Robert
Nesta Marley, OM (February 6, 1945 – May 11, 1981),
better known as Bob
Marley, was a Jamaican singer, songwriter, and guitarist.
He is the most widely known performer of reggae music, and is
famous for having popularized the genre outside Jamaica.
A faithful Rastafari, Marley is regarded by many as a prophet
of the religion, as well as one of the greatest songwriters of
all time.
His best known songs are a mixture of reggae, rock, and rhythm
and blues, and include "I Shot the
Sheriff",
"No Woman No Cry", "Exodus", "Could You
Be Loved", "Jamming","Redemption Song"
and one of his most famous songs, "One Love".
His posthumous album Legend (1984)
became the best-selling reggae album ever, with sales of more
than 12 million copies.
Bob
Marley & The Wailers
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, performed backup vocals.
In 1975, Marley had his international breakthrough
with his first hit outside Jamaica,
"No Woman, No Cry" from the Natty
Dread album.
This was followed by his breakthrough album in the US, Rastaman
Vibration (1976),
which spent four weeks in the Billboard charts Top Ten.
In December 1976, two days before "Smile
Jamaica",
a free concert organized by Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley
in an attempt 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 only minor injuries in the chest and arm.
The shooting was thought to have 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.
Marley left Jamaica at the end of 1976 for England, where he recorded
his Exodus and Kaya albums.
Exodus stayed on the British charts for 56 consecutive weeks.
It included four UK hit singles: "Exodus", "Waiting
In Vain", "Jamming", and also "One Love",
a rendition of Curtis Mayfield's hit, "People Get Ready".
In
1978, Marley performed at another political concert in Jamaica,
the One Love Peace Concert,
again in an effort to calm warring parties.
Near the end of the performance, by Marley's request,
Manley and his political rival, Edward Seaga, joined each other
on stage and shook hands.
Survival, a defiant and politically charged album, was
released in 1979.
Tracks such as "Zimbabwe", "Africa Unite",
"Wake Up and Live", and "Survival"
reflected Marley's support for the struggles of Africans.
In early 1980, he was invited to perform at the April 17 celebration
of Zimbabwe's Independence Day.
Uprising (1980) was Bob Marley's
final studio album,
and is one of his most religious productions, including
"Redemption Song" and "Forever Loving Jah".
Confrontation, released posthumously
in 1983 ,
contained unreleased material recorded during Marley's lifetime,
including the hit "Buffalo Soldier" and new mixes of
singles previously only available in Jamaica.
Bob Marley was a member of the Rastafari
movement,
whose culture was a key element in the development of reggae.
Now considered a rasta legend,
Marley's adoption of the characteristic Rastafarian dreadlocks
and famous use of marijuana
as a sacred sacrament in the late sixties were an integral part
of his persona.
He is said to have entered every performance proclaiming the divinity
of Jah Rastafari.
Many of Marley's songs contained Biblical references,
sometimes using wordplay to fuse activism and religion,
as in "Revolution" and "Revelation":
"Revelation, reveals the truth...
"
It takes a revolution to make a solution... "
A few months before his death, Marley was baptised into the Ethiopian
Orthodox Church
and took the name Berhane Selassie (meaning the Light of the Holy
Trinity in Amharic.)
* May-Aug 1978: Kaya Tour (USA, Canada,
England, France, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Netherlands,
Belgium)
* Apr-May 1979: Babylon by Bus Tour (Japan, New Zealand, Australia,
Hawaii)
* Oct-Dec 1979: Survival Tour (USA, Canada, Trinidad/Tobago, Bahamas)
* May-Sep 1980: Uprising Tour (Switzerland, Germany, France, Norway,
Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Ireland,
England, Scotland, Wales, USA).
"Natural
Mystic"
There's a natural mystic blowing through the air;
If you listen carefully now you will hear.
This could be the first trumpet, might as well be the
last:
Many more will have to suffer,
Many more will have to die - don't ask me why.
Things are not the way they used to be,
I won't tell no lie;
One and all have to face reality now.
'Though I've tried to find the answer to all the questions
they ask.
'Though I know it's impossible to go livin' through the
past -
Don't tell no lie.
There's a natural mystic blowing through the air -
Can't keep them down -
If you listen carefully now you will hear.
There's a natural mystic blowing through the air.
This could be the first trumpet, might as well be the
last:
Many more will have to suffer,
Many more will have to die - don't ask me why.
There's a natural mystic blowing through the air -
I won't tell no lie;
If you listen carefully now you will hear:
There's a natural mystic blowing through the air.
Such a natural mystic blowing through the air;
There's a natural mystic blowing through the air;
Such a natural mystic blowing through the air;
Such a natural mystic blowing through the air;
Such a natural mystic blowing through the air.
