MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music. MOJO was first published on 15 October 1993; in keeping with its classic rock aesthetic, the first issue had Bob Dylan and John Lennon as its first cover stars. Noted for its in-depth coverage of both popular and cult acts it acted as the inspiration for Blender and Uncut. Many noted music critics have written for it including Charles Shaar Murray, Greil Marcus, Nick Kent and Jon Savage. The launch editor of MOJO was Paul Du Noyer and his successors have included Mat Snow, Paul Trynka and Pat Gilbert.

While some criticise it for its frequent coverage of classic rock acts such as The Beatles and Bob Dylan, it has nevertheless featured many newer and "left-field" acts. It was the first mainstream magazine in the UK to focus on The White Stripes, whom it has covered as zealously as many older acts.

MOJO regularly includes a covermount CD which ties in with a current magazine article or theme. In 2004 it introduced the Mojo Honours list, an awards ceremony which is a mixture of readers' and critics' awards.

In early 2010, MOJO was involved in a controversial move by its new parent company, Bauer, via Bauer's attempt to unilaterally impose a new contract on all photographers and writers, which takes away their copyright and off-loads liability for libel or copyright infringement from the publisher onto the contributor. Two hundred photographers and writers from MOJO and Bauer's other music magazines, Kerrang! and Q were reported as refusing to work under the new terms.^[2]

Lists[link]

More recently, the magazine has taken to publishing many "Top 100" lists, including the subjects of drug songs (Mojo #109), rock epics (Mojo #125), protest songs (Mojo #126) and even the most miserable songs of all time (Mojo #127). To celebrate 150 issues, the magazine published a "Top 100 Albums of Mojo's Lifetime" list (essentially 1993 onwards). The top five for this list were:

1. Grace - Jeff Buckley (1994)
2. American Recordings - Johnny Cash (1994)
3. OK Computer - Radiohead (1997)
4. Time Out of Mind - Bob Dylan (1997)
5. Definitely Maybe - Oasis (1994)

In 2007, the magazine set out to determine "The Top 100 Records That Changed the World." The list was compiled and voted on by an eclectic panel of superstars, including Björk, Tori Amos, Tom Waits, Brian Wilson, Pete Wentz, and Steve Earle. Little Richard's original 1955 hit "Tutti Frutti" took the number one spot. The record, dubbed "a torrent of filth wailed by a bisexual alien," beat the Beatles "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" (2nd) and Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" (3rd). The magazine's editors claimed "that the 100 albums, singles and 78s that made up the list make up the most influential and inspirational recordings ever made." Hailing "Tutti Frutti" as the sound of the birth of Rock n Roll, the magazine's editors went on to state "one can only imagine how it must have sounded when the song exploded across the airwaves!"

The top 10 on Mojo's 100 Records That Changed The World list are:

1. "Tutti Frutti" by Little Richard
2. "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by The Beatles
3. "Heartbreak Hotel" by Elvis Presley
4. The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan by Bob Dylan
5. Autobahn by Kraftwerk
6. King of the Delta Blues Singers by Robert Johnson
7. The Velvet Underground & Nico by The Velvet Underground and Nico
8. Anthology of American Folk Music (various artists)
9. "What'd I Say" by Ray Charles
10. "God Save the Queen" by Sex Pistols

The magazine also published an issue in 2008 that celebrated the Beatles' 'The White Album', featuring a cover-mounted CD that included many cover versions of tracks from the album, including 'Blackbird' sung in Scottish Gaelic by Julie Fowlis.

Special editions[link]

After the success of an all-Beatles issue, published to mark the release of The Beatles Anthology, many stand-alone, themed special editions of MOJO have been produced, devoting an entire magazine to one artist or genre. Three of the most successful were the series, produced by then special editions editor Chris Hunt, telling the story of The Beatles - one thousand days at a time. Featuring contributions from many of the world's leading rock critics and Beatles experts, such as Hunter Davies, Mark Lewisohn, Richard Williams, Ian MacDonald and Alan Clayson, the three magazines were published between 2002 and 2003, before being collected together by then-Editor-in-Chief Paul Trynka and published as the book The Beatles: Ten Years That Shook The World (Dorling Kindersley, 2004). Other special editions have focused on Pink Floyd, Psychedelia, Punk and The Sixties. MOJO has also published four editions of "The MOJO Collection: The Greatest Albums Of All Time" (Canongate books), originally edited by the magazine's founding features editor Jim Irvin, and a series of short, definitive biographies under the imprint MOJO Heroes, starting in 2002 with Neil Young: Reflections In Broken Glass, written by Sylvie Simmons, a longtime MOJO Contributing Editor.

