The man, the myth, the legend. (Marleynatural)
When it comes to Bob Marley, most people think of the music and his prodigious love of marijuana. However, the legendary musician stood for much more than just cranking out tunes and blazing copious amounts of herb. He understood the difficulties of growing up poor, disenfranchised, and estranged.
Growing up with an absentee white father in predominantly black Jamaica, Marley learned the hard way what it meant to be different. His music inspired poetry and activism as easily as college smoking sessions. Nevertheless, he remained far from perfect. He was just a man living his life as best he could, something we could all aspire to.
Marley lived life his way for better or for worse.
Growing Up Hard
Being a biracial son of a teenage mother and an older absent white Jamaican-Englishman meant Marley endured a difficult childhood. As his childhood mentor, Joe Higgs put it, "He was like an outcast in the house ... he slept beneath the bottom of the house. His most serious endeavor was just to eat and drink." As a youth, many derogatorily dubbed him, ‘White Boy,” until he grew large and violent enough to earn the nickname “tuff gong.” His life prospects looked bleak until music gave him his way out.
The young Jamaicans just trying to make it. (Michael Ochs Archives)
Marley, Tosh, and Wailer
Along with Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer, he started a band that went through various iterations. First, they were “The Teenagers”, then “The Wailing Rudeboys,” which got them to The Wailing Wailers, before finally settling on the iconic “The Wailers.” Even as precocious musicians, they understood the plight of socioeconomic background. “Wailers” referenced the deplorable living conditions for those growing up in the ghettos of Trenchtown, Jamaica. They represented “ghetto sufferers, born wailing.”
Together they formed the Wailers, likely the greatest Reggae band ever.
More Than A Musician
In 1976, Marley proved he was destined to be much more than a musician. After a politically motivated gunman shot him in the arm and chest, Marley ignored doctor’s orders by performing at “The Smile Jamaica.” The event was slated to promote national unity during a time of endless political violence. When asked why he would still perform when people were trying to kill him, he responded, “The people who are trying to make this world worse aren't taking a day off. How can I?”
Bob Marley working to unite Jamaica just days after suffering multiple gun shots. (bobmarley)
A Giving Man
Despite becoming a global superstar in ‘77, Marley still remembered where he came from and always took the time to help those less fortunate. As Marley’s friend and photographer Dennis Morris remembered, "Whenever he had time off, what'd he always do was go to a sports shop and buy 20 footballs, 20 pairs of boots and whatever. I didn't realize, but it was for the kids in Trench Town, back home. He was a very generous man."
Marley practiced what he preached.
Inspiration
Marley’s music ran the range of human experience. From hard times to sunny days, everything inspired his musical genius. As his long-time friend Tony Gilbert recalled, “Bob got inspired by a lot of things around him, he observed life. I remember the three little birds. They were pretty birds, canaries, who would come by the windowsill at Hope Road.”
Obviously, that spawned “Three Little Birds” and perhaps his most famous line ever, “Every little thing is gonna be alright.” Plainly, his love of weed (it was rumored he smoked more than 18 joints a day) also imbued his music.
Marley changed the world and made some friends along the way. (rockarchive)
R.I.P
As glorious of a life as Marley lived, his death remained equally tragic. He wasn’t killed by a bullet but cancer and the stubbornness of his belief system, Rastafarianism. Diagnosed with a rare form of melanoma, Marley could have survived if he had allowed doctors to amputate his toe. Unfortunately, his beliefs and the strong opinions of those around him forbid such an operation.
Everybody loves Bob Marley.
Lasting Impact
As Morris put it, "One of the things that most people don't realize is that the rise of his success was four years: He really took off in '77, and by '81 he was gone. In four years, he conquered the world. He touched every single human being possible in such a short amount of time. It was an incredible feat."
However, even until the bitter end, Marley never lose his sense of humor or philosophy. Just months before his passing, he rattled off Queen’s "Another One Bites the Dust" during a sound check at his final concert in Pittsburgh. His final words were “Money can’t buy life.” He was buried with a football, his Gibson Les Paul Guitar, and fittingly a bud of marijuana.
