Reggae music has come to represent the peacemakers, freedom fighters, and rebel warriors who speak out against the oppressor to, as Bob Marley would say, " set the captives free."" Music in general opens and lifts the heart, and Reggae music is designed to uplift, comfort and awake the masses. Bob Marley, a Jamaican produced reggae artist, was the first superstar from a Third World country, and has touched all categories and classes through his music and profound wisdom. There is no doubt that he is one of the most significant, influential artists of the twentieth century. The music of Bob Marley has stretched across nearly two full decades, and still remains timeless. Bob is clearly reggae music's most internationally known figure, and it was him who helped bring the message of reggae and Rastafari to the four corners of this earth. He considered himself a revolutionary, fighting single-handedly with music as his weapon. This is the legend of the great Bob Marley "the struggles; the beliefs; the success.
Robert Nesta Marley was born to Cedella Booker and Norval Marley, on February 6, 1945 in Nine Miles, Jamaica. Cedella was an eighteen-year-old Jamaican native, and Norval was a fifty-year-old white man working for the Jamaican Forestry Company. In his younger years, Bob grew up just north of the island in St. Ann with his mother. Bob rarely saw his father. In his early teens, Bob and his mother moved to Kingston, and that is where Bob's musical career began. .
For Bob, growing up in the slums of Kingston was just one more obstacle he would have to overcome. The slums were filled with rival gangs, violence and hatred. His easygoing ways attracted kindness in a place filled with bitterness and anger. The street youths were filled with aggression, not happy with their place in society. Bob Marley refused to fight anyone who ever challenged him. He encouraged peace and kind words. He assured others that every problem could be better solved with the expression of feelings, rather than by hostility and violent acts.