Art	Stadt
Image photo	Simmern street 2.jpg
Wappen	Wappen stadt simmern hunsrueck.jpg
Lat deg	49 |lat_min = 59 | lat_sec=0
Lon deg	7 |lon_min = 31 | lon_sec=0
Lageplan	Simmern in SIM.svg
Bundesland	Rheinland-Pfalz
Landkreis	Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis
Verbandsgemeinde	Simmern
Höhe	400
Fläche	11.96
Einwohner	7791
Stand	2006-12-31
Plz	55469
Vorwahl	06761
Kfz	SIM
Gemeindeschlüssel	07 1 40 144
Nuts	DEB19
Locode	DE SIM
Straße	Brühlstraße 2
Adresse-verband	Brühlstraße 255469 Simmern/Hunsrück
Website	www.simmern.de
Bürgermeister	Dr. Andreas Nikolay
Partei	CDU

Simmern (; officially Simmern/Hunsrück) is a town of 8,000 inhabitants in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, the district seat of the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis, and the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde. In the Rhineland-Palatinate state development plan, it is set out as a middle centre.

Geography

Location

Simmern, through whose municipal area the 50th parallel of north latitude runs, lies in the Hunsrück in the so-called Simmerner Mulde (“Simmern Hollow”). The old town centre is found in the valley of the Simmerbach, while the newer neighbourhoods are spread over the surrounding heights. The Külzbach empties into the Simmerbach on the town’s western outskirts. East of the town is a recreational area with a manmade lake, the Simmersee. South of the town is the town forest, which forms the edge of the Soonwald, a heavily wooded section of the west-central Hunsrück.

The municipal area measures 1 196 ha. Of interest to visitors are Simmern’s value as a nature and leisure site, and its central location right near three rivers, the Moselle, the Rhine and the Nahe, each about 25 km away, allowing easy day trips to other nearby places.

Simmern lies 630 km from Berlin and 55 km west of Mainz.

Climate

Yearly precipitation in Simmern amounts to 690 mm, which falls into the middle third of the precipitation chart for all Germany. Only at 38% of the German Weather Service’s weather stations are lower figures recorded. The driest month is January. The most rainfall comes in August. In that month, precipitation is 2.1 times what it is in January. Precipitation varies greatly. Only at 25% of the weather stations are higher seasonal swings recorded.

History

Middle Ages and Early Modern Times

in 1648]] In 1072, Simmern had its first documentary mention. The place where the town now stands, however, was already settled in Roman times. There are seemingly mentions before the 11th century, but these cannot be definitively linked to the town, or most likely refer to the Simmerbach, the local river. Simmern lay on the important Bingen-to-Trier army road. It belonged at first to the Counts of the Nahegau, later passing to the Raugraves, who were enfeoffed with Simmern by the Electorate of Trier sometime between 1323 and 1330. Presumably with Archbishop Baldwin’s help, Simmern was granted town rights in 1330 by Emperor Louis the Bavarian. The weekly and yearly markets were soon drawing dealers throughout the Hunsrück to town, leading to flourishing trade and business. Along with town rights came the town’s right to fortify itself, and this it did with a formidable double wall, complete with a series of towers and gates. Before the 14th century was over, Simmern passed to the Counts Palatine of the House of Wittelsbach.

The Palatine Wittelsbachs were, beginning in 1356, Electors, and after Elector Palatine and King of the Romans (German King) Ruprecht III’s death, they split into several lines, among which was the Palatinate-Simmern line, which kept its residence in the town. Worthy of mention are the Dukes Stefan of Palatinate-Simmern-Zweibrücken, Friedrich I of Palatinate-Simmern, Johann I and, above all, Johann II. He ruled in Simmern from 1509 to 1557, was humanistically and artistically trained, had the first printshop in the town built and promoted the arts, particularly sculpture. He also introduced the Reformation into his duchy, which led to tension with the neighbouring Archbishoprics of Trier and Mainz. He was followed by Friedrich III, called “the Pious”, who converted to Calvinism in 1563 and played a leading role in Imperial politics. In 1559, the Palatinate-Simmern line succeeded the now extinct main line of the Palatinate in the Elector’s capacity in Heidelberg. Friedrich III’s brothers Georg and Reichard formed the short-lived line of the Counts Palatine of Simmern-Sponheim, whose holdings passed back to the Electorate under Friedrich IV on Reichard’s death in 1598.

