DESCRIPTION:
Bob Marley was born on February 6, 1945 and died on May 11, 1981. He was a musician and singer songwriter. He was the lead singer and songwriter for The Wailers from 1964 until 1974 and Bob Marley and the Wailers, from 1974 until 1981. He has been credited with popularizing Jamaican music as well as the Rastafari movement. He has a number of very popular songs, such as "I Shot the Sheriff," "No Woman, No Cry," "Could You Be Loved," "Stir It Up," "One Love," "Redemption Song," "Jammin," "Three Little Birds," "Buffalo Soldier," and "Iron Lion Zion." He had reggae's best selling album with the release of Legend, which was distributed three years after he died. The album sold 20 million copies around the world.

Bob Marley was born in a small village in Jamaica as Nesta Robert Marley. He changed his first and middle names later. His father, Norval Sinclair Marley, was Jamaican but of English descent. His family came from Essex, England and was a captain in the Royal Marines, when he married Cedella Booker, an eighteen year old Afro-Jamaican. While he provided financial support for his child and his wife, he rarely saw them, since he was frequently away for trips. When Bob was only 10 years of age, his father died of a heart attack. He was sixty years old. As a child, Bob faced racial prejudice, as he was mixed.

Bob Marley , Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer, Beverley Kelso, Junior Braithwaite, and Cheery Smith formed a rocksteady and ska group in 1963 called "The Teenagers." Later they changed their name to "The Wailers." Several of the members left, leaving Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh, and Bob Marley. In 1966, Bob Marley was married to Rita Anderson and moved close to his mother's home in the United States where he worked as a DuPont lab assistant as well as on an assembly line under the name Donald Marley.

When Marley returned to Jamaica, he became a member of the Rastafari movement. He then began to wear dreadlocks. In 1974, after the group had spent some time recording, the Wailers broke up in 1974. Bob Marley continued to record as "Bob Marley & The Wailers." He had his first international hit in 1975 with his hit, "No Woman, No Cry." It was from his Natty Dread album. His breakthrough album in the United States was Rastaman Vibration, and it actually spent four weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. Bob Marley, his wife, and his manager, Don Taylor, were wounded during an assault inside Marley's Home two days before a free concert that was organized to ease the tension that was present between two political groups that were warring. Marley continued to perform as scheduled, even with the injuries.

At the end of 1976, Bob Marley left for England and lived in exile. He recorded the Kaya and Exodus albums. While he was in London, he was arrested by police and was convicted of a small quantity of cannabis in his possession. He returned to Jamaica in 1978 and performed a political concert called One Love Peace Concert. The two leaders of the political parties, Michael Manley and Edward Seaga joined on stage and shook hands.

Bob Marley and the Wailers released eleven albums. In July of 1977, it was learned that Bob Marley had acral lentiginous melanoma, a form of malignant melanoma, which was possibly picked up from a wound in a football match. After touring America and performing two shows at Madison Square Garden, Marley's health quickly deteriorated and he became rather ill. The cancer had spread to different parts of his body. Marley went to a Bavarian clinic of Josef Issels, where a controversial form of cancer therapy was tried. He fought the cancer for eight months there without success, and then finally boarded a plane for Jamaica.

When Marley flew home to Jamaica, he became ill and had to land in Miami for attention immediately. He died on the morning of May 11, 1981. He was only 36 years old. The melanoma had spread to his lungs and his brain, causing his death at a very young age. He received a state funeral in Jamaica.

Only a month before his death, Marley was awarded the Jamaican Order of Merit. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. Additionally, Time magazine chose Bob Marley & The Wailer's album, Exodus as the greatest album produced in the 20th century. He was given the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001. Additionally, a documentary of his life, Rebel Music, was given several awards at the Grammys.

Bob Marley has had thirteen children. He had three with Rita, his wife, two that he adopted from Rita's prior relationships, and seven from other women. His children include Imani Carole, Sharon, Cedella, David "Ziggy," Stephen, Robert, Rohan, Karen, Stephanie, Julian, Ky-Mani, Damian, and Makeda.