Mojo Radio[link]

The company behind the magazine, Bauer, also produced a digital radio station. This station was called Mojo Radio, and was transmitted on the digital television networks in the UK (Freeview channel 721 and Sky Digital channel 0182, though not Virgin Media) and online. The output of the station was based on that of the magazine. It was announced on 5 November 2008 that Mojo Radio would cease broadcasting on 30 November 2008 in order to save parent company, Bauer, money.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Mojo website
• Catalogue of Mojo covermount CDs

v t e Bauer Media Group Bauer Radio Bauer Place Portfolio Northern England CHR stations: CFM Radio · Hallam FM · Key 103 · Metro Radio · Radio City 96.7 · 96.3 Radio Aire · 97.4 Rock FM · TFM Radio · 96.9 Viking FM Scotland CHR stations: 102.5 Clyde 1 · 97.3 Forth One · Tay FM · 97.4 MFR · Moray Firth Radio 1107AM · Northsound 1 · Radio Borders · 96.7 West FM · West Sound FM Northern Ireland: Cool FM  · Downtown Radio Magic Network: Magic 105.4 · Magic AM · Magic 828 · Magic 999 · Magic 1152 · Piccadilly Magic 1152 · Magic 1161 · Magic 1170 · Magic 1548 Scottish AM stations: Clyde 2 · 1548 Forth 2 · Northsound 2 · Tay AM · West Sound (AM) Other Place radio assets: Wave 105 · City Talk 105.9 Bauer Passion Portfolio: Kiss Network: Kiss 100 · Kiss 101 · Kiss 105-108 Kerrang Radio (West Midlands FM and quasi-national digital) Digital stations: Heat · The Hits · Q · Smash Hits Publishing UK Consumer Titles: Angling Times · Bella · Bike · Bird Watching · Car · Classic Bike · Classic Cars · Closer · Country Walking · Digital Photo · Empire · FHM · First · Freesail · Garden Answers · Garden News · Golf World · Grazia · Improve Your Coarse Fishing · Heat · Instant Beauty · Kerrang! · Land Rover Owner International · Landscape · Match · Model Rail · Mojo · More! · Mother & Baby · Motor Cycle News (MCN) · New Woman · Parker's · Performance Bikes · Pop · Practical Classics · Practical Fishkeeping · Practical Photography · Pregnancy & Birth · Puzzle Magazines · Q · RAIL · RiDE · Sea Angler · Shopping for Baby · Skiing · Steam Railway · Spirit&Destiny · Take a Break · That's life! · Today's Golfer · Top Sante · Total TVguide · Trail · Trout & Salmon · Trout Fisherman · TV Choice · Waves · What Bike? · Your Horse · Yours · Zoo US Consumer Titles: ASTROgirl · First for Women · In Touch Weekly · J-14 · Life & Style Weekly · Life Story · M · QuizFest · Soaps in Depth · Twist · Woman's World German Consumer Titles: Bravo · Das Neue Blatt · Volksstimme Business Publications: AM · Fleet News · Pet Product Marketing · Sewells Information and Research Distribution: Seymour · Frontline Box Television (50%) The Box · 4Music (run by Channel 4) · Kiss · Magic · Kerrang! · Q · Smash Hits! Category

Look up mojo in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Mojo is a magical charm bag used in hoodoo, which has transmuted into a slang word for self-confidence, self-esteem or sex appeal. It may also refer to:

Media and entertainment[link]

• Mojo (comics), a supervillain in various Marvel Comics publications
• Mojo, a board game
• Mojo!, a video game
• Mojo (play & film), a play then subsequent film by Jez Butterworth
• Mojo (magazine), a British music magazine
• Mojo (mobile journalist), a journalist in the field who sends stories electronically
• Mojo: Conjure Stories, an anthology edited by Nalo Hopkinson
• MOJO HD, an American television network
• Mother Jones (magazine), a progressive magazine colloquially referred to as "MoJo"
• Mojo Rules System (RPG), a generic multi-genre RPG rules system presented in Polymancer
• Mojo, a character in Chrono Cross
• Mojo Jojo, the main villain in The Powerpuff Girls

Music[link]

• Mojo, a 2010 album by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
• Mr Mojo Risin, an anagram of "Jim Morrison", found on "L.A. Woman", a 1971 album by The Doors.
• Mojo Nixon, American musician
• "Got My Mojo Workin'", a song made popular by Muddy Waters that became a blues standard
• MoJo, a Japanese vocalist
• The Mojos, a 1960s merseybeat group
• "Mojo" (Peeping Tom song)
• Mojo Radio (WPLJ), a New York City-based radio station
• Mojo Radio (CFMJ), a Toronto, Ontario radio station CFMJ
• Mojo Concerts, a Dutch subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications
• Mojo Records, a record label
• "Mojo", a song by Night Ranger from Feeding off the Mojo
• George "Mojo" Buford, American blues harmonica player
• "Mojo So Dope", 6th song from the album "Man of the Moon II" of American musician Kid Cudi
• Mo' Mojo, a Zydeco Jam band from Akron, OH
• Wild Bill Mojo Band, Rock band from New Jersey

