Antigua

Native name: Waladli
Map of Antigua showing the parishes
Geography
Location	Caribbean Sea
Coordinates	17°5′N 61°48′W / 17.083°N 61.8°W / 17.083; -61.8Coordinates: 17°5′N 61°48′W / 17.083°N 61.8°W / 17.083; -61.8
Archipelago	Leeward Islands
Area	281 km2 (108.5 sq mi)
Coastline	87 km (54.1 mi)
Highest elevation	402 m (1,319 ft)
Highest point	Mount Obama / Boggy Peak
Country
Antigua and Barbuda
Largest city	St. John's (pop. 31,000)
Demographics
Population	80,161 (as of 2011 Census)
Density	285.2 /km2 (738.7 /sq mi)
Ethnic groups	91% Black or Mulatto, 4.4% Other Mixed Race, 1.7% White, 2.9% Other

Turner Beach in Antigua

Antigua ( /ænˈtiːɡə/ an-TEE-gə; sometimes the spelling pronunciation /ænˈtiːɡwə/ is heard^[1]), also known as Wadadli, is an island in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region, the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua means "ancient" in Spanish and was named by Christopher Columbus after an icon in Seville Cathedral, Santa Maria de la Antigua — St. Mary of the Old Cathedral.^[2] The name Wadadli,^[3] comes from the original Amerindian inhabitants, and means approximately "our own".^{[citation needed]} The island's circumference is roughly 87 km (54 mi) and its area 281 km² (108 sq mi). Its population was 80,161 (at the 2011 Census).^[4] The economy is mainly reliant on tourism, with the agricultural sector serving the domestic market.

Over 31,000 people live in the capital city, St. John's, at 17°6′N 61°45′W / 17.1°N 61.75°W / 17.1; -61.75. The capital is situated in the north-west and has a deep harbour which is able to accommodate large cruise ships. Other leading population settlements are All Saints (3,412) and Liberta (2,239), according to the 2001 census.

English Harbour on the south-eastern coast is famed for its protected shelter during violent storms. It is the site of a restored British colonial naval station called "Nelson's Dockyard" after Captain Horatio Nelson. Today English Harbour and the neighbouring village of Falmouth are internationally famous as a yachting and sailing destination and provisioning centre. During Antigua Sailing Week, at the end of April and beginning of May, the annual world-class regatta brings many sailing vessels and sailors to the island to play sports.

Economy[link]

Antigua's economy is reliant upon tourism, and it markets itself as a luxury Caribbean escape. Antigua is also supported by the growing medical school and its students. Many hotels and resorts are located around the coastline, and the island's single airport is serviced by several major airlines including Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, US Airways, American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Caribbean Airlines, Air Canada and LIAT.

The only regular service to Barbuda flies from VC Bird Airport. The United States Air Force maintains a small base near the airport as part of its Eastern Range, used for space missions and communications.

The University of Health Sciences Antigua (UHSA) and the American University of Antigua (AUA) College of Medicine teach aspiring doctors.

The country's official currency is the East Caribbean dollar. However, many prices in tourist-oriented businesses are shown in US dollars. The EC dollar is pegged to the US dollar at a fixed rate of $1 US = $2.7169 EC.

History[link]

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Rocky shoreline near St. John's.

Dickenson Bay beach, Antigua

The early Antiguans[link]

Prior to European colonialism, the first residents were the Ciboney Indians, who inhabited the island for several thousand years before mysteriously departing. Pastoral Arawak Indians settled here before being replaced by the Caribs, the last group to inhabit the island before it was taken over by Europeans. That occurred in 1493, when Christopher Columbus spotted Antigua on his second voyage. Life did not change dramatically for nearly 150 years after, as the Caribs resisted any European efforts to colonise.

