Bob Marley: The High Life

By Michael DeMartino

Robert Nesta “Bob” Marley was born on February 6, 1945 in Jamaica on a farm where his family lived. Bob grew up in Kingston, Jamaica where the economy is considered to be poor. As a young boy, he worked for his father and loved playing football, as soccer is called in Jamaica, with his friends.

Every day after working, his father would allow him to go to the center of the town where there was a football field. Bob and his friends would stay at this small broken down field for hours and play football. Bob never had any negative vibes while he was growing up and it continued into his adult years. He had such an amazing spirit inside of him that all of the older people in the village knew he was going to be special. He helped out his neighbors whenever possible, and always was reaching out to help others in need.

Tragedy struck him at a young age.  Bob lost his father at the age of ten, which affected his feelings. He began writing music at the age of eighteen. After the passing of his father, Bob was more motivated by music.

Bob became one of the fastest growing names in the reggae music industry when he realized he had great talents. He began his own band, which consisted of close friends and family members who Bob played football and music with. The band was called The Wailers, which was one of many music groups he would perform with to create some of the world’s best music.

Bob Marley was such a great individual, always keeping his spirits high no matter what the situation he was in. He never turned to violence in his life and believed that every man and women no matter what color are a family.

Bob Marley was recording with some of the biggest reggae recording companies in the entertainment business. He had several brothers and sisters in the house growing up; eventually he moved to make a better life for himself. When he left his home town for the first time for a meeting with an entertainment company, everyone knew that he was going to be a success.

Bob had such a musical talent which he loved and it had come in a natural state to him. This made the music that he was creating feel as if it was a part of his life.  Bob was now on the road to being one of the greatest figures in life that individuals would look up to for many of reasons. His high spirits encouraged thousands of people to continue in life even if there were some conflicts. He knew how to use music in order to change the way he had felt about life and was able to help others explain the true meaning of life.

He was such a peaceful man with no negative attention towards life; he didn’t see money as a form of happiness.  He did not see positions as being rich, he once said that his richness in life is eternal happiness. He was all about the earth and being natural to the world, where everyone gets along with no violence.

After years went by, Bob developed a very bad foot infection from playing football while a child. He would play with no shoes and his feet got cut up on the dirt he played on. He was such a man who lived by nature that he did not want to get his foot checked out by a doctor.  The infection began to travel from his big toe to his feet which became cancerous. He lived many years in a struggle fighting the infection by himself but after time the disease took a toll on his body.

The greatest reggae singer to live died on May 11, 1981 at age 36 from brain cancer which had come from his foot infection. His music is legendary, which will allow it to be passed on from generation to generation, keeping the peace and love throughout all races.

For more information:
www.bobmarley.com/history/