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Bob Marley
Feb 2, 1945-May 11, 1981
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Artistfacts:
| Marley was very generous with his money. He bought houses and supported many of the poor in Jamaica. |
| His mother Cedella was a 17-year-old Jamaican native, his father Norval was a white British military officer in his 50s. Bob rarely saw his father. |
| He left school at 15 to become an apprentice to a welder. |
| Marley spent a month in prison in 1968 for marijuana possession. He identified with the prisoners he met and started writing more political songs. |
| Until Jamaica gained independence from Britain in 1962, the radio stations played music for the white, upper class. Marley and other natives set up mobile sound systems to play the Reggae beats they were making. |
| Marley passed away from Melanoma cancer - a cancer which only affects white people. The cancer was located on his toe, under his toenail. The only way he found out was when he injured his toe during a soccer game in 1977, and the wound did not fully heal for nearly 3 years! Even his doctors were baffled as to how he could have Melanoma due to his color, but they came to a conclusion since Bob Marley's father was a white Jamaican of English decent, Bob had the gene that made him susceptible to that form of cancer. Because Bob Marley did not choose to amputate his toe at first due to his Rastafarian beliefs, the cancer spread to his stomach, lungs and brain. (thanks, Rajina - sydney, Australia) |
| His nickname was "Tuff Gong." He set up a record label called Tuff Gong Records. |
| There is a Bob Marley museum on Hope Road in Kingston, Jamaica, where he once lived. |
| Lauryn Hill was married to Marley's son Rohan, who played football for the Miami Hurricanes. They have 3 children together. |
| Time magazine named Marley's Exodus album the best of the 20th century. |
| Jimmy Cliff helped Marley get his first record contract. |
| His group The Wailers were kicked off a tour in 1973 because they were upstaging the headliners, Sly And The Family Stone. |
| His children Ziggy, Steve, Cedella, and Sharon are in the Reggae band The Melody Makers. |
| Even though he died in 1981, Marley still sells more albums each year than any other Reggae artist. |
| Bono inducted Marley into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. |
| Marley was a Rastafarian. As such, he was a vegetarian and believed that marijuana (ganga), is a sacred herb. Rastafarians do not cut their hair. |
| His name was actually Nesta Robert Marley, "Nesta" meaning messenger, as his mother Cedella had great visions of his birth and she believed he was blessed by God. His name was changed when he got a passport to travel to America to make money for the Wailers. The the worker taking his details said he should put his middle name down as Nesta because it would be seen as a girl's name in America. That is why he is called Bob Marley. (thanks, James - brightons, falkirk, Scotland) |
| Marley was employed as a waiter, assembly line worker, fork lift operator, and lab assistant before finally hitting it big. |
| Marley collapsed while jogging in 1980 in New York City's Central Park. He died eight months later from a combination of brain, lung, and liver cancer. |
| Two days before the Smile Jamaica Concert, a gunman went into Bob's house and shot him in the arm. Bob still performed at the concert to prove that a gun man would not scare him off. |
| Bob's first home was a one-room shack in the village of Nine Miles, St. Ann. |
| Marley married Rita Anderson on February 10, 1966. He had 4 children with Rita and another 8 with other women. Jamaican men were rarely monogamous. (thanks, Tony - Trenchtown, for above 3) |
| Bob Marley's home - Trenchtown - was so named because it was built on the sewers. (thanks, Matt - Perth, Australia) |
| In January 2008, the Jamaican National Archives reported that about 80% of the musical archives from the Jamaican Broadcasting Corporation have been stolen, including many rare recordings from Marley, Peter Tosh and many other Reggae artists. (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France) |
| Marley didn't have a will, which resulted in numerous disputes over his estate since his death. (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France) |
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Comments:
| Wash your dreads? I work at a hospital and I don't even wash my hands! - Don, Elkhorn, NE |
| Bob did actually have 72 bugs in his dreads. Some of the bugs were lice. He also lost some of his hair due to chemotherapy, but he didn't lose all of it before he died. It is not a myth & I'm not saying dreads are disgusting just stating a well known fact. - Adam, Newton, IL |
| ok to all you fools who dont think bugs live in dreads, get YOUR facts straight! brah with the clean dreads, where do you live? in the city where there is hardly any bugs anyways!? in a enclosed house/room where bugs have a hard time getting in? and how did u get ur dreads in a salon? from experience of having naturally occuring dreadlocks(meaning they were not made by hand) and living in a treehouse in the JUNGLE of HAWAII, theres TONS of bugs!!. ive had all kinds of bugs and spiders even cochroaches! i washed my dreads a few times a week even. and bob, dont know if he washed his dreads or not but its irrelevent anyways. he lived in the bush where there is LOTS of bugs(for all you city dwellers who think theres no bugs). and what a perfect nest, dreadlocks. it would be nearly impossible to keep all bugs out of dreads if you live where there is "life." and not in a "concrete jungle" - nigel, haiku, HI |
| those who say they found bugs in his hair post death... are either liars or just uneducated on the subject.... bob marley did not have hair when he died, so how could they...? - henrik, bergen, Norway |
| god bless bob marley he woz the greatest piece loving man who exspressed his music .before eny other band .we should hear is songs more often and never forget a great man like him. - stephen, liveverpool, United Kingdom |
| >>>Bob marley had a strange religion that you had to smoke pot and see religous things
<<<
So what you are saying is the only difference with most religions is that for his religion you have to smoke something before seeing the religious things? - rox0r, Trenchtown, MA |
| Gayle from Liverpoole is correct. You should modify that fact! Also, Zula is obviously undereducated, and it saddens those who are not to see such a waste in the world. No one is pushing religion or staples of that religion on anyone else. Religion is a choice and a freedom.
