Bob Marley
(1945-1981)

Jamaican Reggae Legend & Social Activist

birthdate: February 6
birthplace:
Nine Miles, Saint Ann, Jamaica

Robert Nesta Marley was a Jamaican singer, songwriter, guitarist, and social change activist. To this day, Bob Marley continues to be the most famous reggae music legend. He recorded numerous music hits with "The Wailers" and then after their breakup in 1974 as Bob Marley and "The Wailers" including "No Woman, No Cry", "Exodus", "Redemption Song", and "One Love". In addition to speaking about social change in many of his songs, Bob Marley also used his music to help promote freedom, peace and reconciliation, and equal rights for all. In 1976 he performed the free "Smile Jamaica" concert in an effort to bring two warring Jamaican political parties together, despite the fact that three days earlier he and his wife were attacked by a politically motivated gunman in their home and sustained serious injuries. In 1978 he again performed another political concert, the "One Love Peace Concert," and brought the two warring political leaders on-stage to shake hands. His 1979 album Survival, was his most political, with songs like "Africa Unite" and "Wake Up and Live" expressing his strong support for African struggles. The compilation album, Legend, released after his early death from cancer, sold more than 12 million copies, and remains the best-selling reggae album ever. Bob Marley was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 and in 1999, Time magazine named Bob Marley & The Wailers' record Exodus the "greatest album of the 20th century."

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