Reggae en Español
Stylistic origins	Reggae, dancehall
Cultural origins	Panama
Typical instruments	Drums - Bass guitar - Guitar - Organ Spanish-language dancehall: Drum machine - Sampler - Synthesizer - Organ
Mainstream popularity	1980s-
Derivative forms	Reggaeton
Regional scenes
Panama, Puerto Rico
Other topics
Music of Panama, Music of Puerto Rico

Reggae en Español (in English, Spanish Reggae^[1]) is reggae and dancehall music recorded in the Spanish language by artists of Latin American origin. It originated in the mid-1970s in Panama and further developed in the 1980s in Puerto Rico.Reggae en Español goes by several names: in Puerto Rico is called Roots en Español while in Panama is called La Plena, not to be confused with Afro-Puertorican plena.

Currently, Reggae en Español contains three main sub-genres: reggae 110, reggae bultrón and romantic flow. In addition, and although technically they would not fall into the category of Reggae en Español because their beats are not directly derived from Jamaican dancehall rhythms, Reggae en Español also includes two music fusions: reggae soca and reggaeton.^[2]

History[link]

Bob Marley, inspiration for the Reggae en Español.

Early developments[link]

Reggae as a musical genre has its origins in Jamaica, and it became popular throughout the 1970s in the black-immigrant communities of the other British West Indies, North America, and Great Britain. Central America did not escape that musical expansion. Jamaican reggae was embraced in the Spanish-speaking world first in Panama by the descendants of black workers that immigrated to the Isthmus during the construction of the Panama Railroad (mid-19th century), the railways for the banana companies (late 19th century), and the Panama Canal (early 20th century).^[3] Prior to the period of construction of the Panama Canal (1904–1915), most of the Afro-Caribbean communities in Panama where of Jamaican descent, but with the construction of the canal these communities grew in diversity with immigrants from other parts of the Caribbean such as Barbados, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Trinidad, French and British Guyanas and other Caribbean Islands.^[4]

By the 1970s and already equipped with a rich Afro-Caribbean community, early attempts of Reggae en Español were produced as a hobby by Panamanian DJ's of Afro-Caribbean heritage as well as Puerto Rican DJ's like DJ Playero, who improvised lyrics in patois. These lyrics were often humorous or had double meanings.

In 1977, a Guyanese immigrant, appropriately nicknamed as Guyana, along with a local DJ known as Wassabanga introduced for first time the reggae rhythms in Panama with lyrics in Spanish.^[5] Wassabanga's music along with later interpreters such as Rastanini and Calito Soul, were perhaps the first remarkable cases of Reggae en Español, at a time when many Panamanians were already developing a musical and spiritual bond with the Mecca of reggae music (Kingston, Jamaica), a bond catalyzed mainly by the call to arms issued by the music of Bob Marley.^[6]

First generation[link]

In 1978, people could listen to and dance to this genre at Rancho Grande in the disco club "Disco Machine" and in the open dance floor "El Compa" in Pedregal (district of Panama), where the later popular Nando Boom reggae singer used to play during the weekends. At this time, Jamaican reggae was making its way to Puerto Rico by many Jamaican imports from its nearby island. Jamaican music and immigrants from St Thomas and Jamaica were moving to Puerto Rico, especially to the communities near Loiza, Puerto Rico.

Hernando Brin, better known as Super Nandi, was Rastanini's brother and was in the group "The Cheb". Brin and the group all belonged to the Rastafari movement. In 1984, Brin produced the first record in the world of Reggae in Spanish on vinyl, called Treadmit,^[7] composed by Calvin Calderon (Omega), Hactor Wakler, Erick Green (Gringo) and Hernando Brin (Super Nandi). The record was produced by record label Prodim in Panama, and it included the first song by Rastanini called "Padre Por Favor Educa a los Niños" (Father Please Educate the Children).^[7]

In the early-mid 1980s, Panamanians like Renato, El General, Nando Boom, El Maleante, and Chicho Man started to take Jamaican dancehall songs and beats, singing over them with Spanish lyrics, most of the time preserving the melodies and the rhythms. They also sped up riddims, and added Hispanic and Latino elements to them. This style was called Reggae en Español or "Spanish Reggae".^[1] The music continued to grow throughout the 1980s, with many stars developing in Panama. To this date, El General has been widely regarded as the Padre del Reggae en Español or "Father of Spanish Reggae", due to his unique sound with Latino rhythms.

