It has been 41 years since the death of reggae rockstar Bob Marley. His message of One Love has become increasingly important as wars and rumors of wars pop up across the world.
From major football leagues, to the war in Ukraine Marley’s influence and inspiration may be found everywhere as his music grows in value. It is hard to find a musician that is not influenced by Bob Marley. Bob has had a big influence on Rihanna, the richest woman in music and he’s known as the artist who made the the world open up to reggae music. His influence on fashion and pop culture is immeasurable.
Chris Blackwell, Bob’s manager who will be releasing his memoirs next month, is the man mostly responsible for the longterm success of the Marley brand.
Of his experience and direction with Marley, Blackwell has said:
He trusted my instincts, which were that he should go after being a rock star, rather than a star on black American radio. His music was rough and raw and exciting, but all black American music at the time, other than James Brown, was very slick and smooth. Bob trusted me on that, he was as keen as I was.
His son Rohan Marley recalls a time just after Bob’s death when the Marley’s intellectual property which is the bedrock of the estate was up for grabs and it was Blackwell again who stepped up to prevent the estate from falling into the hands on music barrons, among them Micheal Jackson who was buying up all the musical reals estate.
Rohan shared on an episode of the I am Athlete podcast, the gory details the Marley family had to endure to secure a successful legacy for their father.
“Its not as easy as you think, when we were children, when my father passed away he didn’t have a will, so the government in Jamaica wanted to sell all his rights, so it was my sister Cedella and Mama Rita and she was the one to fight for it…we had no money, everything was frozen, my dad wasn’t making any money..All we had was our father’s rights, his likeness and his music and we did not sell that”. He reasoned.
“At no time we will sell that..People offered us 20 million dollars.” As he dismissed the thought passionately.
Even Michael Jackson had the opportunity to help the family out of their struggles but instead Michael offered to buy out all the rights to Bob Marley’s Catalogue.
“We went to Michael( Jackson), and say ‘hey Micheal, could you help us?’ We need some money, we don’t have no money and they trying to take ours, Michael say ‘no, I’ll buy it’. MCA (also) wanted to buy it,” he said.
It’s not surprising that the Thriller artist wanted to do business rather than help out the Marley family with a loan to straighten their business. He was notorious for buying music rights in the 1980s from even persons he considered his friends.
After becoming friends with Paul McCartney, Jackson paid 47 million dollars to purchase ATV, from Australian billionaire Robert Holmes a Court. ATV had the rights to 251 Beatles songs, including “Hey Jude,” “Yesterday” and “Let It Be”, as well as 4,000 other songs and a library of sound effects.
Rohan said gratefully, “Chris Blackwell the guy everybody don’t like, he loaned us(the family) the money”.
An investment that has since paid off well for Blackwell. He sold 25 percent of his share of the deal to Primary Wave in 2017.
Blackwell signed a US$50 million deal that gives Primary Wave an 80 percent share of two publishing catalogs, Marley’s songs and Blue Mountain Music. (The Marley Estate still owns a 75% stake in Bob Marley’s publishing.)
The children of Marley have leveraged his brand and cultural capital into financial capital through proper business structure and organizing. Many of them have their own successful careers as singers who tour the world with the halo effect of his legacy.
Rohan, the Marley Coffee founder said, “We were able to buy our father’s rights because when they sold it they gave the children first rights of refusal…We had (to raise the) money at the time to buy the publishing rights, name and likeness..we would never put our father’s likeness and rights in anybody’s hands.”
In 2020 Bob Marley was the eighth-highest paid dead celebrity, according to Forbes. And according to Cheatsheet, the Marley empire is said to be worth more than $500 million altogether.
“Thats why today it’s us”, he concluded on the subject.
Rohan’s sentiments are shared by his older brother Ziggy Marley. The Grammy winner told World Music Views it has not even crossed his mind to sell his own extensive musical catalogue much less his father’s musical rights.
“No sah, it’s not even a thing weh cross me mind, no man me a leave that for my children dem, maybe my grandchildren them will sell it.” He laughed.
He continued, “As me say is a bigger picture a gwan so we half I look beyond right now, haffi look ahead too..there has been offers, all (for) me father, people offer thing but we nah sell that so, no sah”.
Marley rejected his doctors’ advice to have his toe amputated (which would have hindered his performing career), citing his religious beliefs. Despite his illness, he continued touring and was in the process of scheduling a 1980 world tour.
The album Uprising was released in May 1980. The band completed a major tour of Europe, where it played its biggest concert to 100,000 people in Milan, Italy. After the tour Marley went to the United States, where he performed two shows at Madison Square Garden in New York City as part of the Uprising Tour.
He collapsed while jogging in Central Park and was taken to the hospital, where it was found that his cancer had spread to his brain, lungs, and liver.
Marley’s last concert took place two days later at the Stanley Theater (now The Benedum Center For The Performing Arts) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on 23 September 1980. The only known photographs from the show were included in Kevin Macdonald’s 2012 documentary film Marley.
Shortly afterward, Marley’s health deteriorated as his cancer had spread throughout his body. The rest of the tour was canceled and Marley sought treatment at the clinic of Josef Issels in Bavaria, Germany, where he underwent an alternative cancer treatment called Issels treatment partly based on avoidance of certain foods, drinks, and other substances.
After eight months of failing to effectively treat his advancing cancer, Marley boarded a plane for his home in Jamaica. During the flight Marley’s vital functions worsened. After landing in Miami, Florida, he was taken to Cedars of Lebanon Hospital (later University of Miami Hospital) for immediate medical attention, where he died on 11 May 1981, aged 36, due to the spread of melanoma to his lungs and brain. His final words to his son Ziggy were: “Money can’t buy life.”
Marley was given a state funeral in Jamaica on 21 May 1981 that combined elements of Ethiopian Orthodoxy and Rastafari tradition. He was buried in a chapel near his birthplace with his guitar.
On 21 May 1981, Jamaican Prime Minister Edward Seaga delivered the final funeral eulogy to Marley, saying:
His voice was an omnipresent cry in our electronic world. His sharp features, majestic looks, and prancing style a vivid etching on the landscape of our minds. Bob Marley was never seen. He was an experience which left an indelible imprint with each encounter. Such a man cannot be erased from the mind. He is part of the collective consciousness of the nation.
