(Thanks to all who’ve responded so avidly to my Ten Ways Christians Tend to Fail at Being Christian. It’s a been a fun storm to be caught up in. The article below has nothing to do with religion [save for maybe item #7]).
1. Bob’s father was a 50-year-old white British naval captain named Norval Sinclair Marley. Bob’s mom, a black country village girl named Cedella, was 19 when, in the small Jamaican village of Nine Mile in Saint Ann Parish, Bob was born at 2:30 in the morning on Feb. 6, 1945. Imagine how happy Cedella’s father was to discover his daughter had been sleeping with an old white man named Norval. Imagine how thrilled Norval’s family of racist colonialists was to learn the same thing.
2. Norval instructed Cedella to name the baby boy that was hers (and, he made clear, hers alone) Nesta Robert. So she did. “Robert” was the name of Norval’s brother.
3. Nobody knows to whom or what “Nesta” referred. Whatever its significance, it was important enough for Norval to make sure that Cedella spelled it right before he moved away.
4. As a little kid, Bob had a knack for deeply spooking people by successfully predicting their futures by reading their palms. At seven, having just returned to his rural village after a year spent living in the ghettos of Kingston (Jamaica’s capital), he declared that from then on he would cease to read palms. His new destiny, he said, was to become a singer. For the rest of his life, whenever someone who knew him back when asked him to read their palms, he resolutely refused.
5. A Jamaican immigration official suggested to Bob’s mom that “Nesta” sounded too much like a girl’s name. So they switched his name to Robert Nesta Marley.
6. “Tuff Gong,” the name of Bob’s recording label, was a nickname Bob earned for himself in the Kingston ghetto of Trenchtown (so named because it was built over an old drainage trench) for being exactly the wrong guy to screw with. Ever.
7. Bob was a devout Rastafarian. Ras Tafari is the name of a man who was crowned King of Ethiopia in 1930. With that crown came the honorific name Haile Selassie. Rastafarians thought this “Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah” was the messiah, come to redeem the black man. (Although true believers hold that all people are welcomed into the arms of Jehovah—whom Rastas call “Jah.”) Though doctrinally a legitimate sect of Orthodox Christianity, Rastafarianism can be difficult for non-Jamaicans to grasp. The one thing everybody does get is that Rastafarians smoke dope and wear dreadlocks (which put dread in the heart of the oppressors, see). Old Testament devotees, the Rastas smoke because Psalm 104:14 says: “He causeth . . . herb [to be grown] for the service of man . . . .” Their hairstyle comes from Leviticus 21:5: “They shall not make baldness upon their head.”
8. Nobody really knows what the word “reggae” means, or how it originated.
9. When Bob was twenty-one, he lived in Delaware for seven months. During that time he worked the night shift at a Chrysler plant (about which he wrote in his song, “Night Shift”), drove a forklift in a factory, and worked as a lab assistant for DuPont Chemical (!). When he was a kid, one of Bob’s regular chores was to hike five miles through rugged country to fetch firewood. Work was never a problem for Marley. He was famous for making his band rehearse hours and hours after any normal person would have dropped exhausted to the floor.
10. Bob, who at twenty-one married a beautiful Trenchtown Sunday school teacher named Rita (and stayed married to her until his death did they part), fathered an untold number of kids by an untold number of women. The general estimate puts the number of Marley’s progeny at around twenty. The way he could tell his children, he said, was by the way each spoke out of the side of his or her mouth, the way he did.
11. Bob’s mother had a child by Bunny Wailer’s dad when they were all living together in Trenchtown. That’s how close Bob and Bunny were.
12. Bunny Livingston (a.k.a. Bunny Wailer)’s given name is Neville O’Riley Livingston. (One of the original members of Bob Marley and the Wailers, Bunny was Bob’s brilliant percussionist, and a splendid back-up and lead singer.)
13. Peter Tosh’s given name was Winston Hubert McIntosh. “The Toughest,” as Tosh was known, was murdered in his home on Friday, September 11, 1987, by a 32-year-old hoodlum acquaintance of his named Leppo. (Tosh was a guitarist in The Wailers, and a very important reggae singer/songwriter in his own right.)
14. The first record Bob cut was called “Judge Not.” On its label his name was misspelled as “Bob Morley.” Working at the time in a tin shack as a master welder, Bob, 17, spent most of his pay in a rum-joint jukebox up the street in which his song was a selection. He played his record so often that finally the owner of the place yanked the record out of the jukebox and demanded that Bob leave, and never come back.
15. When Bob discovered that the reason he was still poor after being so famous for so long was that his long-time manager and friend Don Taylor had been robbing him blind, Bob beat Don to within an inch of his life. Then he fired him.
16. In July 1973, Bob and the Wailers opened a week of gigs for Bruce Springsteen. Later that year, they joined a 17-city tour of Sly and the Family Stone’s. After four shows, Sylvester Stone fired them for being too good and hogging all the adoration.
17. For a long time Bob drove a BMW—which, as far as he was concerned, stood for Bob Marley and the Wailers.
18. Bob was a professional level soccer player. Played a wicked game of ping-pong, too.
19. Bob once said: “America is pure deviltry, dem t’ings dat go on there. Dem just work with force and brutality. Dem lock out the punk thing because they see something happening. So the oppressors bring another man to blind the youth to the truth, and dem call him-John Tra-vol-ta.”
20. Bob died of cancer (brain, liver, stomach, lungs) on May 11, 1981. He was thirty-six years old. In one day, 40,000 people filed past his coffin as his body lay in state in Jamaica’s National Arena. And that’s just the number of people who got inside.
21. One of Bob’s most popular songs, “No Woman, No Cry,” is today sung as a lullaby to babies all over the world.
Related post o’ mine: My Name is Not Pato Banton.
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Posted by portorikan on April 1, 2008 at 6:52 am
Thanks for sharing. Good bit of info.
Posted by Arnette on April 1, 2008 at 7:37 am
Thanks, John! This is too cool. I’ve loved his music and knew bits and pieces about him but this really tells the story. Once they figure out which movie will be made (Rita’s or Ziggy’s) I’m going to see it. I’m going to Google Rastafarian now so I can learn more.
Posted by wineymomma on April 1, 2008 at 8:06 am
Don’ worry about a thing ’cause every little t’ing gonna be alright…
You made me have to go look up the real name of this song! (Three Little Birds)
Is it bad that everything my kids know about Bob Marley is from the movie Shark Tale?!?!
I love the scene in I am Legend where Will Smith’s character talks about Bob Marley
Whoa-that’s alot of Will Smith reference for one comment!!!
Posted by samwrites2 on April 1, 2008 at 9:12 am
John,
After all that, now I wish I’d seen him in concert. Ziggy Marley played a double bill with the B-52s once (1993) that was a hoot.
-Sam
Posted by Michelle on April 1, 2008 at 10:21 am
Interesting – I always loved his music.
I’m not sure if this part is a “fact”…
“Though doctrinally a legitimate sect of Orthodox Christianity, Rastafarianism can be extremely difficult faith for non-Jamaicans to fathom.”
They do appear to teach “another” gospel:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rastafari_movement
Posted by skerrib on April 1, 2008 at 11:39 am
This is too eerie…I’d been walking around all weekend with “I Shot the Sheriff” stuck in my head. Now I’ll never get it out.
Interesting facts, though.
Posted by Christian on April 1, 2008 at 5:03 pm
Cool stuff. I didn’t know any of that. I am just now warming up to reggae. I think the new perspective you’ve given me is gonna help.
Posted by Sabina on April 2, 2008 at 9:54 am
Thanks
Posted by John Shore on April 2, 2008 at 10:03 am
You’re welcome. Thank you. I put up another post too soon after this one — which means, of course, that this one is likely to go largely unread. So I appreciate all these kind comments. Marley lead such a fascinating life–and was such a bizarre kind of musical genius. As are all musical geniuses, of course.
Posted by arlywn on April 2, 2008 at 11:58 am
I loved the bob marley music at the end of I Am Legend. My coworkers and I would walk into the theater a minute or two before the movie let out just to catch the songs at the end. It was awesome.
Posted by kayla on April 2, 2008 at 2:45 pm
‘who is bob marley
Posted by SlyStoneBio on April 2, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Thanks for the interesting facts about Bob Marley. Lots of stuff here that I did not know. I did know about number 16 because I write about this incident in my book about Sly Stone. Check it out at http://www.lulu.com/content/1412956
Posted by Shell on April 2, 2008 at 5:11 pm
To Kayla–”GASP!” You owe it to yourself to go find out right now.
