cannthropology
WORLD OF Cannabis PRESENTS
Bob Marley Herban Legend
leafmagazines.com
42 4
When it comes to the great global icons of Cannabis culture, few figures loom as large as the immortal king of reggae himself, Bob Marley. RISE & SHINE Born February 6, 1945, in the small Jamaican village of Nine Mile, Robert Nesta Marley was the only child of Captain Norval Marley (a 60-year-old British plantation manager) and a 17-year-old Jamaican girl named Cedella Malcolm – who he reportedly seduced, impregnated, then largely abandoned. After Norval died in 1955, Cedella and her son moved in with her boyfriend Thaddeus Livingston and his son, in Kingston’s notorious Trench Town tenement yard. There, tweenRASTAMAN VIBRATION age Bob and his new stepbrother Neville (nicknamed “Bunny”) started hanging with a During Marley’s absence, Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie, who Rastafarians worshipped as the new messiah, famously visited Jamaica – inspiring a maslocal street gang called the Rude Boys, who nicknamed him “Tuff Gong” and turned them sive surge in the popularity of Rasta culture. By the time Bob returned to the island in early 1967, his wife and bandmates had all converted to Rastafari on to the hot new sound known as ska. and he quickly followed suit – embracing the faith’s rituals of growing the hair Around the age of 14, Marley dropped out out into dreadlocks and smoking ganja as a sacrament. Under this new Rasta of school to pursue his passion for music. influence, the popular ska and “rocksteady” genres morphed into a mellower, He and Bunny started singing together and were soon taken under the wing of a famous more political musical style with an offbeat “riddim” known as reggae … and Debut album from the clean-cut Jamaican singer named Joseph Higgs. Later the clean-cut vocal trio transformed into the rebel rude boys we know today. looking Wailing Wailers. Reflecting this rebirth, Bunny changed his last name to Wailer and the band regarded as the “Godfather of Reggae,” it was shortened its name to The Wailers. Higgs who taught the duo how to sing and play guitar, as well as introduced them to two pivotal figures in their CATCH A FIRE lives: producer Clement “Coxsone” Dodd and a young guitarist After a falling out with Dodd, the group teamed known as Peter “Tosh” McIntosh. After numerous lineup and name up with producer Lee “Scratch” Perry to produce changes, their group solidified as The Wailing Wailers – a vocal trio two albums: “Soul Rebels” in 1970 and “Soul comprised of Marley, Livingston and Tosh. The group recorded over Revolution Part II” in 1971. Then in 1972, The 70 songs for Dodd’s Studio One label, which released their eponyWailers hooked up with soul singer Johnny Nash mous debut album in 1965. for a European tour. But when the tour fizzled out It was during those sessions that Marley met his first love, Rita Anand left them stranded in London, they decided to derson – a teenage mom who sang in a group called The Soulettes. meet with Island Records founder Chris Blackwell, The two were married in February 1966 … but just days after the who sent them home with £4,000 to record a new wedding, Bob left Jamaica to live with his mother in Wilmington, album. The result was “Catch a Fire” – the first Delaware (where she’d moved four years earlier).
feb. 2022
