Bob Marley

Nesta Robert Marley was born in Nine Mile, Saint Ann, Jamaica in 1945. Marley started making music at a young age, collaborating with reggae musician Bunny Wailer when he was still in elementary school. Marley recorded his first singles in 1962, and in 1963, he joined The Wailers, with whom he recorded some of the earliest reggae records. The Wailers disbanded in 1974, after which Marley established his solo career, reaching the height of his success in 1977 with the album Exodus. Marley was a devoted Rastafarian whose music was infused with spirituality and the struggles of Africans against western oppression. Marley died in 1981, at age 36, of malignant melanoma that had spread from his toe to the rest of his body.