The Story
Robert Nesta Marley was born on 6 February 1945 in Nine Mile, a village in the Jamaican hills. His career began in 1963 in Kingston, where he formed the group that became The Wailers with Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer — three voices that would carry ska and rocksteady into something slower, heavier, and entirely Jamaica's own.
The international breakthrough came with Island Records: Catch a Fire and Burnin', both released in 1973, introduced reggae to rock audiences on reggae's own terms. In December 1976, gunmen stormed his home in a politically motivated assassination attempt days before a peace concert; he played the show anyway, then left for London — where he recorded Exodus (1977), the album that made him a global figure, with 'Jamming', 'One Love', and the title track.
Diagnosed with acral lentiginous melanoma in 1977, he kept working — Survival, Uprising, and relentless touring — until the illness overtook him. He died on 11 May 1981, aged 36.
Three years later, the compilation Legend gathered the hits and became one of the best-selling albums in history — the door through which most of the world still first meets him. What's behind that door is deeper: a catalog of protest, faith, and groove that made one small island's music a permanent part of the world's.