The Arawaks were the first well-documented group of Antiguans. This group paddled to the island by canoe (piragua) from Venezuela, ejected by the Caribs—another people indigenous to the area. Arawaks introduced agriculture to Antigua and Barbuda, raising, among other crops, the famous Antiguan "Black" pineapple. They also cultivated various other foods including:

• Corn
• Sweet potatoes (white with firmer flesh than the bright orange "sweet potato" used in the United States.)
• Chilis
• Guava
• Tobacco
• Cotton
• Mango

Some of the vegetables listed, such as corn and sweet potatoes, still play an important role in Antiguan cuisine. For example, a popular Antiguan dish, dukuna (/ˈduːkuːnɑː/), is a sweet, steamed dumpling made from grated sweet potatoes, flour and spices. One of the Antiguan staple foods, fungi (/ˈfuːndʒi/), is a cooked paste made of cornmeal and water.

The bulk of the Arawaks left Antigua about A.D. 1100. Those who remained were subsequently raided by the Caribs. According to The Catholic Encyclopedia, the Caribs' superior weapons and seafaring prowess allowed them to defeat most Arawak nations in the West Indies. They enslaved some and cannibalised others. The Catholic Encyclopedia does note that the European invaders had difficulty identifying and differentiating between the various native peoples they encountered. As a result, the number and types of ethnic/tribal/national groups at the time may have been more varied and numerous than the two mentioned in this article.

The indigenous West Indians made excellent sea vessels which they used to sail the Atlantic and Caribbean. As a result, Caribs and Arawaks populated much of South American and the Caribbean Islands. Relatives of the Antiguan Arawaks and Caribs still live in various countries in South America, notably Brazil, Venezuela and Colombia. The smaller remaining native populations in the West Indies maintain a pride in their heritage.

Europeans[link]

Aerial view of Jolly Harbour on the western coast of Antigua.

Christopher Columbus named the island "Antigua" in 1493 in honour of the "Virgin of the Old Cathedral"^[2] (Spanish: La Virgen de la Antigua) found in Seville Cathedral in southern Spain. On his 1493 voyage, honouring a vow, he named many islands after different aspects of St. Mary, including Montserrat and Guadaloupe.

In 1632, a group of English colonists left St. Kitts to settle on Antigua. Sir Christopher Codrington, an Englishman, established the first permanent European settlement. From that point on, Antigua history took a dramatic turn. Codrington guided development on the island as a profitable sugar colony. For a large portion of Antigua history, the island was considered Britain's "Gateway to the Caribbean". It was located on the major sailing routes among the region's resource-rich colonies. Lord Horatio Nelson, a major figure in Antigua history, arrived in the late 18th century to preserve the island's commercial shipping prowess.

According to A Brief History of the Caribbean, European and African diseases, malnutrition and slavery eventually destroyed the vast majority of the Caribbean's native population. No researcher has conclusively proven any of these causes as the real reason for the destruction of West Indian natives. In fact, some historians believe that the psychological stress of slavery may also have played a part in the massive number of native deaths while in servitude. Others believe that the reportedly abundant, but starchy, low-protein diet may have contributed to severe malnutrition of the "Indians" who were used to a diet fortified with protein from sealife.

Slavery[link]

Sugar became Antigua's main crop in about 1674, when Christopher Codrington settled at Betty's Hope Estate. He came from Barbados, bringing the latest sugar technology with him. Betty's Hope, Antigua's first full-scale sugar plantation, was so successful that other planters turned from tobacco to sugar. This resulted in their importing tens of thousands of slaves, as sugar cultivation and processing was labour intensive.

According to A Brief History of the Caribbean, many West Indian colonists initially tried to use Indians and whites as slaves. Unfortunately, these groups succumbed easily to disease and/or malnutrition, and died by the thousands. The African slaves had the misfortune of adapting well to the new environment; and thus became the number one choice of "unpaid labour." In fact, the slaves throve physically and also provided medical services, and skilled labour, such as carpentry for their slave masters.

Today, collectors prize the uniquely-designed "colonial" furniture built by West Indian slaves. Many of these works feature what are now considered "traditional" motifs, such as pineapples, fish and stylised serpents.

According to "A history of Antigua" by Bran Dyde, by the mid 1770s, the number of slaves had increased to 37,500 from 12,500 in 1713, whereas the white population had fallen from 5000 to below 3000. The slaves lived in wretched and overcrowded conditions, and could be mistreated or even killed by their owners with impunity. The Slave Act of 1723 made arbitrary murder of slaves illegal, but did not do much to ease their lives.