Wars in the Palatinate

Friedrich IV’s son, Friedrich V was elected King of Bohemia – Bohemia was an elective monarchy – but soon ran afoul of the forces arrayed against him, notably the Catholic League and the Holy Roman Emperor himself, and not only was he forced to flee Bohemia in the face of these forces after only a year on the Bohemian throne (earning himself the derisive nickname “Winter King”), but he also saw to it that Electoral Palatinate, too, was gripped in the throes of the Thirty Years' War. The Emperor also declared all Friedrich’s holdings within the Holy Roman Emperor forfeit. His holdings in the Rhenish Palatinate were meanwhile once again partitioned with the founding of the younger line of Palatinate-Simmern by his brother Ludwig Philipp in 1611, though even this passed with Ludwig Philipp’s son, Ludwig Heinrich’s death in 1673 back to the main line under Karl I Ludwig, who won back the Electoral title in the Peace of Westphalia. Thanks to his fortifying the town, it came through the wars relatively unscathed. When Karl’s son, Karl II died in 1685, though, there was further upheaval, for with him the Palatine line of the Wittelsbachs had died out, and France was now declaring rights of possession. Elizabeth Charlotte, Princess Palatine (known as Liselotte of the Palatinate), Karl II’s sister, and in France’s eyes the rightful heir, was married to Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, King Louis XIV’s brother. Since the Palatinate-Neuburg line of the Wittelsbachs also maintained a claim to the Simmern inheritance, the Nine Years' War (known in Germany as the Pfälzischer Erbfolgekrieg, or War of the Palatine Succession) broke out in 1688, during which the French laid waste to broad swathes of the Palatinate. By 1685, the Duchy of Simmern had passed to the Palatinate-Neuburg line. This noble house reintroduced the Catholic faith and called on the Boppard Carmelites to minister to the Catholics in the town of Simmern and the like-named Oberamt. With the family Schenk von Schmidtburg’s help, the Carmelites founded a presence in town, and together with the Kreuznach Capuchins, took over pastoral duties in the Oberamt. They built Saint Joseph’s Church. Not long before this, the town of Simmern itself had been flooded with a great many Huguenots who had fled religious persecution in France. On 17 September 1689, French troops overwhelmed the town, leaving almost all of it in rubble. The palatial residence was razed, just like the one in Heidelberg. All that was left standing after this catastrophe was Saint Stephen’s Church, the Pulverturm (“Powder Tower”, later to be known as the “Schinderhannes Tower”) and a handful of houses. Nevertheless, the Wittelsbachs won out and remained the Palatinate’s rulers under the terms of the Treaty of Ryswick. In the 18th century, however, Simmern was nothing more than the seat of a Palatine Oberamt, as the electors chose to keep their residence at Mannheim.

18th to 20th century

After the French Revolution, the French once again conquered the Palatinate, which they annexed to their country along with the rest of the Rhine’s left bank. Simmern became a canton in the Department of Rhin-et-Moselle. It was by the regular patrols of the newly founded National Gendarmerie that Johannes Bückler, later a well known robber and often called “Schinderhannes”, was caught, although at this time he was nothing more than a small-time livestock thief in the Hunsrück and the northern Palatinate. In 1799 he spent half a year locked up in the tower that now bears his nickname, the Schinderhannesturm, in Simmern, from which he managed to escape. In 1804, Emperor Napoleon I spent some time in the town, which in the meantime had acquired a municipal administration run according to French law. In 1815 Simmern was assigned to the Kingdom of Prussia at the Congress of Vienna.