peacenlove (to everyone else)
- Meg, Washington , DC |
| bob marley is pretty effing cool and that thing about melanoma is bs bkuz black people can get it too... thats racist! shame on whoever wroted that! - bre, p-cola, FL |
| Nick Zula that is the dumbest thing ive ever heard, why post slander about Nesta? Just wrong, take your closemindedness elsewhere.
one love
- Cody, Janesville , WI |
| Bob seemed to be a lonely man to me. Not in the sense that he didn't have people around him - it was more of a state of mind. I believe his alienation stemmed from his lack of contact with his father. His voice always had a sense of melancholy to it, even when he was singing about something happy. A very sensitive man. - Neil J., Calgary, Canada |
| It is absurd to say that Rastafari have a weird religion that revolves around getting stoned. The religion follows the Bible more closely than Christians do, at least the parts that don't talk about waging war with nonbelievers. They are a peaceful group of people who know their rights as human beings, so everybody is afraid of them. There are some racist Rastafarians - it used to be semi-popular for them to be black-power, because they blame the white man for exploiting what was once a prideful land (Africa), but their leader, Haile Selassie I, whom they held to be divine, urged them to support equality.
Who the hell said that he overdosed? People are so brainwashed... if he supports marijuana use he must be a drug abuser?
SKIN CANCER is not just a white disease. There is more than one kind of it, and like all diseases several are race specific, but there is no skin color that is completely safe from melanoma.
I've read many things I did not know about Bob Marley on this page. - Kyle Patrick, New Carlisle, IN |
| I just did some research on melanoma and I found something called Acral Lentiginous Melanoma (ALM). It can occur under or near fingernails or toenails. It is the most common form of melanoma in asians and people that are dark-skinned. I read about another form of melanoma called Subungual melanoma. This cancer also can occur on the big toe and can develop in dark skinned people. Many believe that this form of cancer can occur in sites of chronic trauma. Maybe this is what Mr. Marley had. - soulangeana, springfield, IL |
| I dont see why you guys say everyone w/dlocks has bugs in their hair. I have natural dreadlocks and i dont have bugs but what can i say bob marley is the greatest musician of all time - Wildman, Vancouver, Canada |
| Half of jamaica is NOT rastafarian. i should know i live there!Bob's a legend, but hes not god (thats for chris!). beautiful writer and musician best days were the lee perry ones. screw chris blackwell. and no i dont know why trench town is called trench town.the lean to argument sound more realistic, ive been there alot and that seems sensible. Too bad we have all these impersonators. bob is bob and all these young kids are trying to be him. im tired of hearing a cheap immitation, bob was himself and so should they. - Patrina, Kingston,Jamaica, Other |
| Bob Marley was someone I never met. So I can't comment on his cleanliness. Often that doesn't really affect a person's message. Which he is remembered and loved for. BUT!
I have lived in Woodstock, NY for a long time and lived among many rastafarians. They were nasty people, racist upon whole. The paradox is that most of them had white wives. They smelled terribly due to their hair. Rastas do not comb, shampoo, or condition their hair *period*
Maybe this only exists in Woodstock, NY and the Jamacans who migrated their were outcasts in Jamaica. But I doubt it.
Trench Town has trenchs with lean-to's (shacks with one wall dirt) built into the trench walls. Hence the title Trench Town. - D, NYC, NY |
| iono but almost everybody in my school think that he died of overdose - brian, annandale, VA |
| BOB MARLEY IS AN INSPIRATION TO MANY PEOPLE - rose, lake worth, FL |
| IL saw Bob and the Wailers in Oakland in 1976. Best concert I ever saw. He stopped the cops from busting smokers by suddenly shifting to "hey Mr. Cop" in the middle of a song. During intermission, I saw the Grateful Dead (who often performed Bob's songs with great respect) smoking a number in the lobby during intermission. I will never forget Bob Marley's dedication to his art and his respect for his audience, even in the middle of Bablyon in 1976 -- it was life-inspiring. - Daniel, Oakland, CA |
| bob marley had 39 species of bugs in his hair when he died - Tiddlywinks, quebec, Canada |
| Anyone that would be so ignorant as to say that Bob Marley had bugs in his hair doesn't deserve to be called a fan. What a terrible lie to tell. It makes me sad to even see the words in print. Just because Rastafarians don't comb their hair doesn't mean they don't keep it clean with shampoo and conditioner just like baldheads do. Shame on those who wrote it. - Legacy, Boston, MA |
| i've been searching for a place like this to see what people think about B.M & now i found it:)!!so this is my first post:) i don't know what to say except that Bob was the greatest...his music toucht the hearts of alot of people includeing me!!!he died but still lives on in our heart and mind...i've been listening to his music for some time now(10 years) & painted his picture & the jamaican flag on my wall so that i can see him everyday when i wake up & say "YOUR THE MAN" !....PEACE BOB!!!WHE LOVE YOU!! - Ruda, Lugoj, Romania |
| Bob Marley had a deadly form of skin cancer (melanoma) which affects 1 in 4 black or asian people, he never had his toe amputated because of his beliefs, he died of metastic melanoma not lung liver and brain cancer. - Gayle, Liverpool , England |
| "bob marley had a strange religion"
dont belittle other people you jackass rastafarianism is not strange at all it's a native culture to jamaica, leave it alone.
