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On this day…in 1981

Bob Marley’s concert at Madison Square Garden, which would be one of the last in his tragically brief life, featured the immensely popular American funk band The Commodores.

“The reggae star had the majority of his listeners on their feet and in the palm of his hand,” as noted by New York Times critic Robert Palmer, despite the absence of costumes, choreography, or any set design. “After this show of strength, and Mr. Marley’s intense singing and electric stage presence, the Commodores were a letdown.”

Just days following his triumphant performances in New York City, Bob Marley collapsed while jogging in Central Park and later received a sobering diagnosis: a cancerous growth from an old soccer injury on his big toe had metastasized, spreading to Marley’s brain, liver, and lungs. Less than eight months later, on May 11, 1981, Bob Marley, the soul and international icon of reggae music, passed away in a Miami, Florida hospital at just 36 years old.

Nesta Robert Marley was born on February 6, 1945, in rural St. Ann Parish, Jamaica, to a middle-aged white Jamaican Marine officer and an 18-year-old black Jamaican girl.

At nine years of age, Marley relocated to Trench Town, a tough ghetto in West Kingston, where he would meet Neville “Bunny” Livingston (later Bunny Wailer) and Peter McIntosh (later Peter Tosh), ultimately leaving school at 14 to pursue music.

Jamaica was entering a period of remarkable musical innovation at that time. As transistor radios became available, the island, previously served only by a conservative, BBC-style national radio station, suddenly discovered American music through stateside radio broadcasts.

From a blend of New Orleans-style rhythm and blues and indigenous, African-influenced musical traditions, ska first emerged, followed by rock steady—styles that preceded reggae, which only developed into a distinguishable genre in the late 1960s.

Throughout this era, Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and Bunny Wailer formed The Wailers, establishing themselves just as reggae became the dominant sound in Jamaica. The Wailers garnered international attention in the early 1970s with their albums Catch a Fire (1972) and Burnin’ (1973), thanks to the global reach of Island Records. Eric Clapton further popularized the group by recording a radio-friendly rendition of “I Shot The Sheriff” from the latter album. Following the departures of Tosh and Wailer in 1974, Marley became the focal point of the group, and by the late 1970s, he had released a succession of albums—Exodus (1977), featuring “Jamming,” “Waiting In Vain,” and “One Love/People Get Ready”; Kaya (1978), featuring “Is This Love” and “Sun Is Shining”; and Uprising (1980), including “Could You Be Loved” and “Redemption Song.”

Although none of these songs achieved significant hit status in the United States during Bob Marley’s lifetime, they have established a legacy that has only enhanced his renown in the years following his death on this day in 1981.

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