The town’s situation in the 19th century, outside the centres of industrialization, was not easy, and much the less so as of 1845 with the potato blight outbreak and the attendant bad harvests, which drove many inhabitants to seek a better life in the New World.

In the First World War, Simmern was an important support base for troops marching to the Western Front. In Weimar times, when the town was also occupied once again by the French, Simmern suffered under the dire economic situation of the time. In the Second World War, there was yet more destruction. In March 1945, Simmern was occupied by American troops, but was later assigned along with the rest of the Palatinate to the French zone of occupation. Since 1946, Simmern has been part of the then newly founded state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

The town has borne the name element “Hunsrück” since 1 June 1980. On 15 April 1999, Simmern concluded a territorial swap with the municipality of Mutterschied, whereby several inhabitants found themselves living in a different municipality.

Politics

Town council

The council is made up of 24 council members, who were elected by proportional representation at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.

The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results: {| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="300" |- bgcolor="#eeeeee" align="center" |   || SPD || CDU || FDP || GREENS || aSL || other || Total |- align="center" | 2009 || 6 || 10 || 2 || 2 || 4 || - || 24 seats |- align="center" | 2004 || 6 || 12 || 1 || 1 || - || 4 || 24 seats |}

Mayor

Simmern’s mayor is Dr. Andreas Nikolay, and his deputies are Peter Mumbauer, Karl-Heinz Augustin and Michael Becker.

Coat of arms

The town’s arms might be described thus: Per fess sable a lion passant Or armed, langued and crowned gules, and bendy lozengy argent and azure.

Simmern was held by the Raugraves until 1358, when it passed to the Counts Palatine of the House of Wittelsbach. Simmern was granted town rights in 1555. The arms are based on the town’s oldest known seal, which dates from the late 14th century. The charge above the line of partition is the Palatine Lion, and the “bendy lozengy” pattern (that is, slanted diamonds) is the Wittelsbachs’ armorial bearing. Otto Hupp’s version of the town’s arms, as seen in the Coffee Hag albums in the 1920s, was presented in a somewhat different style (but these differences are common among heraldic artists), and with one heraldic difference: the lion is missing his crown. The tinctures, however, are the same.

The arms have been borne since 1901.

Town partnerships

Simmern fosters partnerships with the following places: Migennes, Yonne, France

Culture and sightseeing

Buildings

The following are listed buildings or sites in Rhineland-Palatinate’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:

Saint Stephen’s Evangelical Church (Kirche St. Stephan), Römerberg 2 – former palace church, Late Gothic hall church, 1486 to about 1509, tower raised in 1752 (see also below)

Saint Joseph’s Catholic Church (Kirche St. Joseph), Klostergasse 3 – aisleless church, 1749-1752 (see also below)

Schloss Simmern, Schloßplatz – three-winged palatial complex around cour d'honneur, 1708-1713 (see also below)

Town fortifications – remnants of the town fortifications destroyed in 1689, preserved Schinderhannesturm (“Schinderhannes Tower”, Hüllstraße), mediaeval quarrystone building, 1750 new roof (see also below); Rundturm (“Round Tower”, Mühlgasse), quarrystone

Fruchtmarkt 2 – former school; Romanesque Revival quarrystone building, 1846, in emulation of Johann Claudius von Lassaulx

Gerbereistraße – small tannery hut, 19th century

Karl-Wagner Straße – substation tower, Swiss chalet style, about 1910/1920

Kirchberger Straße 8 – Classicist plastered building, mid 19th century

Klostergasse 4 – former Carmelite monastery (today a rectory); eight-axis plastered building, marked 1704; in the middle portal a statuette of Saint Joseph, ascribed to Burkhard Zamels

