Robert Nesta Marley was born on 6 February 1945 in Nine Miles, Jamaica as a son of an English marine-officer and a native Jamaican. When Bob was about 7-8 years old he and his mother moved to Trench Town (West-Kingston). Bob Marley loved the fast life in the big city, as well as the music of Fats Domino and Ray Charles he heard on the radio. At the age of 16, Bob wanted to record an album. Like other Jamaican kids he looked to music as an escape of the tough life in the city. Bob made his first single "Judge Not" in 1961, but it did not do well in the charts. In 1964 Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer, Junior Braithwaite, Beverley Kelso, Cherry, Constantine 'Dream Vision' Walker and Bob Marley formed the band "The WailingWailers". Bob Marley acted as the leader of the band and he wrote most of the material. Over the years the band owned two record labels, people left the band, new people joined the band and they changed their music from ska to rocksteady.

"The Wailers" were joined by "The Upsetters" in 1970 and it went uphill with the band. They made hit after hit. In the early 1970's the band managed to get a record deal with Island Records. It was revolutionary: for the first time a reggae band had access to the best recording facilities and they were treated in much the same way as a rock group. Before The Wailers signed to Island it was considered that reggae sold only on singles and cheap compilation albums. This all resulted in their first album. The Wailers and Bob Marley became more popular after Eric Clapton recorded "I Shot The Sheriff". His version hit number one in the U.S. Singles Chart. With the release of "Natty Dread" the band lined up as "Bob Marley & The Wailers".

In the year 1976 the reggae-mania boomed in the States. Rolling Stone Magazine named Bob Marley & The Wailers 'Band of the year' in their February issue. On 3 December 1976 a tragedy happened. Six armed men shot at Bob Marley, his wife, the Wailers manager Don Taylor and Don Kinsey. Two days later Bob managed to perform at the Smile Jamaica concert in Kingston. A few months later, in May 1977 Bob found out that he had cancer. A toe had to be amputated, but Bob refused because that would have been against his belief of the Rastafari. The following year the band capitalized on their chart success with the release of Kaya, an album which hit number four in the UK Chart the week of release. The album showed Bob in a different mood: love songs and homage’s to the power of ganja (marihuana).

At the end of the seventies Bob Marley & The Wailers were the most important band on the road and they broke every festival record on the European continent. During a concert in New York Bob Marley almost fainted. The next morning, on 21 September 1980, while jogging, he collapsed and was taken back to his hotel. Several days later it became clear that Bob had a brain tumor and according to the doctors, he had not even a month to live. Rita Marley wanted the tour to be canceled, but Bob wanted to continue the tour. So he played a marvelous show in Pittsburgh the next day. On 4 November 1980 Robert Nesta Marley was baptized "Berhane Selassie" in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (a Christian church) in Miami. Five days later, in a last attempt to save Bob's life, he flew to a controversial treatment center in Germany. In February 1981 Bob had his 36th birthday in the German clinic. Three months later, on 11 May 1981, Bob died in a hospital in Miami.

Description from A.R.M. van Ketel, August 1997

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