The Untold Truth Of Bob Marley

[Music] growing up on top of a sewer numerous run-ins with Shady producers and uniting a nation through music a legendary musician who impacted the world in so many ways here's the Untold Truth of Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley was born on February 6 1945 to parents who were in unusual pair especially for the time his mother sedella Booker was an 18-year-old native Jamaican his Father Norville Marley was a 60-year-old white Britain who was working as a supervisor on a Jamaican Plantation the two

were together for only a short time going their separate ways shortly after their son arrived in the world and Norville passed away when Bob was only 10 years old not that he had much of a presence in his son's life anyway Bob rarely spoke about his father and when he did it was usually with a fair amount of venom for the man little is known about Norville Marley other than that he served in World War one but not in a combat capacity although he was fit his War record revealed that he was incon

tinent after undergoing an operation for an undisclosed medical issue he spent the entire war in a support role in the UK Marley's mother would at times say that Norville had been a captain in the Army but actress Esther Anderson who was Bob's girlfriend for a time in the 70s told the BBC that most of her stories were embellished or outright false as for Bob his father could not have had less of an influence on the singer with Anderson saying the guy didn't exist Marley had one photograph of him

on a horse a white man on a horse Bob grew up in the Mountain community of 9 miles in St Anne parish Jamaica and left for Kingston as a Young Man fans of his music know that he often references trenchtown the Kingston settlement in which he came of age but even they may be appalled to learn how it came by its name the settlement consisted of low-income government developments and burned out squatter residents and had earned its name by virtue of being built on top of a literal sewage trench as

one might imagine the area was home to a good number of Street toughs known as rude boys and while Marley didn't put himself in this category he wasn't afraid to throw down with them on occasion according to Marley's website it was because of his skills as a street fighter that he came by a nickname that would stick with him for pretty much his entire life T gong that is of course the name of the record label he would eventually found one that would become a driving force in spreading rayan musi

c to an international audience perhaps the most well-known nod to this time of Marley's life and his music came in his classic 1974 tune No Woman No Cry in which he sang I remember when we used to sit in the government yard in trenchtown observing the Hypocrites mingle with the good people we meet like many Kingston youths Bob Marley showed an early interest in becoming a part of the local music scene in the early 60s he was dabbling and writing songs with a childhood friend Neville Livingston M

ar 's mother sadella though knew this was no certain path out of poverty and when Marley dropped out of school at the age of 14 she tried to make sure he would have a trade to fall back on in case his music career didn't work out one day he just come home and give me the books say not going back to school and um him say I have a friend that he can't give these books to sadella found Marley an open apprenticeship as a welder and although he wasn't exactly thrilled about it Marley accepted the job

it wasn't long though before Marley decided he was not to be a welder the decision came courtesy of of a scalding hot piece of metal that flew into his eye while he was in the shop one day the incident was so painful that this became Marley's last day as an apprentice welder and after leaving the shop he resolved to dedicate himself to music aside from setting him on the path that would make him a legend his time as a welders Apprentice yielded one other benefit through his job he struck up a f

riendship with a fellow welder by the name of Peter Tosh who also harbored musical Ambitions and proved to be a capable songwriter in his own right Tosh Marley and Livingston who had soon become known as bunny Whaler promptly formed their own vocal group however they would need a bit of guidance before they were ready for the world in the early' 60s Kingston's music scene was a bubbling Melting Pot of influences and there was no more prominent figure in that scene than Joe higs who was part of a

singing duo with fellow trenchtown resident Delroy Wilson a singer songwriter and guitarist higs sang in a gutsy straightforward style unlike many of his peers and also unlike them he took a great interest in cultivating the talents of the many budding musicians who were jostling for space in Kingston's clubs and dance halls higs was known to tutor pretty much anyone who showed up up in his doorstep and the basics of singing and songwriting were free and Bob Marley Peter Tosh and Bunny wher wer

e by far his most successful students having his own career he decided to take the group up as a project as a successful musician himself higs imparted his mentees with the type of knowledge that could give them some Polish such as the concept of breath control how to compose Melodies on guitar and how to write meaningful lyrics Hicks described himself as more than anything else a protest singer when Marley and the Whalers began to experience success pgs refused to ride their coattails staying l

argely in the background although when the band underwent some lineup changes in the early '70s he did join them on a tour of the US and corote the tune stepping Razer which would become a solo hit for Tosh higs passed away in 1999 but he is remembered alongside Marley is one of the greatest artists Jamaica has ever produced Chinese Jamaican businessman lesie Kong who owned a restaurant and record store called Beverly's in Kingston in the early 60s fell into being a record producer quite by chan

ce one day a teenager calling himself Jimmy Cliff wandered into Kong store an aspiring singer Cliff figured he needed a successful businessman to fund his recording Endeavors Kong was impressed and just like that A partnership was born Cliff's recording career which bore immediate fruit in the form of hit singles like hurricane Haiti and Miss Jamaica was Off to the Races before long Cliff was acting in an a anr capacity for Kong's fledgling record label and in that capacity he introduced Kong to

