bob marley the legend of jamaica
Robert Nesta Marley was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter.
Considered one among the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements of reggae, ska, and rocksteady, also as his distinctive vocal and songwriting style. Marley's contributions to music increased the visibility of Jamaican music worldwide, and made him a worldwide figure in popular culture to this day. Over the course of his career, Marley became referred to as a Rastafari icon, and he infused his music with a way of spirituality. he's also considered a global symbol of Jamaican music and culture and identity, and was controversial in his outspoken support for democratic social reforms. In 1976, Marley survived an assassination attempt in his home, which was thought to be politically motivated. He also supported legalization of marijuana, and advocated for Pan-Africanism.
The group began to gain international attention after signing to Island, and touring in support of the albums Catch a fireplace and Burnin'. Following the disbandment of the Wailers a year later, Marley carried on under the band's name. The album Natty Dread received positive reception. In 1975, following the worldwide popularity of Eric Clapton's version of Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff", Marley had his international breakthrough together with his first hit outside Jamaica, with a live version of "No Woman, No Cry", from the Live! album. Marley also ranks together of the best-selling music artists of all time, with estimated sales of quite 75 million records worldwide. He was posthumously honoured by Jamaica soon after his death with a delegated Order of Merit by his nation. In 1994, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Rolling Stone ranked him No. 11 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Norval Marley was from Crowborough, East Sussex in England, then resident of Clarendon Parish, Norval claimed to possess been a captain in the Royal Marines; at the time of his marriage to Cedella Malcolm, an Afro-Jamaican then 18 years old, he was employed as a plantation overseer. Marley 's full name is Robert Nesta Marley, though some sources give his birth name as Nesta Robert Marley, with a story that when Marley was still a boy a Jamaican passport official reversed his first and middle names because Nesta seemed like a girl's name. Norval provided support for his wife and child but seldom saw them as he was often away. Marley attended Stepney Primary and Junior High School which serves the catchment area of Saint Ann. In 1955, when Marley was 10 years old, his father died of a attack at the age of 70. Marley's mother went on later to marry Edward Booker, a official from the United States, giving Marley two half-brothers: Richard and Anthony.
Bob Marley and Neville Livingston had been childhood friends in Nine Mile. that they had started to play music together while at Stepney Primary and Junior High School. Marley left Nine Mile together with his mother when he was 12 and moved to Trenchtown, Kingston. She and Thadeus Livingston had a daughter together whom they named Claudette Pearl, who was a younger sister to both Bob and Bunny. Now that Marley and Livingston were cohabitation in the same house in Trenchtown, their musical explorations deepened to incorporate the new ska music, and therefore the latest R&B from United States radio stations whose broadcasts reached Jamaica. Marley formed a vocal group with Bunny Wailer, and Peter Tosh. The line-up was known variously because the Teenagers, the Wailing Rudeboys, the Wailing Wailers and eventually just the Wailers. Joe Higgs, who was a part of the successful vocal act Higgs and Wilson, lived nearby and encouraged Marley. Marley and therefore the others did not play any instruments at this time, and were more curious about being a vocal harmony group. Higgs helped them develop their vocal harmonies, and began to teach Marley how to play guitar.
Musical career
1962–1972: Early years
In February 1962, Marley recorded four songs, "Judge Not", "One Cup of Coffee", "Do you continue to Love Me?" and "Terror", at Federal Studios for local music producer Leslie Kong. Three of the songs were released on Beverley's with "One Cup of Coffee" being released under the pseudonym Bobby Martell.
In 1963, Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh, Junior Braithwaite, Beverley Kelso, and Cherry Smith were called the Teenagers. They later changed the name to the Wailing Rudeboys, then to the Wailing Wailers, at which point they were discovered by record producer Coxsone Dodd, and eventually to the Wailers. Their single "Simmer Down" for the Coxsone label became a Jamaican No. 1 in February 1964 selling an estimated 70,000 copies. The Wailers, now regularly recording for Studio One, found themselves working with established Jamaican musicians like Ernest Ranglin, the keyboardist Jackie Mittoo and saxophonist Roland Alphonso. By 1966, Braithwaite, Kelso, and Smith had left the Wailers, leaving the core trio of Marley , Bunny Wailer, and Peter Tosh.
In 1966, Marley married Rita Anderson, and moved near his mother's residence in Wilmington, Delaware, within the United States for a short time, during which he worked as a DuPont lab assistant, and on the production line and as a fork lift operator at a Chrysler plant in nearby Newark, under the alias Donald Marley.
Though raised as a Catholic, Marley took an interest in Rastafari beliefs in the 1960s, when faraway from his mother's influence. After returning to Jamaica, Marley formally converted to Rastafari and commenced to grow dreadlocks.
