But Bob disliked America. The mid-\'60s were not a good time to be black and Rastafarian. Due to the recent Civil Rights Movement heralded by Dr Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, hostility had become apparent in the majority of the white community towards Negroes. Bob seeked friends in Negro settlements but still found only hate in his direction. If you were black in America you either were Christian or Muslim, anything else and you were considered lower than dirt on your shoe as Bob found out in the \'Land Of The Free\'.
Unhappy and unsettled, Bob returned to Jamaica and joined back up with Bunny and Tosh and a new addition of reggae producer, Lee Perry nicknamed \'Scratch\'. The Wailers were reborn and released some of the best music in the history of reggae with tracks such as \" Small Axe \", \" Soul Rebel \", \" Duppy Conqueror \" and \" 400 Years \" shaking the Caribbean charts to the very foundations.
The arrival of the \'70s saw the arrival of two new Wailers. Brothers, Aston(Bass) and Carlton(Drums) Barrett and in 1972, the Wailers landed an international Record deal with Island Records. A first for any reggae artists. The first albulm the Wailers released internationally was called \" Catch A Fire\". It was well promoted and brought reggae into the homes of many who might never have heard of the genre.
The arrival of \" Catch A Fire \" whet the public\'s appetites for more and The Wailers more than did that with their sophomore albulm, \" Burnin\' \" that had many of the bands older hits and new ones such as th rebellious \" Get Up, Stand Up \" and \" I Shot The Sheriff \" of which Eric Clapton did a cover of.
By 1974, The Wailers had the whole world on lock down with the albulm\'s \" Natty Dread \" and \" Live \" subsequently. That same year, the Wailers went on tour of Europe. This included the legendary double shows at the Lyceum Ballroom in London. But, unfortunately, after the tour Bunny and Tosh left the band to pursue their own careers. But the group kept their success going with the massive anthem \" No Woman, No Cry \".
Success after success followed with albulms dropping left, right and centre. \" Rastaman Vibration \", \" Exodus \"( possibly the greatest albulm of all time ) and \" Kaya \" cementing The Wailers place in musical history.
In 1978, The Wailers were invited to play at The One Love Peace Ceremony in Jamaica in front of both the Prime Minister, Michael Manley and leader of the opposition party, Edward Seaga. It was the first time Marley had been back to Jamaica since the shooting incident that nearly killed him in 1976. Also that same year, he went to Africa for the first time. Arriving in Kenya and then travelling on to Ethiopia( It is the aim of every Rastafarian to visit Ethiopia at least once before their death ). Later, in 1980, he would return to Africa to play in Zimbabwe at the country\'s independence ceremony. This showed exactly how important the Wailers were in the 3rd world.
Then, after two shows at Madison square gardens, Bob Marley collapsed on stage and was rushed to hospital. Doctors said cancer. In Miami on May 11 1981, Robert Nesta Marley died after 8 months of battling the disease. He was 36 years old. A month prior to his death, a very ill Bob was presented with Jamaica\'s Order of Merit in recognition of the services to his country\'s culture. Although his body has long dissolved back to dust in a mausoleum his legend lives on.
Bio written by: jiggyX7 |
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