BLACK HISTORY FACT: Bob Marley, one of the greatest and most influential singers and songwriters in world music history, was born on this day, February 6, in 1945, in Saint Ann, Jamaica, West Indies. His mother was Black and his father was White, and he grew up in poverty, in spite of his father, a plantation overseer, periodically giving his mother money. Indeed, the White Marley family rejected Bob as a child. So it was music that empowered and changed Marleys life as a young man. Although he did not create reggae he and his original bandmates that formed The Wailers produced classic, timeless music, infused with their Rastafarian faith and other spiritual concepts, and political, community, and historical commentary. Marley would continue to do the same as a solo artist once the band disbanded. To understand his impact in the context of Black musical genius globally Bob Marley is to the Caribbean what Stevie Wonder is to Black America and what Fela is to Africa. Music begun locally but which eventually spanned the entire planet and touched lives far beyond their original Black communities. Tragically, Nesta Robert Marley died in 1981, at age 36, from cancer.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Feb 2014 12:09:45 +0000
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