After a financial disagreement with Dodd, Marley and his band teamed up with Lee "Scratch" Perry and his studio band, the Upsetters. Although the alliance lasted but a year, they recorded what many consider the Wailers' finest work. Marley and Perry split after a dispute regarding the assignment of recording rights, but they might continue to work together.
1969 brought another change to Jamaican popular music genre in which the beat slowed down even further. The new beat was a slow, steady, ticking rhythm that was first heard on The Maytals song "Do the Reggay." Marley approached producer Leslie Kong, who was considered one of the major developers of the reggae sound. For the recordings, Kong combined the Wailers together with his studio musicians called Beverley's All-Stars, which consisted of the bassists Lloyd Parks and Jackie Jackson, the drummer Paul Douglas, the keyboard players Gladstone Anderson and Winston Wright, and therefore the guitarists Rad Bryan, Lynn Taitt, and Hux Brown.
Between 1968 and 1972, Bob and Rita Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer re-cut some old tracks with JAD Records in Kingston and London in an effort to commercialise the Wailers' sound. Bunny later asserted that these songs "should never be released on an album... they were just demos for record companies to concentrate to". In 1968, Bob and Rita visited songwriter Jimmy Norman at his apartment within the Bronx. Norman had written the extended lyrics for Kai Winding's "Time Is on My Side" and had also written for Johnny Nash and Hendrix . A three-day musical performance with Norman and others, including Norman's co-writer Al Pyfrom, resulted during a 24-minute tape of Marley performing several of his own and Norman-Pyfrom's compositions. This tape is, consistent with Reggae archivist Roger Steffens, rare therein it was influenced by pop rather than reggae, as a part of an effort to break Marley into the US charts.
1972–1974: Move to Island Records
In 1972, Marley signed with CBS Records in London and embarked on a UK tour with soul singer Johnny Nash. While in London the Wailers asked their road manager Brent Clarke to introduce them to Chris Blackwell, who had licensed a number of their Coxsone releases for his Island Records. The Wailers intended to debate the royalties associated with these releases; instead, the meeting resulted within the offer of an advance of £4,000 to record an album. Since Jimmy Cliff, Island's top reggae star, had recently left the label, Blackwell was primed for a replacement. In Marley, Blackwell recognised the weather needed to snare the rock audience: "I was dealing with rock music, which was really rebel music. I felt that might really be the way to break Jamaican music. But you needed someone who might be that image. When Bob walked in he really was that image." The Wailers returned to Jamaica to record at Harry J's in Kingston, which resulted within the album Catch a Fire.
Primarily recorded on an eight-track, Catch a fireplace marked the first time a reggae band had access to a state-of-the-art studio and were accorded the same care as their rock 'n' roll peers. and restructured Marley's mixes and arrangements. Marley travelled to London to supervise Blackwell's overdubbing of the album at Island Studios, including tempering the mix from the bass-heavy sound of Jamaican music and omitting two tracks. Clapton was impressed and chose to record a canopy version of "I Shot the Sheriff" which became his first US hit since "Layla" two years earlier and reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on 14 September 1974. Many Jamaicans weren't keen on the new reggae sound on Catch a Fire, but the Trenchtown sort of Burnin found fans across both reggae and rock audiences. The Wailers disbanded in 1974, with each of the three main members pursuing a solo career.
1974–1976: Line-up changes and shooting
Despite the break-up, Marley continued recording as "Bob Marley & The Wailers". His new backing band included brothers Carlton and Aston "Family Man" Barrett on drums and bass respectively, Junior Marvin and Al Anderson on lead guitar, Tyrone Downie and Earl "Wya" Lindo on keyboards, and Alvin "Seeco" Patterson on percussion. The "I Threes", consisting of Judy Mowatt, Marcia Griffiths, and Marley's wife, Rita, provided backing vocals. In 1975, Marley had his international breakthrough together with his first hit outside Jamaica, with a live version of "No Woman, No Cry", from the Live! album. This was followed by his breakthrough album within the United States, Rastaman Vibration, which reached the highest 50 of the Billboard Soul Charts.
On 3 December 1976, two days before "Smile Jamaica", a free concert organised by the Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley in an effort to ease tension between two warring political groups, Marley, his wife, and manager Don Taylor were wounded in an assault by unknown gunmen inside Marley's home. Taylor and Marley's wife sustained serious injuries but later made full recoveries. Marley received minor wounds in the chest and arm. The attempt on his life was thought to possess been politically motivated, as many felt the concert was really a support rally for Manley. Nonetheless, the concert proceeded, and an injured Marley performed as scheduled, two days after the attempt. When asked why, Marley responded, "The people that are trying to make this world worse aren't taking a day off. How can I?" The members of the group Zap Pow played as Bob Marley's backup band before a festival crowd of 80,000 while members of The Wailers were still missing or doggo .
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