Ludwigstraße 3/5 – Baroque Revival three-winged complex, hipped mansard roof, about 1910/1920

Mühlengasse 19 – former Neumühle (“New Mill”); stately building with hipped mansard roof, partly timber-frame, sculpture, second fourth of the 18th century

Oberstraße 13 – timber-frame house, partly solid, plastered or sided, historical setting into hillside, essentially from the 17th century

Oberstraße 36 – Late Historicist brick building, marked 1902

Oberstraße 38 – three-floor building with hipped roof, timber-frame, partly solid or slated, about 1700

Oberstraße 40 – former Evangelical school; three-floor building with hipped mansard roof, timber-frame, partly solid or slated, 1689 to 1724

Römerberg 4 – three-floor timber-frame house, partly slated, essentially possibly from the 17th century

Römerberg 25 – timber-frame house, partly solid or slated, marked 1612, knee wall 19th century

Römerberg 27 – timber-frame house, partly slated, early 17th century

Vor dem Tor 2 – three-floor seven-axis building with mansard roof, timber-frame, partly solid, 1838

Jewish graveyard (monumental zone) – founded before 1800, 115 grave steles from 1855 on

warriors’ memorial 1870/1871, in the forest south of Simmern – sandstone obelisk

More about buildings

Saint Joseph’s Catholic Church, built in the 18th century, has ceiling frescoes worth seeing. For its part, Saint Stephen’s Evangelical Church, built between 1486 and 1510, has tombs of the Dukes of Palatinate-Simmern and an historical organ from 1776 built by the Hunsrück organ-building family Stumm.

The cultural centre at Schloss Simmern has its Hunsrückmuseum with an exhibit by Friedrich Karl Ströher (Hunsrück painter) and the town library. The new palace was built in 1708 as the Oberamtmann’s administration building. It was here that the mediaeval castle once stood. This was expanded into a palatial residence in the latter half of the 15th century, but destroyed together with the rest of the town in 1689.

The so-called Schinderhannesturm, formerly the “Powder Tower”, was used as a prison, and at different times held both Schinderhannes, the infamous robber, and Johann Peter Petri, his henchman, better known as Schwarzer Peter (“Black Peter”). Each eventually escaped.

The Restaurant Schwarzer Adler is notable as one of the few houses in town that was spared the razing that the rest of the town underwent at French hands in 1689. It stands with Saint Stephen’s Church and the Schinderhannesturm as one of the town’s oldest buildings.

Sport and leisure

Simmern has an indoor swimming pool and an outdoor “nature” pool, the Dschungeldorf (“Jungle Village”) indoor children’s adventure playground, a youth café, a skating park and a cinema.

Beginning on the town’s western outskirts is the Schinderhannes-Radweg (cycle path), running from there through the Külztal (Külzbach valley) by way of Kastellaun to Emmelshausen. To the south runs the Schinderhannes-Soonwald-Radweg (another cycle path), which links Simmern with the Soonwald.

In 2007 and 2008, the town staged the Schinderhannesfestspiele (theatrical plays) for the first time. The first production was Der Ausbruch (“The Breakout”), a play about Schinderhannes’s daring escape from the town’s “Powder Tower” (now called the “Schinderhannes Tower”) in August 1799. The Powder Tower had been said to be escape-proof. In 2010, the Schinderhannesfestspiele were staged for the third time. This time, the production was the musical Julchen.

Simmern’s sport clubs are VfR Simmern and BGV Simmern. VfR Simmern is well known for its football team, SG Soonwald/Simmern (a coöperative effort with clubs in the surrounding area), table tennis (regional league) and its handball team, HSG Kastellaun/Simmern (a coöperative effort with TV Kastellaun 09). Furthermore, VfR also offers basketball, swimming, badminton and other sports. TC Sportpark Simmern is the town’s tennis club.