Bob Marley who made his first recordings for the Buddy Mogul unfortunately Kong shamelessly underpaid Marley for those record Rec ings chelling out only a poultry $20 to the singer nevertheless the Whalers continued to record several tunes for Kong as his Shady business practices were pretty much par for the course in Jamaica at the time in 1970 though Kong made a business decision which if he holds certain rather spiritual beliefs may or may not have cost him his life without the band's permis

sion he announced his intention to issue a compilation best of the Whalers that year drawing the extreme ey of bunny Whaler who according to Legend placed a death curse on Kong if you were to follow through he did and just a year after the album's release Kong died of a heart attack at just 37 years old before long Bob Marley and the Whalers found themselves another producer and what a producer he was Clement sir coxone do proprietor of Studio 1 in which virtually all of the legends of Reay cut

their Forma recordings for that matter the genre itself not to mention the genres of SCA Rocksteady and dance hall were arguably formed at his mixing board with his guidance the Whalers shaped themselves into a crack unit that scored a slew of hit singles including several number one hits in Jamaica he might not been an instrument player he might not even know if the guitar is tuned but he knows when the sound is right the first of those successful Tunes was titled simmer down and as the title i

mplies it was an exhortation to the rude boys of the Kingston slums to settle their scores non-violently on the track Marley saying oh control your temper or the battle will be hotter and you won't get no supper and you know you're bound to suffer it was an admirable message but the tune served a purpose for Marley that was distinctly and humorously personal his mother sadella had long been worried about her son's potential association with the rough and rugged Street toughs of trenchtown and si

mmer down was Marley's way of demonstrating to his mother that he felt no kinship with them the timeline is a bit murky but it is known that sometime after the death of Bob Marley's father his mother sadella remarried and moved to Delaware according to Marley's website this happened in 1966 although some source of site either an earlier or later time for her relocation this was the year that Marley married his wife Rita to whom he remained married until his death at some point the Marley's joine

d sedella in Delaware some sources say for a matter of months others for several years few of his neighbors knew that Marley was semi famous in his home country least of all Ibis and jeie pittz who befriended the couple after Rita happened to visit their gift shop Ibis pittz a drummer used to jam with Marley and became enamored of a whaler 7in gifted to him by Rita pit shared with Delaware online that when Marley's Visa expired he even accompanied him to Jamaica where he was dumbfounded by the t

hrong composed of fans footballers and Whalers who followed Marley around saying it was like Jesus with his disciples in 1984 years after Marley's death the Pitts family organized a music festival in his honor the people's festival for peace which still takes place in Wilmington Delaware to this day Bob Marley was living in Delaware when an important milestone in Jamaican history occurred grown Nation day April 21st 1966 which is still celebrated by faithful Ros deari today on that day hly salas

si the Emperor of Ethiopia visited the island for the first time stirring up a frenzy among the PO by way of brief explanation for the uninitiated rastafarianism began in the early 20th century in Jamaica and draws from a number of religious and political belief systems put simply its adherence believe Africans displaced by the slave trade to be Exiles in the corrupted outside world known as Babylon await their eventual return to Africa or Zion in accordance with their interpretation of the New

Testament book of Revelation at that time a seed of power in Africa ethopia was believed to be a holy land and its Emperor salassi to be the literal second coming of Christ it was Cass 's visit to Jamaica that prompted Marley to begin examining his spirituality eventually becoming a convert to rastafarianism and growing out his trademark dreadlocks how important are the dreadlocks this is thatty M yeah this is my identity by this time he was already in his early 20s but his religious conversion

would of course have a profound impact on the remainder of his life to say nothing of his music when Marley returned to Jamaica to reform the Whalers in the late 60s the band had a new Direction but a few more difficult years had the importance of the legendary Lee Scratch Perry to the career of Bob Marley and the Whalers is well documented he produced their album soul rebels their first LP to be released outside of Jamaica he also helped them to achieve their signature sound by hooking them up

with the Rhythm Section that set a new standard not just for the Whalers but for all of Ray game music drummer Carlton Barrett and his brother basist Aston familyman Barrett the record certainly gained the ban more recognition but it didn't exactly line their pockets if bunny wher is to be believed that was because Perry was was lining his own speaking with rolling stone in 2010 wher was blunt in his assessment of the relationship saying Lee Perry did nothing for the Whalers he just sat there in

the studio while we played our music and then he screwed us we never saw a dime from those albums we did with him records that other people have made Millions from I never forgave him Perry of course remembered it differently telling afropop worldwide in 2017 that wher was just bitter and holding a grudge against him for unspecified reasons but Marley and the Whalers made their feelings known as a matter of record literally Rolling Stone noted that the 1973 tune trenchtown Rock was referencing