Posted by John Shore on April 2, 2008 at 5:18 pm
I figured she was kidding. But … maybe not??!!
Posted by Interesting Stuff 13 « Missio Dei on April 3, 2008 at 7:06 am
[...] Shore provides a really cool background on Bob Marley’s [...]
Posted by Nano on April 28, 2008 at 2:24 pm
this is the best documental a read before.
Congratulations
Posted by Marcie on June 20, 2008 at 4:52 pm
Most importantly, Bob Marley’s most humanitarian deed to end all Wars and bring Peace and love to the world!
Posted by John Shore on June 20, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Most importantly, indeed! Thanks for saying that.
Posted by Latoya on November 13, 2008 at 12:43 pm
Hey John, great article. I have always wondered this..what is it that other countries seems to find so fascinating about Reggae and Bob Marley? (there are people all around the world who dont know jamaica exists, but once you say Bob Marley they say Oooooooh!) Hey, maybe you could write an article about it
Posted by Cristina on April 6, 2009 at 11:19 am
Your wrong! Norval’s brother’s name first name was Nesta not Robert.Robert was his middle name.
Posted by John Shore on April 6, 2009 at 2:02 pm
Edith Marley, Norval Marley’s mother, had two sons: Norval, and Robert.
This is from the biography, “Bob Marley,” by Stephen Davis (Doubleday, 1985): “The Malcoms [being the family of Bob's mother, Cedella] didn’t name the baby [being baby Bob], but waited for the boy’s father to return from Kingston, and shortly after word was gotten to him that his wife in the country had delivered a son, Norval Marley came back to St. Ann for a week. He named the boy Nesta Robert Marley. The name Robert was chosen in honor of Norval’s brother, and the name Nesta was carefully spelled out for Cedella by Captain Marley without any explanation for why it had been chosen. To this day the name remains something of a mystery to the family.”
But do you have information that Norval’s brother Robert was named Nesta Robert? If so, where did you get that information?
Posted by David Tomen on April 16, 2009 at 5:49 am
One love.
Posted by Jerri Harrington on June 17, 2009 at 8:57 am
My son, who loves Bob Marley’s music, told me that Bob Marley’s cancer started on his big toe. Is that true? Interesting entry.
Posted by John Shore on June 17, 2009 at 9:21 am
Jerri: It’s been awhile since I was studying Bob, but as I recall that’s exactly right. He hurt his toe in one of his epic soccer matches with his friends; the wound didn’t heal; he finally went to a doctor about it (after, I believe, his toenail fell off); it was discovered that he had malignant melanoma in his toe. He was told amputating that toes would be wise, but not keeping the body whole is contrary to Rastafarian beliefs, so he declined. Later, of course, he was found to have cancer throughout his body, which eventually killed him.
Posted by Daina on May 26, 2010 at 12:58 pm
This is exactly how it happened. i had a jamaican boyfriend for 15 months and hes a big fan of bob marley, and this is actually how it happened
Posted by Cat Mahoney on September 13, 2009 at 8:47 am
thanks,,
needed this for my music homework
lol, i didnt know anything about bob marley, now i know loads more than i needed.
thanksssss x
Posted by Greer on September 23, 2009 at 8:18 am
I am only 12 but i love bob marley !!! i have to do a report about him!!! and i am only in the 6th grade!but i dont care i love him sooooooooooooo much!!!!!!!
soooooooooo thank you a lot i wish he was still alive!!!=) :0
Posted by John Shore on September 23, 2009 at 8:20 am
Send me your report when you’re done with it, okay? Just cut and paste it into the box you’ll find at the “About Me” tab on the top of this blog.
Posted by joebelle on September 29, 2009 at 6:18 am
hey ! sir. your good!!! i wish i was you!! i wish i can create articles like yours can you give some tips please.. this is my email address – jsg1011@yahoo.com i wish you can give advice to be an effective blogger!
♣ have a good day!