Between the 1980s and 1990s, the Panamanian artist Chicho Man, where the suffix "Man" was borrowed from the name of the Jamaican singer Yellowman and the prefix "Chicho", given to him by one of his brothers, emerged as one of the greater exponents of Panamanian reggae.^[8] In his short five-year career as an artist,^[8] he notoriously introduced the "romantic" element in Spanish Reggae, and produced only one LP which included songs like "La Noche Que Te Conocí", "Lady in Red", "Llega Navidad", "Muévela", "No Quiero Ir a Isla Coiba" and "Un Nuevo Estilo".^[8] His songs were recorded in a warehouse, where a Panamanian producer called Calito LPD produced reggae instrumental tracks and recorded them in cassette.^[8] While in the peak of his career, his fame reached the United States, but an issue with the US authorities left him in prison and led him to make a "pact" with God, whereby if he could get out of it, he would devote his talent to preach the Christian gospel.^[8] So after prison and after losing everything, he announced his withdrawal from the reggae scene to become a Christian preacher.^[8]

Second generation[link]

In the '90s, the genre had grown in Panama. In 1996, after the Panamanians began listening a little less to artists like Nando Boom, then came great artists such as Aldo Ranks, El Renegado, Jam & Suppose who sang the hit "Camión Lleno de Gun".^[9] Jr. Ranks and Tony Bull already had good records with late singer Danger Man and they formed the musical group called The Killamanjaros. By the other side in the year 1991, the singer Apache Ness with Papa Chan, Kafu Banton, Calito Soul, Wassa Banga, and Original Dan decided to join forces and create the foundation "One Love One Blood" singing about urban street experiences under the rhythm called reggae bultrón.^[10]

Later in Panama, the romanticism had been mixed with the reggae and the reggae romántico ("romantic reggae"), now better known as romantic flow, was born. Those who keep alive the reggae with romantic lyrics are the following: Flex (aka Nigga), El Roockie, El Aspirante, Kathy Phillips, Eddy Lover, Tommy Real, Makano, Catherine, as well as groups like: Raíces y Cultura and La Factoría who became famous by the Panamanian producer Irving DiBlasio.^[11]

In 1990, Panamanians developed the rhythm reggae 110, with explicit lyrics and songs with double meaning, where producers mix instrumental reggae tracks as in the production of The Creation with songs as "Pa la Cerca" by Papa Chan. In this year, in Puerto Rico under the influence of Panamanians, they were singing what they call "underground", when they mixed Reggae en Español with hip hop and Latin American rhythms, creating reggaeton.

In 1996, considered the golden age of Panamanian reggae, appeared the productions Los Cuentos de la Cripta and La Mafia by the producer El Chombo, with songs like: "Las Chicas Quieren Chorizo" (The Girls Want Chorizo) by Wassabanga, "El Cubo de Leche" sung by Jam & Suppose and "Estaban Celebrando" by Aldo Ranks.

In 1997, the first Puerto Rican artists who visited Panama were: Ivy Queen, Baby Rasta & Gringo, with productions like "Cierra los Ojos Bien" by Baby Rasta and "Reggae Respect" by Ivy Queen. Puerto Ricans also dominated Reggae en Español as well as reggaeton.

In 1999, the Panamanian reggaeton became accepted internationally on productions as: "Papi Chulo" by Lorna,^[12] "El Gato Volador" (The Flying Cat) by Los Cracker Jack composed by Carlos Córdoba and Steve Valois, with the producer El Chombo in the productions of Los Cuentos de la Cripta 3, under Sony Music.

Later, the Panamanian productions divided into reggae 110, dancehall and roots reggae, with peace and reflexion lyrics, like in Jamaican reggae. Today the Reggae en Español market is controlled by many Puerto Rican musicians and bands, such as Cultura Profética, which have been very successful.