Unrest among the slaves became increasingly common. In 1729, a slave named Hercules was hanged, drawn and quartered, and three others burnt alive, for conspiring to kill the slave owner Crump and his family. In 1736, a slave called "Prince Klaas" (whose real name was Court) planned an uprising in which whites would be massacred. Court was crowned "King of the Coromantees" in a pasture outside the capital of St. John's, in what appeared to be just a colourful spectacle, but was for the slaves a ritual declaration of war on the whites. Due to information obtained from other slaves, colonists discovered the plot and suppressed it. Prince Klaas and four accomplices were caught and executed by the breaking wheel. Six slaves were hanged in chains and starved to death, and another fifty-eight were burned at the stake. The site of these executions is now the Antiguan Recreation Ground.^[5]

The American War of Independence in the late eighteenth century disrupted the Caribbean sugar trade. At the same time, public opinion in Britain gradually turned against slavery. Great Britain abolished the slave trade in 1807, and all existing slaves were emancipated in 1834.

Horatio, Lord Nelson[link]

Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson (who was created Viscount Nelson 1801) was Senior Naval Officer of the Leeward Islands from 1784 to 1787 on H.M.S. Boreas. During his tenure, he tried to enforce the Navigation Acts. These acts prohibited trade with the newly formed United States of America. Most of the merchants in Antigua depended upon American trade, so many of them despised Captain Nelson. As a result, he was unable to get a promotion for some time after his stint on the island.

Unlike the Antiguan merchants, Nelson had a positive view of the Navigation Acts. The following quote from The Life of Horatio Lord Nelson by Robert Southey sums up his views about the controversial Navigation Acts:

The Americans were at this time trading with our islands, taking advantage of the register of their ships, which had been issued while they were British subjects. Nelson knew that, by the Navigation Act, no foreigners, directly or indirectly, are permitted to carry on any trade with these possessions. He knew, also, that the Americans had made themselves foreigners with regard to England; they had disregarded the ties of blood and language when they acquired the independence which they had been led on to claim, unhappily for themselves before they were fit for it; and he was resolved that they should derive no profit from those ties now. Foreigners they had made themselves, and as foreigners they were to be treated.

Southey then quotes Nelson as saying that "The Antiguan Colonists are as great rebels as ever were in America, had they the power to show it."

A dockyard started in 1725, to provide a base for a squadron of British ships whose main function was to patrol the West Indies and thus maintain Britain's sea power, was later named "Nelson's Dockyard" in his honour.

While Nelson was stationed on Antigua, he frequently visited the nearby island of Nevis, where he met and married a young widow, Fanny Nisbet, who had previously married the son of a plantation family on Nevis.

Political status[link]

In 1968, with Barbuda and the tiny island of Redonda as dependencies, Antigua became an associated state of the Commonwealth, and in 1981 it was disassociated from Britain. The country was then led by what many describe as an elected family dynasty, with Vere C. Bird, the first prime minister, having been succeeded in 1993 by Lester B. Bird, his son, who retained the post until 2004.

Demographics[link]

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St. John's Cathedral

The ethnic distribution consist of 91% Black, Mulatto and mixed Black/Amerindian, 4.4% Other Mixed Race, 1.7% White, 2.9% Other (primarily East Indian and Asian). The majority of the white population is ethnically Irish and British, and Portuguese. There are also Christian Levantine Arabs (primarily of Syrian, Lebanese and Palestinian descent) and a small population of Asians and Sephardic Jews.

Behind the late twentieth century reviving and re-specifying of the place of African-Antiguans and Barbudans in the cultural life of the society, is a history of race/ethnic relations that systematically excluded them. A colonial framework was established by the English soon after their initial settlement of Antigua in 1623.

Mixed-race relationships and later immigration resulted by the late nineteenth century in the emergence of five distinct and carefully ranked race/ethnic groups. At the top of this hierarchy were the British, who justified their hegemony with arguments of white supremacy and civilizing missions. Among themselves, there were divisions between British Antiguans and non-creolised British, with the latter coming out on top. In short, this was a race/ethnic hierarchy that gave maximum recognition to Anglicised persons and cultural practices.

