Boby Marley

He was born Robert Nesta Marley in Rhoden Hall, Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica

. Marley was learning the welding trade in Kingston when he formed his first harmony group, the Rudeboys, in 1961. The group later became known as the Wailers. The Wailers included vocalists Bunny Livingston and Peter Tosh, both of whom later embarked on successful solo careers. The group's early recordings were in a style called ska, a hybrid of New Orleans rhythm and blues and Jamaican mento. Mento was the first of the reggae styles. (The term reggae is commonly used as a collective designation for a number of successive forms of Jamaican pop music—ska, rock steady, poppa-top, and reggae.) By the late 1960s, influences from United States rhythm and blues, Jamaican folk rhythm, and dub (rhythmic, improvised verses) were synthesized into the rock steady and poppa-top styles, and Marley emerged as a rising talent in this new genre of Jamaican music. In 1967 he converted from Christianity to Rastafarianism,

The African delegation to the United Nations awarded Marley the International Peace Medal in 1978. Zimbabwean prime minister Robert Mugabe invited the Wailers to attend Zimbabwe's independence celebrations in 1980; Marley was overwhelmed by the honor. Later that year, Marley collapsed on stage, apparently from exhaustion. Doctors diagnosed him with brain, lung, and stomach cancer, and Marley died on May 11, 1981. Tens of thousands of fans attended his funeral, mourning a man who had both entertained and moved them. Two months after his death, he was awarded the Order of Merit, the nation's third-highest honor, for his contribution to Jamaican culture.

A national hero in Jamaica, Robert Nesta Marley was a singer and guitarist who took reggae music to an international level. A Rastafarian, he wrote lyrics that touched on oppression, poverty, and violence and held out hope that these problems would be overcome. His music came to be associated with black independence. Marley's life was tied inextricably to the development of reggae music and the Rastafarian way of life.

Dishonest studios and management problems led to the Wailing Wailers' breakup two years later. Although Marley had just gotten married (he eventually had four children with Rita, who would later become one of his back-up singers), he joined his mother in Delaware and got a job working in a Chrysler car factory. After he saved enough money to record a new album, he returned to Jamaica in 1967. Marley, Livingstone, and Tosh regrouped as the Wailers and did some recording but were ultimately unhappy with their producers. In 1969, they signed on with a new producer, one who was pioneering the fusion of ska and rock steady into a new style called reggae. Lee "Scratch" Perry helped meld the Wailers' sound with a heavily accented hesitation beat, increased instrumentals, and promoted Marley

Some topics in this essay:
Peter Tosh, Robert Mugabe, Wailing Wailers', Selassie Rastafarians, Nesta Marley, Jamaica Marley, Redemption Song, South American, Wailing Wailers, Trench Town's, reggae music, rock steady, marley wailers, reggae music rastafarian, rastaman vibration 1976, uprising 1980, catch fire, peter tosh, solo careers, robert nesta marley, exodus 1977, converted christianity rastafarianism, jamaica marley, rhythm blues jamaican, natty dread,