Economy and infrastructure

Transport

The four-lane Bundesstraße 50 runs by south of town. Simmern has a railway station, which currently serves only as a bus station because the Boppard-to-Simmern stretch of the Hunsrückbahn (railway) has been disused and torn up, and the Bingen-to-Hermeskeil stretch of the Hunsrückquerbahn (another railway) is currently not being used. However, it is foreseen that within the next few years, the Hunsrückquerbahn will be reactivated to serve the booming Frankfurt-Hahn Airport, thus linking the airport with the Frankfurt Rhine Main Region.

The reopening of Frankfurt-Hahn Airport (20 km away) for commercial aviation and the widening of Bundesstrasse B-50 to four lanes have given the district and the town even greater economic potential for the future. Future plans include a possible extension of the Autobahn A 60 to facilitate traffic from the Frankfurt metropolitan area to Simmern and the Benelux countries. The town is roughly 10 minutes from the Autobahn A 61.

Economy

Slate mining and agriculture have been the traditional industries of the district, but recent growth in the optical, pharmaceutical and biochemical industries has transformed the local economy.

Among the town’s biggest employers are the following: ZF Boge Elastmetall (roughly 600 employees), CompAir (compressed air and gas systems, roughly 500 employees), the firm Pfefferkorn (Sekt stopper maker), Deutsche Fertighaus Holding (prefabricated buildings), SchwörerHaus KG (works for finishing “Kastell”-brand solid-construction houses, basements, ceilings and prefabricated concrete articles), Zischka Textilpflege (laundry service), the Hunsrück-Klinik and DHL, with a logistical centre. Besides these, there are several discount stores and many smaller service-sector businesses. Over the last few years, Simmern has grown into a regional hub for the automotive trade. Simmern has grown tremendously in the last twenty years as more people and new industries have relocated to the area.

Other business activity

There is also a cinema, the “Pro-Winz-Kino”. The business association, Simmern attraktiv e. V., is a union of the town’s business owners, who have, for instance, set themselves the goal of strengthening the town as a retail centre and making it more attractive to citizens, shoppers and visitors.

Education

Simmern has two primary schools, the Kurt-Schöllhammer-Grundschule and the Rottmannschule. It also has a regional school for Hauptschule and Realschule certificates, the state mathematical-natural sciences Herzog-Johann-Gymnasium, the professional training school with an economics Gymnasium, several vocational schools and upper vocational schools and the Hunsrückschule für Lernbehinderte (for learners with learning difficulties). The folk high school is charged with providing adult education.

Public institutions

Besides the town and district administrations, a number of other public entities can be found in Simmern (Amtsgericht, financial, forestry, health and cadastral office, police, branch office of the Koblenz chamber of commerce, district craftsmen’s association). The town is also the location of a “technology and founders’ centre” (Technologie- und Gründerzentrum, the “founders” being entrepreneurs who found businesses).

Famous people

Sons and daughters of the town

Friedrich III (1515–1576), Elector Palatine

Peter Joseph Rottmann (1799–1881), Hunsrück dialectal poet

Eugen Eppstein (1878–1943 at Majdanek concentration camp), politician and Member of the Reichstag

Bernhard Hermkes (1903–1995), architect and urban planner

Rudolf Zischka (1928–    ), recipient of the Bundesverdienstkreuz

Michael Linden (1948–    ), neurologist and psychotherapist

Dan Zerfaß (1968–    ), church musician

Benjamin Sohns (1982–    ), Electro musician

Patrick Schmidt (1988–    ), footballer

Famous people associated with the town

Johannes Bückler (1779–1803), robber, called Schinderhannes, spent just under half a year in 1799 in the Simmern town prison

Johann Peter Petri (1752–1812), robber, called Schwarzer Peter or Der alte Schwarzpeter, Johannes Bückler’s henchman

The Reverend Julius Reuß (1814–1883), cofounder of the Schmiedelanstalten (“Wetland Institutes”, homes that care for those with various handicaps) in 1849