by the way, if it were strange, i doubt about half of jamaica, maybe more, would practice it. - Josh, New York, NY |
| i dont think he got cancer from his white gene, thats the stupidest thing ive ever heard, you get any cancer no matter what color u are....but bob was, and still is a GOD!! no one will ever be like bob.....
love you bob!!!!
-ch - chris, North Vancouver, Canada |
| bob marley is the best! but I don't agree that he didn't have bugs in his hair.I have listened that he had almoust 31 kind of bugs.PEACE & LOVE RASTAGIRL - AM, bitola, Europe |
| Bob marley had a strange religion that you had to smoke pot and see religous things - Nick-zula, Paramus, NJ |
| Every Bob Marley fan should learn & be inspired from his music - what good is it that you just listen to his tunes and nod & say 'Bob Marley is the best , he is a legend' but you do not apply his teachings , motivation in everyday life??
Don't just listen to his music - do something about the message that is given.
Here's an idea to get you started - be more charitable if you're not already..help the needy in the 3rd world country. If you really love Bob - donate your time & money to the needy...in the memory of Robert Nesta Marley. - Rajina, sydney, Australia |
| BOB MARLEY IS MY LOVE. if you love bob, check out sublime. they are my favorite band! - Izzie, lala, HI |
| bob marley is the best - Nikki, Brampton, Canada |
| He got cancer from his injured toe because it probably got infected and it went through his blood system which either caused his liver cancer or brain cancer and the pot cause lung cancer and probably brain cancer... wow he really got hit hard with 3 deadly cancers. Bob Marley rocks, he will always be known as the greatest Reggae musician of all time RIP BOB MARLEY - greg, brantford, Canada |
| I was wondering...how was it that the cancer started in his toe? - Brady, Fort Stockton, TX |
| bob marley is a ledendary regga artist he died of a mixture of brain,lung and liver cancer but he is still rememberd - jamie, birmingham, AL |
| this is what i remember.......
1) the cancer started in his toe. he found that after being injured in a soccer game. he had the toe removed but not the leg below the knee. it was not skin cancer and the doctor(S) there were many examined the correct foot.
2) Marley's hair had NO bugs in it. Rastas don't cut or comb thier hair. but the DO wash it. Marley's hair was cut off when he started to lose it to chemo. it was preserved then placed on him again when he was buried.
3) Trenchtown is not built on a sewer, rather it gets its name from a large open-trenched sewer that runs through the neighborhood
4)He was married to 3 women. they sang backup and were known as the I-threes. - lazer, buffalo, NY |
| hey, i just want to say first of all that i truly believe that Bob Marley changed the world in so many ways. I listent to him all the time and i find a sort of serenity in his songs. his legend will live on forever and it is a shame that he died then and that he is not around now to continue filling peoples ears and hearts with his music!
p.s i love gil! and her pickles....mmmm pickles - alex, toronto, Canada |
| I've heard it said that Bob died from what was initially a form of skin cancer that he refused to have treated. Ironic, really, because skin cancer is a 'white' disease and Bob wanted to speak up for black people. - Martijn, Helmond, Netherlands |
| bob marley was born on feb 6, 1945....after he died, more than 50 species were found on his hair.... - wahoo, gen. santos city, Other |
| Bob Marley is awesome! I love him so much I named my dog Nesta, which is a great name! - Rachelle, ashburn, VA |
| robert nesta marley was the greatest man to ever live... natural mystic is the greatest reggae song ever.. irie ;) - amanda, port washington, NY |
| Bob Marley to me is the greatest musician of all time and "Redemption Song" is #1 in my list he is simply the greatest!! - Leslie, anahiem, CA |
| Shortly before he died, Marley was awarded the British Order of Merit. So after that, he could officially be referred to as the Honorable Robert N. Marley, OM. - Michael, New York City, NY |
| Bob Marley's "Redemption Song" is IMO Marley's greatest composition. Is truly a timeless classic. Peace. - Don, Pittsburgh, PA |
| This is wery nice. i've been searching for a thing like this for years :S - Svavar, ReykjavÃ?k ICELAND, Iceland |
| Bob Marley is the best reggae musician of all time. Thats my two cents - Hans, oakdale, CA |
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