About the artist
Bob Marley (born Robert Nesta Marley, 1945, in Nine Mile, Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica) is the artist most responsible for bringing reggae to a global audience. Raised in the Trenchtown district of Kingston, he formed The Wailers in the early 1960s alongside Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer, moving from ska and rocksteady toward the slower, bass-heavy reggae sound that became his signature. His music fused danceable grooves with lyrics rooted in Rastafari spirituality, social justice, and Pan-African solidarity.
Through albums such as «Catch a Fire», «Natty Dread», «Rastaman Vibration» and «Exodus», released on Island Records, Marley turned reggae into an international phenomenon while remaining a voice for Jamaica's poor and politically marginalized. Songs like «One Love», «No Woman, No Cry» and «Redemption Song» became anthems of unity and resistance, and his 1976 Smile Jamaica concert, held days after an assassination attempt on him, cemented his image as a figure of peace amid political violence.
Marley died of cancer in 1981 at age 36, but his catalogue, especially the compilation «Legend», has continued to sell for decades, and his influence extends across reggae, hip-hop, and pop music worldwide. He remains one of the defining cultural figures of the 20th century.