Places[link]

• Mojo, Ethiopia, a railway town near Addis Ababa
• Mojo Alcantara, an Italian municipality in Sicily

People[link]

Mojo as given name

• Mojo Mendiola, philologist and artist

Mojo as nicknames

• Mo Johnston or MoJo, footballer
• Mortimer Jordan High School, or MoJo, in Morris, Alabama
• Maurice Jones-Drew or MoJo, NFL running back for the Jacksonville Jaguars
• Matt Morginsky or Mojo, former lead singer of The O.C. Supertones
• Permian High School or Mojo, a high school in Odessa, Texas
• Mark Montijo or Mojo, an automotive wheel Designer/Engineer in Southern California

Other[link]

• Mojo (sauce), a name of various culinary sauces used in the Canary Islands (Spain) and the Caribbean
• Mojo Press, a publisher of books and graphic novels
• Miscarriages of Justice Organisation or MOJO, a charity dedicated to fighting miscarriages of justice
• Box Office Mojo, a website detailing motion picture box-office totals
• Mojoworld Generator, a computer software package used in 3D computer graphics
• Mojo Club, a club in Hamburg
• Modjo, a French dance music duo
• Moxos people, an Amerind people sometimes called Mojos or Mohos
• Libido, sometimes referred to in slang as 'mojo'.
• Mojo (advertising), an Australian advertising agency.
• Mojo (SDK), a software development kit for developing web applications for webOS
• Mojo (Apache Maven software), (Maven-old-java-object) a goal for a Apache Maven plugin, usually annotated Java classes or Beanshell script.
• Mojo (Moeller) a sculpture by Christian Moeller
• Mojo (Groups), a group messaging application for smartphone and web interface
• Mojo chews, a child's confectionery (candy) popular in the 1970s and 1980s in Britain and Ireland, still manufactured in 2012 by Tangerine Confectionery.

See also[link]

• All pages beginning with "Mojo"
• All pages with titles containing "Mojo"
• Moio (disambiguation)
• Moyo (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Alpharita Constantia Anderson (born 25 July 1946), better known as Rita Marley, and sometimes called "Nana Rita", is the widow of reggae legend/musician Bob Marley, and a member of the trio the I Threes, Bob Marley's backup singers.

Biography[link]

Rita was born July 25, 1946 in Santiago de Cuba to Leroy Anderson and Cynthia "Beda" Jarrett. She grew up in the upper level of Beachwood Avenue, located in Kingston, Jamaica. In her book No Woman, No Cry: My Life with Bob Marley Rita describes how she was raised by her Aunt Viola on Greenwich Park Road. Bob was from the lower level of Trenchtown.

In the mid 1960s, Rita met Bob after meeting Peter Tosh. After it was learned that she was a singer, she was asked to audition for the Soulettes, later known as the I Threes. The group included Rita, her cousin Constantine "Dream" Walker, and Marlene "Precious" Giffordwas.^{[citation needed]} Bob became the group's mentor and manager and through working together, he and Rita fell in love.

The two married 10 February 1966. However, the reason for their marriage was said to have been a way to make it easier for Rita to immigrate to the US should Bob have decided to live in the US following a visit with his mother in Delaware. Raised Christian, she became involved in the Rastafari Movement prior to witnessing stigmata during Haile Selassie's visit to Jamaica on 21 April 1966. She remains, however, an active member of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.^{[citation needed]}

After Marley's death, she recorded a few albums under her name with some success in the United Kingdom.^{[citation needed]}

In 1986, Rita made the decision to convert Bob Marley's home into the Bob Marley Museum. She is also the Founder and Chairperson of the Robert Marley Foundation, Bob Marley Trust, and the Bob Marley Group of Companies. She founded the Rita Marley Foundation in 2000. She has also adopted 35 children in Ethiopia and has assisted over 200 children in Konkonuru Methodist School in Ghana and made a commitment to positively impact their lives.^{[citation needed]}

Children[link]

Rita has six children, three from other relationships and three with Bob. Bob adopted Rita's two children as his own and they have the Marley name. Bob has 13 children in total: the two of Rita's that he adopted, three born to Rita, and the remaining eight with separate women.^{[1][2][dead link]} Rita's children are, in order of birth:

1. Sharon Marley, born November 23, 1964
2. Cedella Marley born August 23, 1967
3. David "Ziggy" Marley, born October 17, 1968
4. Stephen Marley, born April 20, 1972
5. Stephanie, born 17 August 1974 (from a relationship with Ital, according to Bob's mother, Cedella Booker)
6. Serita Stewart, born August 11, 1985 (from a relationship with Tacky, according to her biography)

Recent/Current[link]

Rita appears in the song "Mary Jane Shoes" on Fergie's multi-platinum 2006 album The Dutchess. Rita performed background vocals to the song "Raikoum" by Khaled in his album Liberté. She also performed background vocals for the song Ouelli El Darek by Khaled in his album Sahra.