Perry in its lyrics which said you reap what you seow and everyone know now don't turn your back another and a long line of what could have been big breaks for Marley came when while playing guitar at a party in Kingston he was coralled by a pair of Americans manager Danny Sims and his client soul singer Johnny Nash they'd been trying to inject a little island flavor into Nash's newest tunes and feeling that Marley could help they proposed a partnership Marley and the Whalers would come to Londo

n to help Nash write some new songs and in return the band would open some shows for Nash and receive consideration for a possible contract with his label CBS records it all sounded great but it worked out a little better for Nash than it did for Marley and the Whalers Nash recorded a few of Marley's Tunes including the future classic Stir It Up and got one original song out of the Endeavor the now Immortal 1972 reggae flavored number one hit I can see clearly now but Marley soon became disillus

ioned with the whole thing in his book before the legend the rise of Bob Marley author Christopher Farley quot Ed him as saying he's a nice guy but he doesn't know what reggae is Johnny Nash is not rosta and if you're not a rosta you don't know nothing about reggae when CBS records insisted the Whalers record the borderline novelty song ree on Broadway and then did nothing to promote it the band terminated the relationship after things went South for Bob Marley and the Whalers in London they nee

ded a way to get home to Jamaica but what they found instead was nothing less than their ticket to worldwide stardom in his Memoir of The Islander my life and music and Beyond Island Records founder Chris Blackwell described his first meeting with the group who showed up out of the blue one day at his office Island had distributed a few of the Whalers records in the UK along with a raft of other Jamaican Artists and as Blackwell wrote buunny wher had it in his head that I owed them some money th

ey did not walk in like losers like they were defeated by being flat broke to the contrary they exuded power and self-possession as it turned out Jimmy Cliff had just departed Island and although us radio stations were steering clear of ree Blackwell had an idea of what he could do with the Whalers his plan was to make them more popular with college kids by the end of their conversation Blackwell had agreed to Pony up £4,000 for the band to make an album without even having them sign a contract

a couple months later He Went Down To Jamaica to hear what they'd done and was blown away by the rough tracks that would become catch a fire Bob Marley in the Whalers classic breakthrough album as Bob Marley's religious and cultural interests grew so too did his interest in Jamaican politics which in the 70s were Beyond contentious this may sound a touch familiar at the time the nation's populace was bitterly divided between the liberal People's National Party or the PNP and the conservative Jam

aican labor party or jlp these divisions often boiled over into violence in an attempt to unite his countrymen Marley agreed to play a free non-partisan concert called Smile Jamaica on December 5th 1976 a show that was nearly derailed by the very political violence it sought to quell on December 3rd the Whalers were rehearsing at Marley's Kingston home and the house was riddled with bullets from numerous unknown as salance Marley was shot in the arm Rita Marley's head was grazed and the band's m

anager Don Taylor was shot five times but survived undaunted Marley performed at the concert 2 Days Later the bullet still lodged in his arm and if anything Marley's resolved to help bring about Unity grew even stronger after the shooting two years later he participated in a similar concert this one known as the one love peace concert at Which Jamaican PNP Prime Minister Michael Manley and jlp leader Edward siaga were both in attendance Marley called them on stage and basically forced them to sh

ake hands just weeks after the concert in recognition of this daring effort the United Nations awarded Marley its medal of Peace he knew what his purpose was and knowing that is a responsibility and he definitely carried his responsibility as far as he could Bob Marley and the Whaler's final tour of the United States was an unmitigated Triumph the band played back-to-back nights at New York's legendary Madison Square Garden with Lionel Richie's commodor one of the biggest bands in the country at

the time also on the bill opening for both acts a Young MC named Curtis blow the first rapper assigned to a major label and arguably rap's first major star young as he was blow was still humble enough to be completely Star Struck by Marley when the pair ran into each other backstage speaking with IC te's final level podcast BL remembered that he had played a ton of dates supporting the commodor on the US tour but when Marley joined the bill for their New York dates at the suggestion of the prom