Richard Oertel (1860–1932), Evangelical theologian and politician

Wolfgang Rumpf (1936–2006), forester and politician (FDP), headed the Simmern forestry office from 1971 to 1981

Günter Felke (1929–2005), entrepreneur and cultural promoter, beginning in 1994 bearer of the shield of honour and beginning in 2000 honorary citizen of the town of Simmern

Edgar Reitz (1932–    ), film director, made parts of the film Die Reise nach Wien in Simmern as well as some scenes of Heimat – Eine deutsche Chronik and Heimat 3 – Chronik einer Zeitenwende (both parts of the Heimat trilogy). Edgar Reitz has been an honorary citizen of the town since 2002.

Gudrun Landgrebe (1950–    ), actress

Felix Antoine Blume (1984–    ), rapper/musician, grew up in Simmern

Further reading

Willi Wagner, Gustav Schellack: 650 Jahre Stadt Simmern im Hunsrück; Simmern 1980

Sources

Diarium residentiae Carmelitarum im Hunsrück-Museum Simmern.

References

External links

Town of Simmern webcam

Town’s official webpage

References

Category:Towns in Rhineland-Palatinate

Honorific-prefix	The Honourable
Name	Bob Marley
Img alt	Black and white picture of a man with long dreadlocks playing the guitar on stage.
Landscape	no
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Robert Nesta Marley
Alias	Tuff Gong
Born	February 06, 1945Nine Mile, Saint Ann, Jamaica
Died	May 11, 1981Miami, Florida, US
Instrument	Vocals, guitar, piano, saxophone, harmonica, percussion
Genre	Reggae, ska, rocksteady
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician
Years active	1962–1981
Label	Studio One, Upsetter, Tuff Gong
Associated acts	Bob Marley & the Wailers, Wailers Band, The Upsetters, I Threes
Url
Notable instruments	Gibson Les Paul Special

Nesta Robert "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.

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. His best-known hits include "I Shot the Sheriff", "No Woman, No Cry", "Could You Be Loved", "Stir It Up", "Jamming", "Redemption Song", "One Love" and, together with The Wailers, "Three Little Birds", 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 (Diamond) in the U.S., and selling 25 million copies worldwide.

Early life and career

Bob Marley was born in the village of Nine Mile in Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica as Nesta Robert Marley. A Jamaican passport official would later swap his first and middle names. His father, Norval Sinclair Marley, was a white Jamaican of mixed and English descent whose family came from Essex, England. Norval was a captain in the Royal Marines, as well as a plantation overseer, when he married Cedella Booker, an Afro-Jamaican then 18 years old. Norval provided financial support for his wife and child, but seldom saw them, as he was often away on trips. In 1955, when Marley was 10 years old, his father died of a heart attack at age 60. 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 dip on nobody's side. Me don't dip on the black man's side nor the white man's side. Me dip on God's side, the one who create me and cause me to come from black and white.

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. 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".

Marley became friends with Neville "Bunny" Livingston (later known as Bunny Wailer), with whom he started to play music. He left school 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. 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, attracted little attention. The songs were later re-released on the box set Songs of Freedom, a posthumous collection of Marley's work.

Bob Marley & the Wailers

1963–1974

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.

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.

Though raised in the Catholic tradition, Marley became captivated by Rastafarian beliefs in the 1960s, when away from his mother's influence. 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. 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. 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.

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." 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. 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. 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. 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

during the Uprising Tour|alt=A crowd of people standing in water and listening to a band perform on stage.]]

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. In 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. 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.

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. 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.

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.

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". 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.

Personal life

Religion

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." As observant Rastafari practice Ital, a diet that shuns meat, Marley was a vegetarian. 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.

