Black History Month Music: Bob Marley

Tweet

Howdy! Yesterday was another one of those powerful museums that I have to recover from. I’ll do that today (I’m near a Sonny’s BBQ ), and I’ll give you a happy song from today’s featured artist. Bob Marley Yeah, mon. Like I’m going to forget the man who put reggae on the international map? Most people couldn’t name five reggae musicians, but one of them would definitely be Bob Marley. And, most people who can’t name five Bob Marley songs do know one he wrote: “I Shot the Sheriff.” Marley was known as an ambassador of love (“One Love”), marijuana, and Rastafarianism. He took the music of ska and rocksteady and combined them with the religion of his people and unleashed it on the world. Marley didn’t invent reggae, but he was there on the ground floor of its development; and, it’s not a stretch to say that most wouldn’t know reggae without him. Marley’s status made him a target in the political unrest in Jamaica. On December 3, 1976, Marley, his manager, and his wife were shot in an assassination attempt, reportedly fueled by anger over Marley appearing at a festival where the Jamaican prime minister would also appear. Despite being shot in the arm and the chest, Marley appeared at the festival as scheduled. Oh, then he left Jamaica. Marley moved to England and continued making reggae a household genre of music. Six months after moving, there was a cancerous growth found on his big toe. The doctors told him that amputating the toe would solve the problem, but Marley refused on religious grounds (and probably an underlying concern that he wouldn’t be able to play soccer anymore). That turned out to be a fatal mistake, as the cancer returned and metastasized to his brain by 1980. By then, Marley was a legend. Sadly, with the cancer advancing on his body, the only honor he received in his lifetime was the Jamaican Order of Merit, the highest honor for Jamaican artists. Shortly before his death he converted to the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian Church, which his closest associates and family kept quiet because of Marley’s status in Jamaica (where Rastafari started). Marley was given a state funeral in Jamaica. Marley’s influence on music is gigantic even today, 45 years after his death. Bob Marley Born Robert Nesta Marley, February 6, 1945, Nine Mile, Saint Ann, Jamaica Died May 11, 1981, Miami, Florida (cancer) (age 36) HALLS OF FAME: Rock and Roll, 1994; Songwriters, 2010; UK Music, 2004 One of my favorite Marley songs, “Three Little Birds,” with that optimistic chorus of “every little thing’s gonna be all right”: