6 February 2026
Robert Nesta Marley was born 80 years
ago today in Nine Miles, Jamaica.
Happy B. to the eternal legend who introduced reggae,
to the masses. His supreme songwriting, his Jah devotion,
and his gospel gathering-like concerts made him a global
superstar.
He passed away in 1981 due
to cancer, aged only 30.
Legend indeed.
19 May 2025
The Legend compilation by eternal reggae icon BOB MARLEY (1945-1981) had
a 12-week run at No.1 on the UK album chart from 19 May 1984 on, 41 years ago
today.
.
Top singles from the past
14 September 2024
50 years ago today, on 14 September 1974 Eric Clapton
scored a No 1 hit in America with I Shot The Sheriff.
The song was written, by the late reggae icon Bob Marley (1945-1981)
in 1973 for his Burnin’ album.
Marley: “I wanted to say ‘I shot the police’ but the government would have
made a fuss so I said ‘I shot the sheriff’ instead… but it’s the same idea: justice.
ERIC CLAPTON
BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS
EC: Story
26 December 2023
REBEL MUSIC: BOB MARLEY & ROOTS REGGAE is brand new photo book with rare shots
of reggae trailblazer BOB MARLEY taken by American photographer KATE SIMON
You can purchase a copy HERE.
In 1975, Kate Simon first photographed Bob Marley and the Wailers at the Lyceum in
London, where the now-legendary live performance of No Woman, No Cry was recorded. They then collaborated throughout the Seventies, with Simon shooting some of the most intimate, enduring and emblematic images ever taken of Marley, including his iconic Kaya album cover
Simon captured it all: portraits of the reggae greats of the Seventies, such as Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Bunny Wailer and Peter Tosh; the Exodus Tour, on the road with Bob Marley and The Wailers as they performed across Europe.
And the One Love Peace Concert, where Bob famously united Jamaica‘s opposing political leaders. Ultimately, in 1981, Simon would ride with the funeral cortege from Kingston to
St Ann and Bob Marley‘s final resting place.
Rebel Music contains over 400 photographs from Simon‘s archives, many published here for the first time. Introduced by Patti Smith, with a foreword by Lenny Kravitz and afterword by Keith Richards.
A cast of 24 contributors join Simon in sharing the stories behind the images, including
ex-Wailers guitarist Junior Marvin and bass player and band leader Aston ‘Family Man’ Barrett; musicians such as Junior Delgado, Steve Jordan, Paul Simonon and Bruce Springsteen; filmmaker Don Letts and producer Danny Sims; and Island Records founder, Chris Blackwell.
Bob Marley: Bio – Discography – Instagram
Kate Simon: Website – Instagram
Daily electricity to load your batteries
16 December 2023
In 1968 the late reggae icon BOB MARLEY recorded a song named SELASSIE IS
THE CHAPEL. An ode to Haile Selassie, the Ethiopian emperor, from 1930 to 1974,
and sacred figure in the Rastafari movement, of which Marley was a committed
member
The song, a tender and wholehearted ballad, is now officially released via Marley‘s original label Jad Records on 7″ (only 2000 copies) and streams on all well-know platforms. More info here.
The lyrics were written by Mortimer Planno, who played a fundamental part in Marley’s involvement in the Rastafarian religion and who met Haile Selassie when he visited Jamaica in 1966.
PROMO CLIP
FULL SONG
.
BOB MARLEY: Bio – Discography – Instagram
(Image on top: Cover of Bob Marley & The Wailers album ‘Rastaman Vibration‘)
Back in time…
13 April 2021
Artist: DAVID BOWIE
8 January 1947 – 10 January 2016
Album: ALADDIN SANE – 6th LP
Released: 13 April 1973 – 48 years ago today
Notes: Recorded with his band The Spiders from Mars.
Partly thanks to the mega-hit ‘The Jean the Genie’ the album
topped the UK charts.
Rolling Stone wrote: “Aladdin is grander, more produced:
David is more than ever more mastermind than participant.
Aladdin’s very eclecticism makes it less exposed, conceptually,
than Ziggy.”