Reggaeton[link]

Reggae en Español is the antecessor of the reggaeton popularized in Puerto Rico. The most notable omitted difference between Spanish reggae/dancehall and reggaeton is the move away from a percussion-based music genre. Reggaeton is of Jamaican, Panamian and Puerto Rican origin^[13] and is based on a percussion/drum pattern known as "Dem Bow". Reggae en Español, on the other hand, comes to resemble Jamaican reggae and dancehall in most aspects. Musicians who play Reggae en Español have long abandoned the use of "Dem Bow" (Poco Man jam riddim), and have adopted newly imported or newly created Jamaican-inspired riddims.^[1]

References[link]

Official Reggae in Spanish websites[link]

• Plena507
• Reggae.com.pa
• PanamaReggae

External links[link]

• RitualReggae
• Reggae Argentino
• Reggae en españa
• Reggae en Venezuela
• El Rasta - Reggae en español
• Puertoreggae - Reggae en Puerto Rico
• Raíces Rústicas - Reggae Lounge

v t e Reggae Genres Roots reggae · Dub music · Dub poetry · Lovers rock · Dancehall · Reggaeton · Reggae en Español · Reggae fusion · Ragga · Ragga jungle · Samba reggae Characteristics Walking bass · Hammond organ · Reverb · Delay · Deejay (Toasting) · Singjay Related topics Music of Jamaica · Caribbean Music · Caribbean music in the United Kingdom · Reggae in Australia · Reggae Grammy winners 1985-present · Rastafari · Rude boy · Skinhead · Suedehead · Dance Hall (venue) · Dubplate · Sound system (Jamaican) · Sound system (DJ) · Riddim · Jamaican English · Jamaican Patois · Studio One · Trojan Records · Island Records · Blue Beat · Reggae musicians · Dub artists · Jamaican record producers · Reggae festivals

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

v t e Pan-Africanism Proponents Politicians Nnamdi Azikiwe Amílcar Cabral Muammar Gaddafi Marcus Garvey David Comissiong Kenneth Kaunda Jomo Kenyatta Patrice Lumumba Thabo Mbeki Abdias do Nascimento Gamal Abdel Nasser Kwame Nkrumah Julius Nyerere John Nyathi Pokela Thomas Sankara Haile Selassie Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe Ahmed Sékou Touré I. T. A. Wallace-Johnson Others Marimba Ani Molefi Kete Asante Steve Biko Edward Wilmot Blyden John Henrik Clarke Cheikh Anta Diop W. E. B. Du Bois Frantz Fanon John G. Jackson Leonard Jeffries Yosef Ben-Jochannan Maulana Karenga Fela Kuti Bob Marley Malcolm X Zephania Mothopeng George Padmore Motsoko Pheko Runoko Rashidi Paul Robeson Walter Rodney Burning Spear Henry Sylvester-Williams Stokely Carmichael Omali Yeshitela Concepts United States of Africa Afrocentrism Kwanzaa Pan-African colours Pan-African flag Négritude African nationalism African socialism African Century Africanization Kawaida Ujamaa Harambee Ubuntu Zikism Black nationalism Organizations African Union Organization of African Unity Uhuru Movement UNIA-ACL African Unification Front International African Service Bureau

Damian Marley
Background information
Birth name	Damian Marley
Also known as	Jr. Gong, Gongzilla
Born	(1978-07-21) July 21, 1978 (age 33) Kingston, Jamaica
Genres	Reggae, dancehall, hip-hop, reggae fusion, ragga
Years active	1996–present
Labels	Tuff Gong, Ghetto Youth International, Universal
Associated acts	Bob Marley, Ky-Mani Marley, Ziggy Marley, Stephen Marley, Julian Marley, Nas, SuperHeavy

Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley (born July 21, 1978) is a Jamaican reggae artist who has won three Grammy awards.^[1] Damian is the youngest son of Bob Marley.

Damian was two years old when his father, Bob Marley, died; he is the only child born to Marley and Cindy Breakspeare, Miss World 1976. Damian's nickname Junior Gong is derived from his father's nickname of Tuff Gong. Marley has been performing since the age of 13. He shares, along with most of his family, a full-time career in music.