Rita Marley Foundation[link]

In 2000, Rita Marley founded the Rita Marley Foundation. It is a non-governmental, not-for-profit, non-partisan organization that works to alleviate poverty and hunger in developing countries. It specifically targets elderly and youth.^[3]

It has given out a number of scholarships to music students in Ghana's Berklee College of Music. It also hosts the annual Unite Africa which looks to spread global awareness about issues that affect Africa and to develop lasting solutions.

Controversy[link]

Rita Marley planned to have the body of her late husband, Bob Marley, exhumed and buried in Ethiopia, his "spiritual resting place" in 2005. She wanted it to be a month long celebration of what would be his 60th birthday. The area in which she wanted to bury him was a Rastafarian community that was given land by the country's last emperor, Haile Selassie. She claimed to have the backing of the Ethiopian government and said "We are working on bringing his remains to Ethiopia. It is part of Bob's own mission. Bob's whole life is about Africa, it is not about Jamaica. How can you give up a continent for an island? He has a right for his remains to be where he would love them to be. This was his mission. Ethiopia is his spiritual resting place. With the 60th anniversary this year, the impact is there and the time is right."^[4]

Discography[link]

• 1967 : Pied Piper (single, on Club Ska '67) - Mango
• 1980 : Rita Marley - Trident
• 1981 : Who Feels It Knows It - Shanachie Records
• 1983 : It's About Time - John Denver; RCA
• 1988 : Harambe (Working Together for Freedom) - Shanachie Records
• 1988 : We Must Carry on - Shanachie Records
• 1990 : Beauty of God's - Shanachie Records
• 1990 : Good Girls Cult - Shanachie Records
• 1990 : One Draw - Shanachie Records
• 2003 : Sings Bob Marley...and Friends - Shanachie Records
• 2004 : Play Play - Universal Music
• 2005 : Sunshine After Rain
• 2006 : Gifted Fourteen Carnation

References[link]

1. ^ Meredith Dixon
2. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/1xtra/dancehall/marley_famtree1.shtm
3. ^ Rita Marley Foundation web site
4. ^ News IMDb web site

External links[link]

• Rita Marley at the Internet Movie Database
• starpulse.com biography
• VH1 biography

Books[link]

Rita Marley, Hettie Jones (2004). No Woman, No Cry: My Life with Bob Marley. Hyperion, ISBN 0-7868-6867-8

Bob Marley
Bob Marley performing in concert, circa 1980.
Background information
Birth name	Robert Nesta Marley
Also known as	Tuff Gong
Born	(1945-02-06)6 February 1945 Nine Mile, Saint Ann, Jamaica
Died	11 May 1981(1981-05-11) (aged 36) Miami, Florida, U.S.
Genres	Reggae, ska, rocksteady
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, musician
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, piano, saxophone, harmonica, percussion
Years active	1962–1981
Labels	Studio One, Upsetter, Tuff Gong
Associated acts	Bob Marley & The Wailers, Wailers Band, The Upsetters, I Threes
Website	bobmarley.com

Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley, OM (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981) was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead singer for the ska, rocksteady and reggae band Bob Marley & The Wailers (1963–1981). Marley remains the most widely known and revered performer of reggae music, and is credited with helping spread both Jamaican music and the Rastafari movement to a worldwide audience.^[1]

Marley's music was heavily influenced by the social issues of his homeland, and he is considered to have given voice to the specific political and cultural nexus of Jamaica.^[2] His best-known hits include "I Shot the Sheriff", "No Woman, No Cry", "Could You Be Loved", "Stir It Up", "Get Up Stand Up", "Jamming", "Redemption Song", "One Love" and, "Three Little Birds",^[3] as well as the posthumous releases "Buffalo Soldier" and "Iron Lion Zion". The compilation album Legend (1984), released three years after his death, is reggae's best-selling album, going ten times Platinum which is also known as one Diamond in the U.S.,^[4] and selling 25 million copies worldwide.^[5][6]

Early life and career[link]

Bob Marley was born in the village of Nine Mile in Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica as Nesta Robert Marley.^[7] A Jamaican passport official would later swap his first and middle names.^[8] His father, Norval Sinclair Marley, was a white Jamaican of mixed and English descent whose family came from Sussex, England. Norval was a captain in the Royal Marines,^{[citation needed]} as well as a plantation overseer, when he married Cedella Booker, an Afro-Jamaican then 18 years old.^[9] Norval provided financial support for his wife and child, but seldom saw them, as he was often away on trips. In 1955, when Bob Marley was 10 years old, his father died of a heart attack at age 70.^[10] Marley faced questions about his own racial identity throughout his life. He once reflected:

