It all began in 1944 , when Captain Norval Marley married Cedalla Booker, a young Jamaican girl. One year later their son Robert Nesta Marley was born on the February 6th, 1945 at two thirty in the morning in his grandfather house. But sadly though Bob's father soon left his mother. But he did however give financial support and came to visit his son occasionally.

In the late fifties there weren't many of jobs in Jamaica, so Bob and his mother moved from their home in St. Ann to Trenchtown (West Kingston) to seek employment in the big city. Trenchtown got it's name because it was built over a ditch which drained the sewage of old Kingston.
In Kingston Bob became friends with Neville Livingstone whose nickname was Bunny. Bob was more exposed to the music he loved, such as Fats Domino and Ray Charles. Bob and Bunny  attended to a music class which was held by the very famous Jamaican singer Joe Higgs. In that class they met Peter Macintosh and soon they became great friends. In the meantime Jamaican music was evolving and becoming very popular throughout the Caribbean due to it's invention of Ska music.
At the age of 16, Bob started following his dream to become a musician. To many young Jamaicans music was an escape from the harshness of everyday life. One of those young Jamaicans was Jimmy Cliff who at the age of 14 had already recorded a couple of hits. After meeting Bob, Jimmy introduced him to Leslie Kong, a local record producer. Bob auditioned for Leslie Kong and Bob's musical talents shone more brightly than anyone else. And that day Bob found himself  in the studio recording his first single "Judge not". Unfortunately neither "Judge not" nor his 1962 single "One more cup of Coffee" did very well. Bob soon left Kong after she failed to give him his pay.
The following year Bob, Bunny and some other friends formed the Wailing Wailers. But unfortunately they didn't get off on a great start, after just a couple of recording sessions two members, Cherry and Junior Braithwait left the band. But the band continued and were introduced to Clemet Dodd, a producer of the record company Coxsone. It was here that the Wailing Wailers recorded their first song "Simmer Down" which did quite well in Jamaica. The studio provided many talented Ska musicians to help the recording of their songs. The Wailing Wailers , consisting Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny, were becoming quite popular locally. Their audience grew rapidly and they they recorded many more songs on the Coxsone label which included "It Hurts to be Alone" and "Rule the Roadie".
 

Bob soon took over the leading roll in the band, being to main song writer and all. On February 10th, 1966 Bob's life became even more brighter when he married his girlfriend Rita Andersson. The next day he left for US to visit his mother who lived in Delaware. While in the US he worked to better finance his music and soon returned home. After Bob Marleys return from the US theWailing Wailers music evolved from Ska to Rock Steady. But the Coxsone didn't want that, they wanted Ska bands. So the Wailing Wailers left Coxsone and instead of looking around for a new label they decided to form their own label called Wail 'N' Soul. They also renamed themselves the Wailers.

This all happened during the time that Marley's first born Cedalla came to the world.
They released a couple of singles on their label such as "Bend down low" and "Mellow Mood" before it folded the same year. That effected the band greatly, it wasn't until they met Lee Perry that they got back on track. With the help of Lee Perry the Wailers produced such great tracks as "Duppy Conqueror", "Soul Rebel", "400 Years" and "Small Axe".

In 1970 the Wailers family grew with the addition of Aston "Family Man" Barret and his brother Carleton. The Wailers were now quite popular throughout the Caribbean but they still hadn't succeeded internationally. Because of this popularity a more successful label was formed  by the Wailers called Tuff Gong after a nickname of Bob Marley. The Waiters met Johnny Gnash and Bob soon accompanied Nacho to Sweden and London. In London Bob recorded "Reggae on Broadway" which was released by CBS. After that the rest of the Wailers arrived in London to help promote the single only to find that they were out of money and stranded there. With little options available, Bob went in to the Island Records Basing Street Studios and asked to speak with the boss, Chris Blackwell with hopes to get a record deal. Fortunately Mr. Blackwell had already heard of the Wailers and signed with on the spot. He gave eight thousand pounds in advance so that they could fly back home and begin recording their first album for Islands. This was a huge deal, because for the first time ever a reggae band had access to the finest recording facilities. They released the album "Catch a Fire" which was very well received by critics.
Before the Wailers reggae was sold on singles or compilation albums.
 

In the Spring 1973 the Wailers went back to London to go on a three month tour of Britain. After the tour they returned to Jamaica where Bunny decided to quit touring, so he was replaced by Joe Higgs. Then the Wailers travelled to the US where they were supposed to open 17 shows for the number one black act in the States, Sly and the Family Stones. But the Wailers were fired after 4 shows not because they were to bad, but because they were too good. They were more popular then the band they opening for, the crowd often chanted "Wail-ers" well into the Sly and the Family Stones set. They also opened a couple dates for Bruce Springsteen. After Sly and the Family Stones axed the Wailers they found themselves once again stranded without money, this time in Las Vegas.

  But somehow they found their way to San Fransico. There they did a live concert broadcast for the radio station KSAN-FM. After that their popularity really boosted in North America.

With 1973 half gone the Wailers released the much anticipated follow up album to "Catch a fire" called "Burnin". Many Wailers classics appear on this album such as "I shot the Sheriff" and "Get Up Stand Up". The Wailers popularity in North America grew even more when Eric Clapton re-recorded "I Shot the Sheriff" and it became a number one hit on the US single charts.