Music[link]

Marley has described his music as "dancehall and reggae. I've noticed...people trying to separate the two of them," he continues. "It's Jamaican culture in general. I don't try to classify or separate."^[2]

At age 13, he formed a musical group by the name of the Shephards, which included the daughter of Freddie McGregor and son of Third World's Cat Core. The group opened the 1992 Reggae Sunsplash festival.^[3] The band fell apart in the early 1990s and Damian started his solo career.^[4]

With the backing of his father’s label, Tuff Gong, he released his 1996 debut album Mr. Marley which surprised many who were unaccustomed to hearing a Marley deejaying rather than singing.^[5] Damian’s brother, Stephen Marley, was a producer and co-author for this album.^[4]

His second album, Halfway Tree was released in 2001. The cover of Halfway Tree depicts him standing under the clock at halfway tree. This is an embodiment of his parent’s different social origins with this mother from uptown and his father from the ghetto. In Kingston, Jamaica the Halfway Tree was used as a shady halfway point for farmers and vendors who would pass the tree on their route to transport their goods to the downtown market.^[6] It brought him much recognition, remaining on the Billboard top reggae albums chart for 158 weeks,^[7] and winning the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album.^[5]

His third album, Welcome to Jamrock was released in September 2005, named after the hugely successful song of the same name. The lyrics to the single "Welcome to Jamrock", which was performed over a riddim produced by Sly and Robbie for Ini Kamoze some 20 years earlier,^[8] centered around poverty, politics and crime in Jamaica. While the single was controversial at home over its perceived negative viewpoint of the island,^[9] many praised the content of the song. Dr. Clinton Hutton, professor at the University of the West Indies, said of the single, "'Jamrock' uses the icon of the inner city, of alienation, of despair, of prejudice, but of hope, of Jamaican identity, to remind us of the fire of frustration, the fire of creativity, the fire of warning to open up our eyes and look within to the life we are living. And still some of us don't want to hear and to look and say enough is enough."^[10] The single reached #13 on the UK Singles Chart^[11] and #55 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.^[12] It was also #100 on the Top 100 Songs of the Decade listing by Rolling Stone.^[13]

At the 2006 Grammy Awards, he won Best Reggae Album and Best Urban/Alternative Performance for Welcome to Jamrock. He is the only Jamaican reggae artist in history to win two Grammy Awards on the same night. He is also the only reggae artist to win in the Best Urban/Alternative Performance category at the Grammy Awards. The album sold 86,000 copies in its first week of release,^[9] and was eventually certified gold after selling 500,000 copies in the United States.^[14] Other notable singles from the album include "The Master Has Come Back", "Road to Zion" featuring Nas, and "Khaki Suit" featuring Bounty Killer and Eek-A-Mouse.

On May 17, 2010, Marley released Distant Relatives, a collaborative album with Nas. The album title refers not only to the bond between the artists, but the connection to their African ancestry, which inspired the album both musically and lyrically.^[15] They have previously collaborated on “Road to Zion”, on Marley’s Welcome to Jamrock album. The album joins two different flavors of music with Marley’s dub-rock aesthetic and Nas’ flow. Damian and Stephen produced much of the album. The proceeds of this album will go to building schools in the Congo.^[16]

In a 2011 interview on Tim Westwood, Damian revealed he had started work on a new album. His street single, released in Jamaica was titled "Just Aint The Same". He has also joined Mick Jagger's musical project SuperHeavy with Joss Stone, Dave Stewart and A.R. Rahman. Their debut single "Miracle Worker" was released on June 6, 2011, with the album scheduled for a September 2011 release.^[17] Damian also worked with electronic artist Skrillex on a song called "Make It Bun Dem" in 2012. ^[18]

Personal life and beliefs[link]

Born as Damian Marley, he was nicknamed "Jr. Gong" in honour of his legendary father, Bob "Tuff Gong" Marley. His mother is a Jamaican jazz musician, former model and crowned Miss World 1976 Cindy Breakspeare. After seeing The movie Damien: Omen II, which is about the coming of the Antichrist, one of Bob’s last requests in Germany was to have Damian’s name changed. “Damien being a devil….It was inappropriate for him as a Rastafarian to have a child with that name,” Bob said and Damian’s name was later changed.^[19] He has 13 siblings total; 10 on his father's side and 3 on his mother's side. Damian was two years old when his father died due to the spread of melanoma to his lungs and brain, at 36 years of age.

Marley has been in the music business since he was a child. He is a Rastafarian and his music reflects both his beliefs and the Rastafari guiding principles of one love, one planet, and freedom for all nations. While he travels and tours the better part of the year, his home base is split between Kingston, Jamaica and Miami, Florida in the United States of America. He has a younger half brother Christian and a half sister Leah from his mother Cindy.^[20]

Discography[link]

Singles[link]

Other charted songs[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Damian Marley

• Damian Marley on Myspace