Immediately below the British, were the mulattoes, a mixed-race group resulting from unions between, generally, white European males and enslaved black African women, many of which took place in the years before the expansion of slave population. Mulattoes were lighter in shade than the masses of black Africans. Some white fathers had their sons educated or trained in crafts. They sometimes benefited them in other ways, which led to the development of a separate class. Mulattoes gradually distinguished themselves from the masses of enslaved black Africans. They developed complex ideologies of shade to legitimate their claims to higher status. These ideologies of shade paralleled in many ways British ideologies of white supremacy.

Next in this hierarchy were the Portuguese— 2500 of whom migrated as workers from Madeira between 1847 and 1852 because of a severe famine. Many established small businesses and joined the ranks of what was by then the mulatto middle class. The British never really considered Portuguese as their equals, so they were not allowed into their ranks. Among Portuguese Antiguans and Barbudans, status differences move along a continuum of varying degrees of assimilation into the Anglicised practices of the dominant group.

Below the Portuguese were the Middle Easterners, who began migrating to Antigua and Barbuda around the turn of the twentieth century. Starting as itinerant traders, they soon worked their way into the middle strata of the society. Although Middle Easterners came from a variety of areas in the Middle East, as a group they are usually referred to as Syrians.

Fifth and finally were the African-Antiguans and Barbudans who were located at the bottom of this hierarchy. Transported as slaves, Africans started arriving in Antigua and Barbuda in large numbers during the 1670s. Very quickly they came to constitute the majority of the population. As they entered this hierarchy, Africans were profoundly racialised. They ceased being Ashantee, Ewe, Yoruba and became Negroes or blacks. In the 20th century, the colonial hierarchy gradually began to come apart as a result of universal education and better economic opportunity. This process gave rise to blacks reaching the highest strata of society and government.

In the last decade, Spanish-speaking immigrants from the Dominican Republic and African-Caribbean immigrants from Guyana and Dominica have been added to this ethnic mosaic. As new immigrants often fleeing poverty and political unrest, they have entered at the bottom of the hierarchy. Today, an increasingly large percentage of Antiguans have migrated abroad, most notably to the United Kingdom (Antiguan Britons), United States and Canada. A minority of Antiguan residents are immigrants from other countries, particularly Dominica, Guyana and Jamaica, with an increasing number of immigrants from the Dominican Republic, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Ghana, and Nigeria. There is also a significant population of American citizens estimated at 4500 people, one of the largest American citizen populations in the English-speaking Eastern Caribbean.^[6]

Almost all Antiguans are Christians (74%^[7]), with the Anglican Church (about 44%) being the largest denomination. Catholicism is the other significant denomination, with the remainder being other Protestants: including Methodists, Moravians, Pentecostals and Seventh-Day Adventists. There are also Jehovah's Witnesses. Non-Christian religions practised on the islands include Rastafari, Islam, Judaism, and Baha'i.

Sport[link]

The major Antiguan sport is cricket. Sir Vivian ("Viv") Richards is one of the most famous Antiguans, who played for, and captained, the West Indies team. Richards scored the fastest Test century at the Antigua Recreation Ground, it was also the venue at which Brian Lara twice broke the world record for an individual Test innings (375 in 1993/94, 400 not out in 2003/04, both times against England). Antigua was the location of a 2007 Cricket World Cup site, on a new Recreation Ground constructed on an old cane field in the north of the island. Both soccer and basketball are becoming popular among the island youth. There are several golf courses in Antigua.

Being surrounded by water, sailing has been one of the most popular sports for years with Antigua Sailing Week and Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta being two of the regions most reputable sailing competitions. Hundreds of yachts from around the world compete around Antigua each year. Sport Fishing is also a very popular sport with several big competitions held yearly. Windsurfing was very popular until kitesurfing came to the island with a big splash. Kitesurfing or kiteboarding is very popular at Jabbawock Beach. Local Antiguan, Andre Phillip is one of the most famous kitesurfers in the world and spends much of his time training in Antigua and Barbuda.

