Bob Marley


Robert Nesta Marley (February 6, 1945 - May 11, 1981), much [BobMarley.gif]
better known as Bob Marley, was a guitarist and songwriter
from the ghettos of Jamaica.

Born in Nine Miles, St. Ann, Jamaica, Marley started in ska and gravitated
towards reggae, playing, teaching and singing for a long period in the 1970s
and 1980s; Marley is perhaps best-known for work with his reggae group The
Wailers, the backbone of which were two other celebrated reggae musicians,
Bunny Livingstone and Peter Tosh. Much of his early work was produced with
Lee Perry, although the pair split in acrimony over the assignment of
recording rights.

Marley's work was largely responsible for the mainstream cultural acceptance
of reggae music. He signed to Chris Blackwell's Island Records label in
1971, at the time a highly influential and innovative label. Island Records
boasted a stable of both successful and diverse artists including, amongst
others, such nascent luminaries of the music scene as Genesis, John Martyn
and Nick Drake.

Much of his work deals with the struggles of the impoverished and/or
powerless. Marley died of brain cancer in Miami, Florida on May 11, 1981.

He has a son named Ziggy Marley (b. 1968).