Bob Marley performed his final performance today in 1980. On September 23, 1980, Marley took to the stage at the Stanley Theater in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. and collapsed on stage. Two days prior, he had collapsed in New York while jogging in Central Park. Doctors told him to cancel the rest of the US tour, and he went ahead.
In July 1977, doctors found a malignant melanoma under the nail of one of his toes. Marley turned down doctors’ advice to have his toe amputated, citing his religious beliefs. Shortly after, Marley’s health deteriorated, and he became very ill; cancer had spread throughout his body.
He died at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Miami on the morning of May 11, 1981, at 36.
Open your eyes, look within. Are you satisfied with the life you’re living?
Bob Marley
Born on 6th February 1945 in Sussex, England as Nesta Robert Marley, Bob Marley was a singer/songwriter and guitarist who had the 1981 UK No.8 single with ‘No Woman No Cry’, and over ten UK Top 40 singles. His 1976 album Rastaman Vibration went to No. 8 on the US charts and No. 15 in the UK. They changed his birth name to Robert Nesta Marley when a Jamaican official said Nesta was too feminine of a name.
Marley’s influence is unparalleled and helped spread Jamaican music and the Rastafarian movement to a worldwide audience.
He grew up in the squatter settlement of Trench Town, Jamaica. His street fighting skills earned him the moniker Tuff Gong as a teen which later was the name of his record label.
Trench Town was a culturally rich community where Bob Marley’s creative and abundant musical talents nurtured and the inspiration of his music. He immortalized Trench Town in his songs ‘No Woman No Cry’, ‘Trench Town Rock’, and ‘Trench Town’.
Until the age of 7, Bob Marley was a palm reader and pursued a career in music after living a year in the Jamaican slums.
The island’s music industry was taking shape by the early 60s, giving rise to an indigenous popular Jamaican music form called ska. Ska was a local interpretation of the American soul and R&B, with an irresistible accent on the offbeat. This genre exerted a powerful influence on poor Jamaican youth while offering a welcomed escape from their otherwise harsh realities. The elusive lure of stardom became a tangible goal for many ghetto youths.
In 1962 Marley fellow musician Jimmy Cliff introduced him to producer Leslie Kong. Kong produced Marley’s singles ‘Judge Not’, ‘Terror’, and ‘One More Cup of Coffee’. The latter was a cover of country star Claude Gray’s million-selling hit. The songs had no commercial success, yet Marley was working full time in the music industry.
Marley formed the band The Teenagers with Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh, Junior Braithwaite, Beverley Kelso, and Cherry Smith in 1963. Bunny Wailer was a childhood friend of Marley’s. The band later changed their name to The Wailing Rudeboys, then The Wailing Wailers, and finally to The Wailers.
Signed with CBS Records, The Wailers recorded demos and toured the UK for a short period. The band achieved worldwide acclaim when Island Records founder and producer Chris Blackwell paid for their studio time and released the album Catch A Fire in 1973. Hits ‘Jamming’, ‘Waiting In Vain’, ‘One Love/People Get Ready’, ‘I Shot The Sherriff’ and ‘No Woman No Cry’ followed.
His 1977 album Exodus was named Album of the Century by Time Magazine in 1999. BBC designated his single ‘One Love’ as Song of the Millennium. Marley’s Legend compilation released in 1984 has sold over 250,000 copies annually and has sold over 10 million copies worldwide, according to Nielson Sound Scan.
They proclaimed February 6 a national holiday in 1990 in Jamaica to commemorate his birth.
Birthdays
Ray Charles, singer-songwriter, born in 1930. (1962 UK & US No.1 single ‘I Can’t Stop Loving You’ plus over 30 US Top 40 singles, 2005 US No.1 album ‘Genius Loves Company’). Charles died on 10th June 2004, aged 73.
Julio Iglesias, a Spanish singer, born in 1943. (1981 UK No.1 single ‘Begin The Beguine’. Iglesias has sold over 100m albums).
Neal Smith, drummer with the Alice Cooper Band, born in 1947. He had the 1972 UK No.1 & US No.7 single ‘School’s Out’, the 1972 hit ‘Elected’ and the 1973 US & UK No.1 album Billion Dollar Babies.
US singer, songwriter, Bruce Springsteen, ‘The Boss’, born in 1949. He had the 1985 US No.2 & UK No.4 single ‘Dancing In The Dark’, 1994 UK No.2 single ‘Streets of Philadelphia’. His most successful studio albums, Born in the U.S.A. and Born To Run showcase a talent for finding grandeur in the struggles of daily American life; he has sold over 65 million albums in the United States and over 120 million worldwide.