Internet hosting and gaming[link]

Antigua is a recognised centre for online gambling companies. Antigua was one of the very first nations to legalise, licence and regulate online gaming. Some countries, most notably the United States, argue that because the gaming transaction is initiated in their jurisdictions that the act of online wagering is illegal. This argument has been rejected by the World Trade Organization.^[8]

However in 2006 the United States Congress voted to approve the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act which criminalises the operations of offshore gaming operators which take wagers from American-based gamblers. This was a prima facie violation of the GATS treaty obligations enforced by the WTO, resulting in a series of rulings unfavourable to the US.

Lately an arbitration panel in a so-called Article 22 hearing ruled that the US failure to comply with WTO rules would attract a US$21 million sanction.^[9]

This is not the end of the issue, since further developments in US law and in trade patterns can trigger a new claim by Antigua, especially the Article 21 procedure being followed by the US to remove cross-border gambling from its GATS obligations.

The ruling was notable in two respects:

First, although technically a victory for Antigua, the $21 million was far less than the US$3.5 billion which had been sought; one of the three arbitrators was sufficiently bothered by the propriety of this that he issued a dissenting opinion—an unprecedented move.

Second, a rider to the arbitration ruling affirmed the right of Antigua to take retaliatory steps in view of the prior failure of the US to comply with GATS. These included the rare, but not unprecedented, right to disregard intellectual property obligations to the US.^[10]

This last is of very great importance. Antigua's obligations to the US in respect of patents, copyright, and trademarks are affected. In particular, Berne Convention copyright is in question, and also material NOT covered by the Berne convention, including TRIPS accord obligations to the US. Antigua may thus disregard the WIPO treaty on intellectual property rights, and therefore the US implementation of that treaty (the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, or DMCA)—at least up to the limit of compensation.

Since there is no appeal to the WTO from an Arbitration panel of this kind, it represents the last legal word from the WTO on the matter. Antigua is therefore able to recoup some of the claimed loss of trade by hosting (and taxing) companies whose business model depends on immunity from TRIPS provisions.

Software company SlySoft is based in Antigua, allowing it to avoid nations with laws that are tough on anti-circumvention of technological copyright measures, in particular the DMCA in the United States.

Notable residents[link]

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• Giorgio Armani, Italian fashion designer; owns a home near Galley Bay^[11]
• Calvin Ayre, billionaire founder of internet gambling company Bodog Entertainment Group^{[citation needed]}
• Silvio Berlusconi, Italian Prime Minister^{[citation needed]}
• Richard Branson, Virgin Atlantic mogul^[12]
• Viv Richards, West Indian cricket legend; the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua was named in his honour^[13]
• Timothy Dalton, Actor of James Bond fame^[14]
• Eric Clapton, established an Antiguan drug treatment centre; has a home on the south of the island^[15]
• Ken Follett, the author of Eye of the Needle owns a house on Jumby Bay^[14]
• Marie-Elena John, Antiguan writer and former African Development Foundation specialist. Her debut novel, Unburnable was selected Best Debut of 2006 by Black Issues Book Review^[16]
• Jamaica Kincaid, novelist famous for her writings about life on Antigua. Her book A Small Place was banned under the Vere Bird administration^{[citation needed]}
• Lee Malvo, Sniper was recruited by John Allen Mohamed in Antigua in 2001. They went on to kill several people in the Washington DC area in 2002.^[17]
• Allen Stanford, Texan billionaire and defrauder^[18][19]
• Robin Leach of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous fame.^[20]
• Archibald MacLeish Poet and (U.S.) Librarian of Congress.
• Rachel Lambert Mellon Horticulturist and philanthropist, has owned a compound in Antigua's Half Moon Bay since the 1950s.
• John Allen Muhammad Sniper and trainer lived in Antigua from 2000– 2002.
• Marianne Jean-Baptiste actress, is of Antiguan parentage.^{[citation needed]}
• Andriy Shevchenko, football player currently with FC Dynamo Kyiv^{[citation needed]}
• Andy Roberts, the first Antiguan to play Test cricket for the West Indies. He was a member of the West Indies teams that won the 1975 and 1979 World Cups.^[21]
• Curtly Ambrose, legendary West-Indian cricketer
• Richie Richardson, former West-Indies cricket team captain
• Peter Stringfellow, British nightclub owner
• John Barrowman, actor, singer, entertainer
• Thomas J. Watson Jr.. CEO of IBM