Family

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: # Sharon, born 23 November 1964, to Rita in previous relationship # Cedella born 23 August 1967, to Rita # David "Ziggy", born 17 October 1968, to Rita # Stephen, born 20 April 1972, to Rita # Robert "Robbie", born 16 May 1972, to Pat Williams # Rohan, born 19 May 1972, to Janet Hunt # Karen, born 1973 to Janet Bowen # 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 # Julian, born 4 June 1975, to Lucy Pounder # Ky-Mani, born 26 February 1976, to Anita Belnavis # Damian, born 21 July 1978, to Cindy Breakspeare

Makeda was born on 30 May 1981, to Yvette Crichton, after Marley's death. 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, also list Imani Carole, born 22 May 1963 to Cheryl Murray; but she does not appear on the official Bob Marley website. Despite his illness, he wished to continue 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. 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. 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. Shortly afterwards, his 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 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.

While flying home from Germany to Jamaica, in acceptance that he was going to die, 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". Marley received a state funeral in Jamaica on 21 May 1981, which combined elements of Ethiopian Orthodoxy and Rastafari tradition. He was buried in a chapel near his birthplace with his red Gibson Les Paul (some accounts say it was a Fender Stratocaster).

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

Legacy

In 1999 Time magazine chose Bob Marley & The Wailers' Exodus as the greatest album of the 20th century. 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. 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". In 2008, a statue of Marley was inaugurated in Banatski Sokolac, Serbia.

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. Additionally, for some in Nepal, Marley is considered to be an incarnation of the Hindu God Vishnu. Recently, however, Scorsese dropped out due to scheduling problems. He is being replaced by Jonathan Demme.

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.

Discography

The Wailing Wailers (1965)

Soul Rebels (1970)

Soul Revolution (1971)

The Best of The Wailers (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

|alt=A five pointed pink star inlaid in the sidewalk with Bob Marley written on it.]]

1976: Band of the Year (Rolling Stone).

June 1978: Awarded the Peace Medal of the Third World from the United Nations.

"One Love" named song of the millennium by BBC.

Voted as one of the greatest lyricists of all time by a BBC poll. 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. 2010: "Catch a Fire" inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame (Reggae Album).

See also

Bob Marley Museum

Bunny Wailer

Dreadlocks

Ital

Jamaican Patois

Lion of Judah

List of reggae musicians

Marcus Garvey

Peter Tosh

Rastafari movement

Rastafarian vocabulary

Spiritual use of marijuana

Trenchtown

Tuff Gong

Ziggy Marley

Notes and references

Further reading

Farley, Christopher (2007). Before the Legend: The Rise of Bob Marley, Amistad Press ISBN 0060539925

Goldman, Vivien (2006). The Book of Exodus: The Making and Meaning of Bob Marley and the Wailers' Album of the Century, Aurum Press ISBN 1845132106

Marley, Rita; Jones, Hettie (2004) No Woman No Cry: My Life with Bob Marley Hyperion Books ISBN 0786887559

Masouri, John (2007) Wailing Blues: The Story of Bob Marley's "Wailers" Wise Publications ISBN 1846096898

White, Timothy (2006). Catch a Fire: The Life of Bob Marley Owl Books ISBN 0805080864

External links

The Bob Marley Foundation

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

Category:1945 births Category:1981 deaths Category:Converts to Christianity Category:Anti-apartheid activists Category:Attempted assassination survivors Category:Cannabis culture Category:Deaths from skin cancer Category:English-language singers Category:Ethiopian Orthodox Christians Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Category:Jamaican male singers Category:Jamaican reggae singers Category:Jamaican Rastafarians Category:Jamaican songwriters Category:Jamaican vegetarians Category:Jamaican people of English descent B Category:Pan-Africanism Category:Resonator guitarists Category:Performers of Rastafarian music Category:People from Wilmington, Delaware Category:Jamaican expatriates in the United Kingdom Category:Jamaican expatriates in the United States Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:Shooting survivors Category:Cancer deaths in Florida Category:People from Saint Ann Parish Category:Converts to the Rastafari movement Category:The Wailers members