I don't have prejudice against meself. My father was a white and my mother was black. Them call me half-caste or whatever. Me don't deh pon nobody's side. Me don't deh pon the black man's side nor the white man's side. Me deh pon God's side, the one who create me and cause me to come from black and white.^[11]

The Bob Marley House in Nine Mile is a home that he shared with his mother during his youth

Although Marley recognised his mixed ancestry, throughout his life and because of his beliefs, he self-identified as a black African, following the ideas of Pan-African leaders. Marley stated that his two biggest influences were the African-centered Marcus Garvey and Haile Selassie. A central theme in Bob Marley's message was the repatriation of black people to Zion, which in his view was Ethiopia, or more generally, Africa.^[12] In songs such as "Black Survivor", "Babylon System", and "Blackman Redemption", Marley sings about the struggles of blacks and Africans against oppression from the West or "Babylon".^[13]

Marley and his step brother Bunny Wailer (Bob's mother had a daughter with Bunny's father, younger sister to both of them) started to play music while he was still at school, which he left at the age of 14 to make music with Joe Higgs, a local singer and devout Rastafari. At a jam session with Higgs and Livingston, Marley met Peter McIntosh (later known as Peter Tosh), who had similar musical ambitions.^[14] In 1962, Marley recorded his first two singles, "Judge Not" and "One Cup of Coffee", with local music producer Leslie Kong. These songs, released on the Beverley's label under the pseudonym of Bobby Martell,^[15] attracted little attention. The songs were later re-released on the box set Songs of Freedom, a posthumous collection of Marley's work. Marley was also known to use an Epiphone guitar for much of his career.

Bob Marley Epiphone guitar at his birthplace in Nine Mile, Jamaica.

Bob Marley & The Wailers[link]

1963–1974[link]

Marley in concert in 1980, Zurich, Switzerland

In 1963, Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh, Junior Braithwaite, Beverley Kelso, and Cherry Smith formed a ska and rocksteady group, calling themselves "The Teenagers". They later changed their name to "The Wailing Rudeboys", then to "The Wailing Wailers", at which point they were discovered by record producer Coxsone Dodd, and finally to "The Wailers". By 1966, Braithwaite, Kelso, and Smith had left The Wailers, leaving the core trio of Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, and Peter Tosh.^[16]

In 1966, Marley married Rita Anderson, and moved near his mother's residence in Wilmington, Delaware in the United States for a short time, during which he worked as a DuPont lab assistant and on the assembly line at a Chrysler plant, under the alias Donald Marley.^[17]

Though raised in the Catholic tradition, Marley became captivated by Rastafarian beliefs in the 1960s, when away from his mother's influence.^[18] Formally converted to Rastafari after returning to Jamaica, Marley began to wear his trademark dreadlocks (see the religion section for more on Marley's religious views). After a conflict with Dodd, Marley and his band teamed up with Lee "Scratch" Perry and his studio band, The Upsetters. Although the alliance lasted less than a year, they recorded what many consider The Wailers' finest work. Marley and Perry split after a dispute regarding the assignment of recording rights, but they would remain friends and work together again.

Bob Marley's flat in 1972 at 34 Ridgmount Gardens, Bloomsbury, London, his first UK address.^[19][20]

Between 1968 and 1972, Bob and Rita Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer re-cut some old tracks with JAD Records in Kingston and London in an attempt to commercialise The Wailers' sound. Bunny later asserted that these songs "should never be released on an album ... they were just demos for record companies to listen to". Also in 1968, Bob and Rita visited the Bronx to see Johnny Nash's songwriter Jimmy Norman.^[21] A three-day jam session with Norman and others, including Norman's co-writer Al Pyfrom, resulted in a 24-minute tape of Marley performing several of his own and Norman-Pyfrom's compositions. This tape is, according to Reggae archivist Roger Steffens, rare in that it was influenced by pop rather than reggae, as part of an effort to break Marley into the American charts.^[21] According to an article in The New York Times, Marley experimented on the tape with different sounds, adopting a doo-wop style on "Stay With Me" and "the slow love song style of 1960's artists" on "Splish for My Splash".^[21] An artist yet to establish himself outside his native Jamaica, Marley lived in Ridgmount Gardens, Bloomsbury, London during 1972.^[19][20]

In 1972, the Wailers entered into an ill-fated deal with CBS Records and embarked on a tour with American soul singer Johnny Nash. Broke, the Wailers became stranded in London. Marley turned up at Island Records founder and producer Chris Blackwell's London office, and asked him to advance the cost of a new single. Since Jimmy Cliff, Island's top reggae star, had recently left the label, Blackwell was primed for a replacement. In Marley, Blackwell recognized the elements needed to snare the rock audience: "I was dealing with rock music, which was really rebel music. I felt that would really be the way to break Jamaican music. But you needed someone who could be that image. When Bob walked in he really was that image."^[22] Blackwell told Marley he wanted The Wailers to record a complete album (essentially unheard of at the time). When Marley told him it would take between £3,000 and £4,000, Blackwell trusted him with the greater sum. Despite their "rude boy" reputation, the Wailers returned to Kingston and honored the deal, delivering the album Catch A Fire.

