Bob Marley(Nesta Robert Marley)

(6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981)

Style

Bob marley is a Jamaican singer, musician and song writer. He was the lead singer and rhythm guitarist for the reggae band Bob Marley And The Wailers.Bob was influenced a lot by his homeland Jamaica. He wrote a lot of songs about political views and the culture of Jamaica.His visual style reflects his roots in the Rastafarian ghetto culture.

Genre

Bob marley was a reggae and ska artist. Most of his songs reflect on his Rastafarian back round. He was best known for some of his biggest hits such as ‘No Woman No Cry’, ‘I Shot The Sheriff’, ‘Could You Be Loved’, ‘Stir It Up’, ‘Redemption Song’, ‘Jamming’, ‘One Love’ and ‘Three Little Birds’.

Products

Bob Marley released many albums such as:

1. Uprising

2. Birth of a Legend

3. Kaya

4. Exodus

5. Natty Dread

6. Burnin’

7. Confrontation

8. African Herbsman

9. Soul Shakedown

10. Legend

11. Catch A Fire

12. Rastaman Vibration

Career paths

December 1962- Marley left school at 14, and trained as a welder he was also concentrating on music.  He recorded two singles, 'Judge Not (Unless you Judge Yourself)' and 'One Cup of Coffee' at a local studio by Leslie Kong , owner of the Beverley's label.

1963- He Forms the Wailing Rudeboys with some of his Trench town friends peter Tosh and Bunny Livingston they are joined by Junior Braithwaite and female vocalists Beverly Kelso and Cherry Green.

January 1964- The Wailers first single, 'Simmer Down', reached Number 1 in Jamaica's JBC Radio Chart. The group began to release a series of singles that featured regularly in the Jamaican charts.

February 1966- Bob Marley Married Rita (Alpharita) Anderson.

Spring 1977- The Wailers are based in London, on and off, for three months while working on their next album, during this time Marley and Aston Barret are arrested and fined for Possession of marijuana

June 1977- "Exodus" is released it reaches Number 8 in the UK album charts, later hitting number 20 in the States.

September 1977- In Miami, a cancerous growth is diagnosed on one of Marley's toes- the press is informed that it is a foot injury received while playing football.

November 1980- Marley is baptized at Kingston's Ethiopian Orthodox Church, marking his conversion to Christian Rastafarianism he takes the name Berhane Selassie.

11 May 1981- Marley dies at Miami's Cedars of Lebanon Hospital, days after arriving. He is buried on 21 May after lying in state at the National Arena, Kingston.

Target audience

Bob Marley's music and products are aimed at a reggae audience, he expresses a lot of his culture within his music so it also attracts marijuana smokers. Most of his lyrics have a lot of meaning behind black culture, history of Jamaicans and the slave trade. As well as reggae Marley also appeals to Ska music, this also attracts a different type of audience such as skin heads.

Record label

Bob Marley was signed to Island records who was owned Chris Blackwell and Graeme Goodall in jamaica. It is now called Universal Music Group and based in the united kingdom. They have many bands and artists in their portfolio such as Amy Winehouse, Blink 182, Annie Mac, Jessie J, Tom Jones, The Wanted ect. UMG also own the largest catalog of recorded music in the world. They do not focus on one perticular genre, they have a wide range of artist that specalise in all diffrent types of music. This is the mission statement for the record lable:

Universal Music Group is renowned for its many varying labels and companies that merge forming a cultural music phenomenon. UMG (Universal Music Group) recently forged a two-year agreement with Bally's Total Fitness to give Bally members free mp3 downloads. This new concept of music ingenuity and fitness is just one of the many ideas that UMG has forged; as well as VEVO, an improved look and performance for online music video channeling. UMG has continuously been rethinking and redeveloping music into a sellers market, as well as a cultural boom.

Universal Music Group: "Culturally Sound"