Marley, Bob (1945-1981)
One of the most important and charismatic champions of human freedoms in the 1970s, Bob Marley emerged from humble beginnings and an early life of austere poverty in his native Jamaica to bring reggae music to international popularity. A rebellious visionary who was unabashedly invested in Rastafari religion, Marley and his group the Wailers became known the world over for songs of universal love and Biblical prophecy, including "No Woman, No Cry," "Jammin'," and others. Although Marley died of cancer in 1981, the singer/songwriter left behind a legacy of socially conscious work that continues to remain popular with audiences worldwide.
The man who would come to be a superstar was born Nesta Robert Marley on February 6, 1945 in St. Ann, Jamaica. After Marley's father died in 1955, young Robert spent his childhood being shuffled between the homes of his grandfather, his aunt, and his mother, Cedella, in Kingston. By the late 1950s, Marley spent much of his time socializing with friends in a government yard (public housing) in Trench Town, a shantytown in Western Kingston. Marley's early abandonment and his rough, impoverished childhood would later become instrumental to his success in songwriting and musical composition. Heavily influenced by the imported sounds of American artists like The Moonglows, The Tams, The Impressions, Elvis, Sam Cooke, and Solomon Burke, Marley developed his adolescent tenor by harmonizing with his friends in the evenings after school.
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