time, Bob Marley was the first superstar to emerge from a developing country while establishing himself as the voice of protest for the world's oppressed peoples. ![]()
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