Stream here…
.
DAVID BOWIE: All Albums
Artist: BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS
Album: CATCH A FIRE (means: ‘Burn In Hell’) – 5th LP
Released: 13th April 1973 – 48 years ago today
Notes: 2 songs written by Peter Tosh, 7 by Marley.
The cover sleeve depicted a Zippo lighter. At first
the LP wasn’t a great success at all on release. But
after The Wailers toured the US and the UK in
support of the record sales exploded.
BBC Music said: “Reggae, up until this point, was a niche genre,
bought in the UK by ex-pat West Indians. It was even less widespread
in the States. Catch A Fire changed all that. Without it Bob Marley would
never have become a figurehead and no one outside of the Caribbean
would have heard of Bunny Wailer or Peter Tosh either. For this alone
Chris Blackwell should be canonised.”
Stream here…
.
BOB MARLEY: All Albums
Band: THIN LIZZY
Album: BLACK ROSE: A LEGEND – 9th LP
Released: 13 April 1979 – 42 years ago today
Notes: Peaked at #2 in the UK. The first full
album with Gary Moore. The track/single ‘Sarah‘
was about his newborn daughter.
All Music wrote: “Thin Lizzy’s last true classic album,
and their “most musically varied, accomplished, and
successful studio album.”
Stream here…
.
THIN LIZZY: All Albums
6 December 2020
45 years ago – 5 December 1975 – a registration of the late great reggae crusader
BOB MARLEY‘s London show in July that year, simply called LIVE! saw the day of light
and became a huge success mostly due to the fact that the track No Woman, No Cry became a hit when it was released as a single.
Here’s a 1977 live version…
Full album…
10 September 2020
Artist: Bob Marley
6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981
Album: Legend
Released: 8 May 1984
Rolling Stone: “Bob Marley said:”Reggae music is too simple for [American musicians]. You must be inside of it, know what’s happening, and why you want to play this music. You don’t just run and go play this music because you think you can make a million off it.” Ironically, this set of the late reggae idol’s greatest hits has sold in the millions worldwide. In a single disc, it captures everything that made him an international icon: his nuanced songcraft, his political message (and savvy), and – of course – the universal soul he brought to Jamaican rhythm and Rastafarian spirituality in the gunfighter ballad “I Shot the Sheriff,” the comforting swing of “No Woman, No Cry” and the holy promise of “Redemption Song.”
“If you’re white and you’re wrong, then you’re wrong; if you’re black and you’re wrong, you’re wrong. People are people. Black, blue, pink, green – God make no rules about color; only society make rules where my people suffer, and that why we must have redemption and redemption now.” – Marley
Full album…
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BOB MARLEY: All Albums
10 June 2020
Artist: Bob Marley
Real name: Robert Nesta (Bob) Marley
6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981
Album: Uprising his 12th LP
Released: 10 June 1980 – 40 years ago
Rolling Stone wrote: “The new record finds reggae’s foremost poet-prophet in a contemplative and pessimistic mood, secure in his religious beliefs but concerned about a gloomy future. If Uprising doesn’t snap one’s head back (as Survival did), it certainly proves unnerving with its alternating moments of exaltation and introspection… one feels a man reaching out and grappling with the dreadful possibilities of liberation and disaster. Such a tour de force, like much of Uprising, is as moving as it is deeply troubling.”
Key tracks: Coming In From The Cold / Redemption Song / Could You Be Loved
– COMING IN FROM THE COLD –
– REDEMPTION SONG –
– COULD YOU BE LOVED –
Album in full…
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BOB MARLEY: All Albums
6 February 2020
Robert Nesta Marley aka BOB MARLEY was born in Nine Miles in Jamaica on 6 February 1945. The reggae icon who passed away in Miami on 11 May 1981, would have turned 75 today. To celebrate the late legend’s birthday a new animated video clip for REDEMPTION SONG was made by French artists Octave Marsal and TheoMayDe Gueltzl who illustrated the visuals to bring the song’s story of emancipation to life.
See the beauty here…