oter things changed with blow saying they put Bob Marley on the end of the show and we sold out in just like 5 minutes boom sold out backstage Marley and his Entourage happen across the young rapper with blow recalling Bob Marley comes straight up to me sticks out his hand and goes Curtis I like your stuff I'm always Star Struck when OG's in the game recognize me Bob Marley's Selfless Love for other people and drive to make the world a better place made the Rastafarian religion a perfect fit for

him unfortunately one aspect of that religion discouraged him from getting the medical care that could have saved his life when the cancer that would eventually kill him first appeared under his toenail in the late '70s it was mistaken for a simple Sports Injury Marley was an avid footballer and such injuries were not uncommon when he was diagnosed with melanoma though Marley's doctors told him that the best course of action was to have the toe amputated which was against the singer's religious

beliefs Marley did agree to a skin graft but that was not enough by the time it was discovered shortly after those legendary Madison Square Garden dates the cancer had spread throughout his body and aggressive medical treatment was needed however Marley chose to also foro that in favor of alternative treatments consisting mostly of dietary changes which he undertook under the care of a German doctor after several months with no success Marley was on his way home to Jamaica when his condition be

came critical in flight he was hospitalized in Miami where he died on May 11th 1981 in a mirror image of Ethiopian Emperor Hy cass's visit to Jamaica which had inspired Bob Marley so much as a Young Man the musician paid a visit to Ethiopia in 1978 while there he stayed in shasham a town that had been designated by Emperor salassi himself as a settlement for Rastafari he performed for Ethiopia's royal family visited churches and did a bit of writing working on some songs that would later appear

on the Whalers 1979 album survival he was hospit fzed in Miami where he died on May 11th 1981 in 2015 the icon's fondness for the rosta Homeland was returned with a statue of him which was erected in the Ethiopian capital of Attis Ababa a decade prior Rita Marley had announced her intention to reberry her husband in Ethiopia saying Bob's whole life is about Africa it is not about Jamaica he has a right for his remains to be where he would love them to be this was his mission Ethiopia is his spir

itual resting place understandably this ruffled a few feathers in Jamaica where Marley is obviously considered to be National Treasure Marley historian Roger stepin told the guardian Bob never expressed any interest to be buried in Ethiopia a country that created the faith of Rastafari is Jamaica not Ethiopia it wasn't just looking for one place Jamaica his mindset was for the world being universa the reburial never came to pass in 1975 Bob Marley and the Whalers staged a concert in Kingston dub

bed the Wonder dream concert to benefit the Jamaican Institute for the blind there was a thrilling reason for the shows moniker one of the most prominent blind musicians in history Stevie Wonder was in attendance and ready to jam he and the Whalers took the stage together at one point performing the band's I Shot the Sheriff and W's Superstition and the show led to a friendship between Marley and wonder that would endure for the rest of the former's life they performed together again at a 1979 P

hiladelphia show and even kicked around the idea of staging a joint concert on September 20th 1980 one day before Marley discovered that his cancer had metastasized Stevie W single Master Blaster debuted on the billboard Bo chart where it was destined to peek at number five the ree flavor tune was a tribute to Wonder's friend featuring lyrics such as Marley's hot on the box tonight there will be a party Wonder would go on to write and produce for ree act third world with whom he performed Master

Blaster at the ree Sunsplash Festival in 1982 Bob Marley has been gone for more than four decades but his Spirit lives on and not just through his music in 1986 Rita Marley founded the Bob Marley foundation in his honor according to the nonprofits website their goal is simple in part it reads our vision is to positively impact those around us and alleviate poverty by providing Aid to vulnerable and underserved communities throughout Jamaica while enacting Everlasting change to that end the foun

dation has done some incredible work making a tangible difference in the lives of thousands of Jamaicans over the years the foundation has provided University scholarships for hundreds of students not to mention funding for primary schools throughout the country this funding is paid for books school supplies and critically tablets that were needed for remote learning during the covid-19 pandemic mic it has provided Hospitals and Clinics with modern equipment to establish the fund for residential

care for the elderly sponsored the Jamaican national women's football team and of course lent its support to cultural Endeavors such as film festivals art exhibits and music workshops it also established the one love Youth Camp which steers atrisk youth away from the streets and towards the welcoming Embrace of music and art in describing the foundation's mission the website places a quote from Marley himself front and center my life is only important if me can help plenty people if me if me my

life is just for me my own security then don't want it my life is for [Music] people