Posted by feb. 6 baby on October 15, 2009 at 1:20 pm
about bob’s cancer he actually lived with it for two years beacause of his religious beleives that being only eat natural foods from the earth and smoke sensimilla as a form of meditation. the doctors gave him less than a year to live but because of the cancer fighting attributes of THC the main chemical substance in marijuana he was able to live past that. ive also read some where he predicted he would die at age 36 so he wrote no women no cry before that for his mother cause he died telling her “momma dont cry” i love bob marley hes a legend and a prophet. im lucky enough to share a birthday with and boy do i have some shoes to fill especially being a musician.
peace love and respect to all mankind
Posted by jamey w. bennett on October 16, 2009 at 4:44 pm
It’s worth noting that the Ethiopian Orthodox Church is a Coptic, or Oriental, Orthodox Church. They are not in communion with the worldwide “Eastern” Orthodox Churches, though many Orthodox clergy and laity look to see this division healed.
It’s also worth noting that Bob Marley received Trinitarian baptism from the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Some claim that this was a move away from Rastafarianism and into true Christianity.
Posted by John Shore on October 16, 2009 at 6:38 pm
Jamey: Yes, two excellent points. Both completely interesting. Thanks.
Posted by “America is pure deviltry, dem t’ings dat go on there. Dem just work with force and brutality. Dem lock out the punk thing because they see something happening. So the oppressors bring another man to blind the youth to the truth, and dem call him-John on February 5, 2010 at 7:32 pm
[...] 4. As a little kid, Bob had a knack for deeply spooking people by successfully predicting their futures by reading their palms. At seven, having just returned to his rural village after a year spent living in the ghettos of Kingston (Jamaica’s capital), he declared that from then on he would cease to read palms. His new destiny, he said, was to become a singer. For the rest of his life, whenever someone who knew him back when asked him to read their palms, he resolutely refused. {Read on} [...]
Posted by “America is pure deviltry, dem t’ings dat go on there. Dem just work with force and brutality. Dem lock out the punk thing because they see something happening. So the oppressors bring another man to blind the youth to the truth, and dem call him-John on February 5, 2010 at 7:35 pm
[...] 4. As a little kid, Bob had a knack for deeply spooking people by successfully predicting their futures by reading their palms. At seven, having just returned to his rural village after a year spent living in the ghettos of Kingston (Jamaica’s capital), he declared that from then on he would cease to read palms. His new destiny, he said, was to become a singer. For the rest of his life, whenever someone who knew him back when asked him to read their palms, he resolutely refused. {Read on} [...]
Posted by rhapajap on February 16, 2010 at 3:52 am
jah…rasta…far…i……forever loving jah,,,
Posted by jcal on March 22, 2010 at 2:27 pm
I’m pretty sure Rastafarianism is not a sect of Christianity they’re a whole noher religion and have another holy book called the Kebra Negast…they do follow certain aspects of the bible but they believe that Haile Sellassie was the Christ. Even though Haile Sellassie himself was a christian and denounced the title of being God.
Posted by Rebel on March 27, 2010 at 12:51 pm
Yea I know, but there are Rastas outthere that see H.I.M. Just as a GREAT prophet but NOT as Jah/God… So it really depends on what kind of Rasta you are… Feel me?
Posted by francesco on April 20, 2010 at 10:18 am
i love BIG B
Posted by francesco on April 20, 2010 at 10:18 am
RRTHHJH
Posted by francesco on April 20, 2010 at 10:18 am
RRTHHJH
Posted by francesco on April 20, 2010 at 10:18 am
TNFD
Posted by francesco on April 20, 2010 at 10:20 am
oooooooooooooooooo yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Posted by John Shore on April 20, 2010 at 10:21 am
Well, the important thing is you haven’t let smoking pot interfere with your daily functioning.
Posted by Tristan on May 5, 2010 at 10:08 am
if you like bob marly you should chek out his son’s music. Damiean Marly. GREAT artist!
Posted by Daina on May 26, 2010 at 1:01 pm
or ziggy!!!!
Posted by Voicedude on May 10, 2010 at 11:43 am
Thanx for this, John.
As a DJ, I love playing “Jammin’” and calling it a ‘praise song’, only to have people look at me like I’m nuts – until I sing along with the part where Bob sings “Holy Messiah, Holy Messiah, Just seated on Mount Zion, Who rules all creation…”
Then, even non-fans capitulate…
Posted by James on June 21, 2010 at 3:44 pm
Someone please inform me on what the meaning of these words were.
“So the oppressors bring another man to blind the youth to the truth, and dem call him-John Tra-vol-ta.”