The international reggae superstar, Robert Nesta Marley—more commonly known as Bob Marley—was born in Nine Mile, Jamaica in 1945. He experienced many hardships during his life, but one thing remained constant through it all: his love for music. Starting off in a small recording studio in Jamaica with a group of friends, their band Bob Marley and the Wailers became a worldwide sensation. Although Marley tragically passed away at the age of 36, his son, Ziggy, told his father’s story in the 2024 movie Bob Marley: One Love.
The movie opened with Bob Marley and his assistant sitting in a room with reporters. Cameras flashed incessantly and endless questions were blurted out by reporters urging him to talk more about his plan for a concert: Marley had hopes of hosting a concert named “Smile Jamaica” to heal and reunite the divided nation. During the 1970s, two rival political parties rose up and caused havoc throughout the nation, eventually leading to war. Although many people, including Marley’s wife and manager, thought the idea of a concert could put him in harm’s way, he still decided to go through with the idea. But disaster struck when two men entered Marley’s home and shot him, his friend, and his wife. Luckily, everyone survived. Even after the attempt to end Marley’s life was made, he went on to play the “Smile Jamaica” concert very soon after.
Things started to get rough in Jamaica. The war between the two parties began to escalate so, in order to protect his wife and children, Marley told his wife to go stay with his mother in Delaware. Three months later, Marley went to London with his band and began recording more songs in a new studio. There, they developed the album Exodus which would later be #8 on the world charts and described by Time Magazine as “the best album of the 20th century.” The band had tour dates set for Europe, where they traveled to Paris, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, West Germany and Sweden, as well as an American tour where they traveled across the United States, but their ultimate goal was to hold shows in Africa. Marley’s friend who coordinated the shows was very opposed to the idea but eventually agreed, and, in 1980, Bob Marley and The Wailers performed on a stage in Zimbabwe.
As the group toured Europe, Marley developed pain in his toe. Thinking nothing of it, he refused to get it checked—which, he would later find out, was a fatal mistake. Later that year, he was diagnosed with acral lentiginous melanoma, a form of skin cancer that can spread to the brain and lungs.
Bob and Rita Marley, along with their children, would return to Jamaica in 1978. Upon his return, Marley would be greeted by the people who had tried to take his life, who were then asking for his forgiveness. Bob forgave them despite their actions. He would later go onto play the “One Love” concert on April 2, 1978, where he brought both leaders of the rival political parties up on stage as a sign of unity.
It has been nearly 43 years since Bob Marley’s death but, his messages of unity, freedom and peace demonstrated throughout his songs live on throughout the decades.