Primarily recorded on eight-track at Harry J's in Kingston, Catch A Fire marked the first time a reggae band had access to a state-of-the-art studio and were accorded the same care as their rock'n'roll peers.^[22] Blackwell desired to create "more of a drifting, hypnotic-type feel than a reggae rhythm",^[23] and restructured Marley's mixes and arrangements. Marley travelled to London to supervise Blackwell's overdubbing of the album, which included tempering the mix from the bass-heavy sound of Jamaican music, and omitting two tracks.^[22]

The Wailers' first major label album, Catch a Fire was released worldwide in April 1973, packaged like a rock record with a unique Zippo lighter lift-top. Initially selling 14,000 units, it didn't make Marley a star, but received a positive critical reception.^[22] It was followed later that year by Burnin', which included the standout songs "Get Up, Stand Up", and "I Shot the Sheriff", which appealed to the ear of Eric Clapton. He recorded a cover of the track in 1974 which became a huge American hit, raising Marley's international profile.^[24] Many Jamaicans were not keen on the new "improved" reggae sound on Catch A Fire, but the Trenchtown style of Burnin' found fans across both reggae and rock audiences.^[22]

During this period, Blackwell gifted his Kingston residence and company headquarters at 56 Hope Road (then known as Island House) to Marley. Housing Tuff Gong Studios, the property became not only Marley's office, but also his home.^[22]

The Wailers were scheduled to open 17 shows for the number one black act in the States, Sly and the Family Stone. After 4 shows, the band was fired because they were more popular than the acts they were opening for.^[25] The Wailers broke up in 1974 with each of the three main members pursuing solo careers. The reason for the breakup is shrouded in conjecture; some believe that there were disagreements amongst Bunny, Peter, and Bob concerning performances, while others claim that Bunny and Peter simply preferred solo work.

1974–1981[link]

Bob Marley & The Wailers live at Crystal Palace Park during the Uprising Tour

Despite the break-up, 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, provided backing 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 United States, Rastaman Vibration (1976), which spent four weeks on the Billboard Hot 100.^[26] On 3 December 1976, two days before "Smile Jamaica", a free concert organised by the 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. Bob Marley received minor wounds in the chest and arm.^[27] 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, two days after the attempt. When asked why, Marley responded, "The people who are trying to make this world worse aren’t taking a day off. How can I?" The members of the group Zap Pow, which had no radical religious or political beliefs, played as Bob Marley's backup band before a festival crowd of 80,000 while members of The Wailers were still missing or in hiding.^[28][29]

Marley left Jamaica at the end of 1976, and after a month-long "recovery and writing" sojourn at the site of Chris Blackwell's Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas, arrived in England, where he spent two years in self-imposed exile. Whilst there he recorded the albums Exodus and Kaya. Exodus stayed on the British album charts for 56 consecutive weeks. It included four UK hit singles: "Exodus", "Waiting in Vain", "Jamming", and "One Love" (a rendition of Curtis Mayfield's hit, "People Get Ready"). During his time in London, he was arrested and received a conviction for possession of a small quantity of cannabis.^[30] In 1978, Marley returned to Jamaica and performed at another political concert, the One Love Peace Concert, again in an effort to calm warring parties. Near the end of the performance, by Marley's request, Michael Manley (leader of then-ruling People's National Party) and his political rival Edward Seaga (leader of the opposing Jamaica Labour Party), joined each other on stage and shook hands.^[31]

Under the name Bob Marley and the Wailers eleven albums were released, four live albums and seven studio albums. The releases included Babylon by Bus, a double live album with thirteen tracks, were released in 1978 and received critical acclaim. This album, and specifically the final track "Jamming" with the audience in a frenzy, captured the intensity of Marley's live performances.^[32]

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. His appearance at the Amandla Festival in Boston in July 1979 showed his strong opposition to South African apartheid, which he already had shown in his song "War" in 1976. In early 1980, he was invited to perform at the 17 April celebration of Zimbabwe's Independence Day. Uprising (1980) was Bob Marley's final studio album, and is one of his most religious productions; it includes "Redemption Song" and "Forever Loving Jah".^[34] 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.^[35]

Personal life[link]

Religion[link]

Bob Marley was a member of the Rastafari movement, whose culture was a key element in the development of reggae. Bob Marley became an ardent proponent of Rastafari, taking their music out of the socially deprived areas of Jamaica and onto the international music scene. He once gave the following response, which was typical, to a question put to him during a recorded interview:

