Bob Marley
Robert Nesta Marley
1945 - 1981

From early childhood, Bob had been surrounded by music. Many of his relatives played one or more instruments, and his grandfather, Omeriah, even had a turntable, speakers and an amplifier. As a little kid in school, Bob himself even crafted a guitar from a sardinebox, a piece of wood and some balingwire. And not only that, he actually played this strange thing and sang with his somewhat high-pitched voice. A star to be was born, no doubt about that.
When Bob Marley was about six-years-old, he was sent to Kingston to get his further education. After some time his mother also moved to Kingston, and got an apartment in Trench Town, a poor ghetto in West Kingston. And it was here, in these rough neigbourhoods that Bob grew up. Although never a gangmember, he held great respect, and was known on the streets as the Tuff Gong.

Bob Marley made his singing debut in 1959 at a Queens Theatre talent show, where he won a pound (about the equivalent of five dollars). At the time, the young generation of Jamaican musicians had created the fast-paced hybrid musicgenre known as Ska, and everybody was anxious to make records. And no one was more driven to do this than Bob Marley. He had left school at the age of 14, and wanted to devote his life to music. Now he became sort of a student of a singer called Joe Higgs who had recorded several hits already. Along with his companion Bunny Livingstone, Bob made music while listening to just about anything that came from America and from the radio. Under Joe Higgs tutelage, Marley´s development was rapid, and during the sessions at Higgs´ yard, Marley found a third soulmate, Hubert Winston McIntosh, a guitarplayer who prefered to be called Peter Tosh. Later, this trio came together with Junior Braithwaite and Beverly Kelso and performed under different names before comingup with the finale name of the band. The Wailers had been born, ”the word wail means to cry or to moan”, Peter Tosh later explained and was thinking about the members upbringing in Trench Town.

The first song Marley recorded and released was ”Judge not”, under the name Robert Marley. It was followed by ”Terror” backed with ”One cup of coffee”. None of the songs did well, and Marley was payed the equivalent of about $20. Later the Wailers changed some of the members, and they did several recorings under different labels witout any big success.

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