1975 the Wailers released their third album, "Natty Dread" with such great tracks as "Talking Blues", "No Woman No Cry" and "Revolution". But on the down side though two third of the original Wailing Wailers, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailers had quit the band to pursue solo careers. That's why the band had to change name a third time, this time to Bob Marley and the Wailers. But when to two departed members left there became a hole in the backing vocal section, this hole was filled by the I-Threes (Rita Marley, Judy Mowatts and Marcia Grittiths).
That summer the band started their European tour. Two of those were at the Lyceum Ballroom, both were considered among the top of the decade. Both shows were recorded and made the album "Live" which includes the unforgettable live version "No Woman No Cry" which was a world wide hit.
The band was additioned of Al Anderson and Bernad Harvey who were later replaced by
Junior Marvin and Tyrone Downie.
 

The last time the original Wailers played together was at a Stevie Wonder concert for the Jamaican Institute for the blind. Bob Marley and the Wailers continued their roll releasing the incredible album "Rasta man Vibration" in 1976 which caused a type of Reggae-Mania happening in the States. And the Rolling Stones named them Band of the Year. On the "Rasta man Vibration" album was a powerful track called "War" which lyrics came from a speech given by Emperor Haile Selassie. On December 5th, 1976 Bob decided to play a free concert at Kingston's National Heroes Park because he wanted to send a peaceful message against the ghetto wars happening in Trenchtown at the time. But tragedy struck two days before the concert, gunmen broke into Marley's home and shot at Bob, Rita and two friends. Luckily no one was killed by the fatal shots. Despite this Bob Marley went on

stage to put on a memorable show two days later at the Smile Jamaica concert. After the show the band left for the UK. He stayed there for about a year in a so called self exile, because he was hurt by the Jamaican people which actully had drawn wepons. There they recorded 1977's "Exodus". It was possibly their best album to date, it strengthen the bands international stardom. It went number one in many countries such as England and Germany. It was also one of the top albums of the year. There he also spent time with his girlfriend, a former Jamaican Miss World. When a reporter once asked him about monogamy me replied that there are many queens in his life, and he thinks he is intitled to that.

During their European tour the band did a week of shows at the Rainbow Theater in London. It was in the beginning of the tour the Bob injured his toe playing football. It was later diagnosed as cancer. It was also under this  tour that Bob received a very important ring, who's previous owner was the Ethiopian Emperor. In May Bob was informed about his cancer. It would have been easy to amputate the toe to get rid of the cancer but Bob refused. To do so would be against his Rastsfarian faith. The rest of the Exodus tour was cancelled. But his illness didn't prevent him from recording music though. 1978 saw the release of "Kaya" which had a more mellow sound than the previous albums. So Bob was accused of selling out because many of the songs were love songs or tribute to ganja (marijuana). Rastafarians believe that smoking the holy herb would bring you closer to Jah (god).

In April 1978, Bob returned home to Jamaica to play the One Love Peace Concert. Jamaican President Michael Manley and the leader of the Opposition Edward Seaga attended. Bob got them on stage and even got them to shake hands. But sadly this was just a photo oppertunity more than an effort to make peace for the two politicians. On June 15th he was awarded the Peace Medal of the Third World from the United Nations. For the first time he visited Africa going to Kenya and Ethiopia. It was on this trip he began working on the song "Zimbabwe". The band also released their second live album "Babylon by Bus" recorded in Paris that year. The following album was called "Survival". Throughout the album the theme of black survival was evident.
 

The seventies was now coming to it's end and Bob Marley and the Wailers were the most popular band on the road breaking many festival records. In 1980 they found themselves performing in Gabon in Africa for the first time. Here Bob realized that their manager had been deceiving them. He almost beat him to death and then fired him. The Zimbabwean government invited the whole band to perform at the countries Independence Ceremony in April. Bob later said that the invitation had been the biggest honor of his life. After the trip to Africa with the amazing honor and experience Bob Marley continued to record, "Uprising" was released in 1980.

Everything was looking great and the band was planning an American tour with Stevie Wonder for that winter. But Bob's health was getting worse, but he still got clearance from his doctor to go on the road. The tour started n Boston, followed by New York. But during the New York show Bob looked very sick and he almost fainted. The next morning on September 21, while jogging through Central Park, Bob collapsed and was brought to the hospital. There a brain tumor was discovered and doctors gave him a month to live. His wife, Rita Marley wanted the tour cancelled but Bob wanted to continue on. Then he played an incredible and unforgettable show in Pittsburgh but was soon too illl to continue so the rest of the tour was finally cancelled. It was the last show he ever performed. The treatment prolonged his life somewhat, but the inevitable was soon to happen. In a final attempt to save his life he underwent a controversial treatment in germany. While in Germany he celebrated his 36th and final birthday. Ultimately the treatment didn't work. Bob wanted to die at home so he was flown back. But unfortunately he didn't finish the trip, He died on May 11, 1981 in a Miami hospital. He was internationally mourned for and thousands and thousands showed up at his funeral, May 21, to show their respects to the great man. Both the Jamaican President and the Leader of the Opposition were attendant.
Bob Marley now rests in a mausoleum at his birthplace. After his death he was awarded Jamaican's Order of Merit. The Prophet Gad insisted on becoming the owner of Bob's ring. However , amazingly the ring disappeared and still has yet to be found. Bob's mother said that the ring was returned to it's place of origin.
 
 

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I got the information from: www.patriciaent.com/home/bobmarley/new.html
and the pictures are from: http://www.bobmarley.com