• Interviewer: "Can you tell the people what it means being a Rastafarian?"
• Bob: "I would say to the people, Be still, and know that His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia is the Almighty. Now, the Bible seh so, Babylon newspaper seh so, and I and I the children seh so. Yunno? So I don't see how much more reveal our people want. Wha' dem want? a white God, well God come black. True true."^[36]

Observant of the Rastafari practice Ital, a diet that shuns meat, Marley was a vegetarian.^[37] According to his biographers, he affiliated with the Twelve Tribes Mansion. He was in the denomination known as "Tribe of Joseph", because he was born in February (each of the twelve sects being composed of members born in a different month). He signified this in his album liner notes, quoting the portion from Genesis that includes Jacob's blessing to his son Joseph. Marley was baptised by the Archbishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Kingston, Jamaica, on 4 November 1980.^[38][39]

Family[link]

Bob Marley had a number of children: three with his wife Rita, two adopted from Rita's previous relationships, and several others with different women. The Bob Marley official website acknowledges eleven children.

Those listed on the official site are:

1. Sharon, born 23 November 1964, to Rita in previous relationship
2. Cedella born 23 August 1967, to Rita
3. David "Ziggy", born 17 October 1968, to Rita
4. Stephen, born 20 April 1972, to Rita
5. Robert "Robbie", born 16 May 1972, to Pat Williams
6. Rohan, born 19 May 1972, to Janet Hunt
7. Karen, born 1973 to Janet Bowen
8. Stephanie, born 17 August 1974; according to Cedella Booker she was the daughter of Rita and a man called Ital with whom Rita had an affair; nonetheless she was acknowledged as Bob's daughter
9. Julian, born 4 June 1975, to Lucy Pounder
10. Ky-Mani, born 26 February 1976, to Anita Belnavis
11. Damian, born 21 July 1978, to Cindy Breakspeare

Makeda was born on 30 May 1981, to Yvette Crichton, after Marley's death.^[40] Meredith Dixon's book lists her as Marley's child, but she is not listed as such on the Bob Marley official website.

Various websites, for example,^[41] also list Imani Carole, born 22 May 1963 to Cheryl Murray; but she does not appear on the official Bob Marley website.^[40]

Final years and death[link]

Marley performing in Dalymount Park in the late 1970s

In July 1977, Marley was found to have a type of malignant melanoma under the nail of one of his toes. Contrary to urban legend, this lesion was not primarily caused by an injury during a football match in that year, but was instead a symptom of the already existing cancer. Marley turned down doctors' advice to have his toe amputated, citing his religious beliefs.^[42] Despite his illness, he continued touring and was in the process of scheduling a world tour in 1980. The intention was for Inner Circle to be his opening act on the tour but after their lead singer Jacob Miller died in Jamaica in March 1980 after returning from a scouting mission in Brazil this was no longer mentioned.^[43]

The album Uprising was released in May 1980 (produced by Chris Blackwell), on which "Redemption Song" is particularly considered to be about Marley coming to terms with his mortality.^{[citation needed]} The band completed a major tour of Europe, where they played their biggest concert, to a hundred thousand people in Milan. After the tour Marley went to America, where he performed two shows at Madison Square Garden as part of the Uprising Tour.

The final concert of Bob Marley's career was held 23 September 1980 at the Stanley Theater (now called The Benedum Center For The Performing Arts) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The audio recording of that concert is now available on CD, vinyl, and digital music services.

Shortly after, Marley's health deteriorated and he became very ill; the cancer had spread throughout his body. The rest of the tour was cancelled and Marley sought treatment at the Bavarian clinic of Josef Issels, where he received a controversial type of cancer therapy (Issels treatment) partly based on avoidance of certain foods, drinks, and other substances. After fighting the cancer without success for eight months, Marley boarded a plane for his home in Jamaica.^[44]

While flying home from Germany to Jamaica, Marley's vital functions worsened. After landing in Miami, Florida, he was taken to the hospital for immediate medical attention. He died at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Miami (now University of Miami Hospital) on the morning of 11 May 1981, at the age of 36. The spread of melanoma to his lungs and brain caused his death. His final words to his son Ziggy were "Money can't buy life".^[45] Marley received a state funeral in Jamaica on 21 May 1981, which combined elements of Ethiopian Orthodoxy and Rastafari tradition.^[46] He was buried in a chapel near his birthplace with his red Gibson Les Paul (some accounts say it was a Fender Stratocaster).^[47]

On 21 May 1981, Jamaican Prime Minister Edward Seaga delivered the final funeral eulogy to Marley, declaring:

His voice was an omnipresent cry in our electronic world. His sharp features, majestic looks, and prancing style a vivid etching on the landscape of our minds. Bob Marley was never seen. He was an experience which left an indelible imprint with each encounter. Such a man cannot be erased from the mind. He is part of the collective consciousness of the nation.^[48]

Legacy[link]

Marley has remained popular for decades after his death—one of many memorials to him is this representation at Madame Tussaud Wax Museum in Amsterdam

Bob Marley was the Third World's first pop superstar. He was the man who introduced the world to the mystic power of reggae. He was a true rocker at heart, and as a songwriter, he brought the lyrical force of Bob Dylan, the personal charisma of John Lennon, and the essential vocal stylings of Smokey Robinson into one voice.