Gallery[link]

See also[link]

	Geography portal
	Caribbean portal
	Commonwealth realms portal

	Book: Antigua and Barbuda
Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

• Outline of Antigua and Barbuda
• Bibliography of Antigua and Barbuda
• Index of Antigua and Barbuda-related articles
• Commonwealth of Nations
• Leeward Islands
• List of Antiguans and Barbudans

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Antigua Nice (The Antigua Nice article was extracted by D.V. Nicholson's writings for the Antigua Historic Sites and Conservation Commission.)
• The Torture Museum Site
• The Life of Horatio Lord Nelson by Robert Southey
• The Catholic Encyclopedia
• Veranda Magazine, Island Flourish: West Indian Furnishings by Dana Micucci, March – April 2004
• A Brief History of the Caribbean from the Arawak and the Carib to the Present, by Jan Rogozinski, Penguin Putnam, Inc September 2000
• Article on Antiguan real estate – http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/05/04/news/reantigua.php

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Antigua

• Government of Antigua and Barbuda
• Map of Antigua From Paradise Islands (non commercial site)
• Antigua Barbuda Department of Tourism

Cindy Taylor (born April 18, 1977) is a fashion model, actress and television host. Born in Asunción, Paraguay to a Paraguayan mother, her father was a United States citizen, having relocated the family to Clarksburg, West Virginia immediately after Taylor was born. When Taylor was eight years old, her parents divorced, and she and her mother moved back to Paraguay, where she would reside for the next ten years. In Paraguay she attended the American School of Asuncion and the international SEK School.

In 1997, she was discovered by photographer Jesus Roman in Miami, Florida. Shortly after, Taylor was signed by Irene Marie Models. She was soon part of advertising and fashion campaigns for Guess?, Pantene, Parasuco, Perry Ellis, Rampage^{[disambiguation needed ]}, Proactive, and Frito Lays. Cindy soon became known as a cover girl, gracing the fronts of Esquire, Ocean Drive, Shape Magazine, Loft Magazine, Men's Journal, Vanidades, Glamour, and more.

Cindy was cast as the host of Wild On!, a popular travel series on the E! Entertainment Television channel, replacing Brooke Burke in 2002.

In 2005, Taylor shot a cameo role in the Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams romantic comedy Wedding Crashers. That same year, Cindy landed a supporting role in the independent feature film Descansos, opposite Gary Busey and Charles Durning. In 2007, Taylor had a cameo appearance in the sequel to Bachelor Party and appeared in the music video for Nickelback's Rockstar.

Taylor has most recently appeared on TV in the episode "Identity", on the USA Network series Burn Notice, as well as hosting Full Frontal Fashion for UltraHD.

Taylor is the official spokesperson for the Beauties and the Beasts partnership launched between Irene Marie Models, the Zoological Society of Florida, and Miami MetroZoo. Cindy has made several appearances and participated in photoshoots on behalf of this partnership. Their goal is to inspire an appreciation for the world's wildlife and conserve it for future generations.

Cindy currently has two projects under development. An as yet untitled Car Drifting television series and Vegas Confessions, a HDNet project which premiered in August 2008 showcasing Las Vegas and the people who confess their wildest stories on camera.

External links[link]

• Cindy Taylor at the Internet Movie Database
• Cindy Taylor on Myspace
• 2002 Stuff interview

This biographical article related to television is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

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]

Further reading[link]

External links[link]

Biography portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bob Marley

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Bob Marley

• Official website
• Bob Marley at the Internet Movie Database
• The Bob Marley Foundation
• Online Home of the Marleys
• Bob Marley at Rolling Stone
• Marley Elected one of the Greatest Songwriters BBC News, 23 May 2001
• Showcase: Bob Marley by James Estrin, The New York Times, 18 May 2009
• Interview with Heather Marley in Bob Marley Magazine
• Extensive discography