— Jann Wenner, at Marley’s 1994 posthumous introduction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame^[49]

In 1999 Time magazine chose Bob Marley & The Wailers' Exodus as the greatest album of the 20th century.^[50] In 2001, he was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and a feature-length documentary about his life, Rebel Music, won various awards at the Grammys. With contributions from Rita, The Wailers, and Marley's lovers and children, it also tells much of the story in his own words.^[51] A statue was inaugurated, next to the national stadium on Arthur Wint Drive in Kingston to commemorate him. In 2006, the State of New York renamed a portion of Church Avenue from Remsen Avenue to East 98th Street in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn "Bob Marley Boulevard".^[52] In 2008, a statue of Marley was inaugurated in Banatski Sokolac, Serbia.^[53]

Internationally, Marley’s message also continues to reverberate amongst various indigenous communities. For instance, the Aboriginal people of Australia continue to burn a sacred flame to honor his memory in Sydney’s Victoria Park, while members of the Native American Hopi and Havasupai tribe revere his work.^[54] There are also many tributes to Bob Marley throughout India, including restaurants, hotels, and cultural festivals.^[55][56]

Marley has also evolved into a global symbol, which has been endlessly merchandised through a variety of mediums. In light of this, author Dave Thompson in his book Reggae and Caribbean Music, laments what he perceives to be the commercialized pacification of Marley's more militant edge, stating:

Bob Marley ranks among both the most popular and the most misunderstood figures in modern culture ... That the machine has utterly emasculated Marley is beyond doubt. Gone from the public record is the ghetto kid who dreamed of Che Guevara and the Black Panthers, and pinned their posters up in the Wailers Soul Shack record store; who believed in freedom; and the fighting which it necessitated, and dressed the part on an early album sleeve; whose heroes were James Brown and Muhammad Ali; whose God was Ras Tafari and whose sacrament was marijuana. Instead, the Bob Marley who surveys his kingdom today is smiling benevolence, a shining sun, a waving palm tree, and a string of hits which tumble out of polite radio like candy from a gumball machine. Of course it has assured his immortality. But it has also demeaned him beyond recognition. Bob Marley was worth far more.^[57]

Film adaptations[link]

In February 2008, director Martin Scorsese announced his intention to produce a documentary movie on Marley. The film was set to be released on 6 February 2010, on what would have been Marley's 65th birthday.^[58] However, Scorsese dropped out due to scheduling problems. He was replaced by Jonathan Demme,^[59] who dropped out due to creative differences with producer Steve Bing during the beginning of editing. Kevin Macdonald replaced Demme^[60] and the film, Marley, was released on 20 April 2012.

In March 2008, The Weinstein Company announced its plans to produce a biopic of Bob Marley, based on the book No Woman No Cry: My Life With Bob Marley by Rita Marley. Rudy Langlais will produce the script by Lizzie Borden and Rita Marley will be executive producer.^[61]

Ex-girlfriend and filmmaker Esther Anderson, along with Gian Godoy, made the documentary Bob Marley: The Making of a Legend, which premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2011.^[62]

Discography[link]

• The Wailing Wailers (1965)
• The Best of The Wailers (1970)
• Soul Rebels (1970)
• Soul Revolution (1971)
• Catch a Fire (1973)
• Burnin' (1973)
• Natty Dread (1974)
• Rastaman Vibration (1976)
• Exodus (1977)
• Kaya (1978)
• Survival (1979)
• Uprising (1980)
• Confrontation (1983)

Awards and honors[link]

Marley's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

• 1976: Band of the Year (Rolling Stone).
• June 1978: Awarded the Peace Medal of the Third World from the United Nations.^[54]
• February 1981: Awarded Jamaica's third highest honour, the Jamaican Order of Merit.
• March 1994: Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
• 1999: Album of the Century for Exodus by Time Magazine.
• February 2001: A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

• February 2001: Awarded Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
• 2004: Rolling Stone ranked him No.11 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.^[63]
• "One Love" named song of the millennium by BBC.
• Voted as one of the greatest lyricists of all time by a BBC poll.^[64]
• 2006: A blue plaque was unveiled at his first UK residence in Ridgmount Gardens, London, dedicated to him by Nubian Jak community trust and supported by Her Majesty's Foreign Office.^[65]
• 2010: "Catch a Fire" inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame (Reggae Album).^[66]

References[link]