60 Fun Facts About Bob Marley

Bob Marley was born on 6 February of which year?

He was born on his grandfather's farm in the hill village of Nine Mile, where he is now buried in a mausoleum.

What was Marley's middle name?

His eldest son David is better known as Ziggy, and shares the middle name.

Marley's father Norval was a white Jamaican of what ancestry?

He called himself 'Captain' though he had only been a private, was about 60 when Bob was born, and died when the boy was ten.

At age 12 Marley moved with his mother to which Kingston neighbourhood?

The area is named after Trench Pen, land once used for livestock by an 18th-century Irish immigrant.

Marley formed his first vocal group with Peter Tosh and which childhood friend?

Born Neville Livingston, he and Bob shared a house in Kingston, and their parents even had a daughter together.

Before settling on the Wailers, the group was NOT known by which of these names?

Producer Coxsone Dodd discovered them while they were still the Wailing Wailers.

The Wailers' first Jamaican number one, in February 1964, was which song?

The ska single for the Coxsone label sold an estimated 70,000 copies.

The Wailers' 1965 debut album included 'One Love', a reworking of which Curtis Mayfield song?

The later re-recording credits Mayfield and became one of Marley's four UK hit singles from his 1977 London album.

After marrying Rita in 1966, Marley briefly moved to which US state, working at DuPont?

His mother lived in Wilmington; he also drove a forklift there before heading home to Jamaica.

Marley was raised in which religion before converting to Rastafari?

He converted in 1966 while away from his mother's influence and began growing dreadlocks after returning to Jamaica.

As a Rastafarian, Marley regarded which ruler as an incarnation of God, or Jah?

Rastafari takes its name from Ras Tafari Makonnen, the emperor's title and name before his coronation in 1930.

Which record label boss signed the Wailers in 1972 and moulded their sound for a rock audience?

The Island Records founder had just lost Jimmy Cliff and saw in Marley the 'rebel' image he needed.

The Wailers' first Island album, released in April 1973, was called what?

The original sleeve was a Zippo lighter with a flip-top, and it was the first reggae record made in a state-of-the-art studio.

Eric Clapton's first US number one, in the mid-1970s, was a cover of which Wailers song from Burnin'?

Clapton's guitarist George Terry gave him the album; the hit was Clapton's first since 'Layla' two years earlier.

Marley's first hit outside Jamaica, in 1975, was a live version of which song?

It was recorded at London's Lyceum Theatre on 17 July 1975 and later placed at No. 37 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs.

Which friend was credited with writing 'No Woman, No Cry' so royalties could fund his soup kitchen?

Marley is widely believed to have written the song, or at least its melody, himself.

The Wailers' backing vocal trio, which included Rita Marley, was called what?

Judy Mowatt and Marcia Griffiths completed the group, which stayed with Marley until his death.

The original Wailers trio disbanded in which year, each member going solo?

Bob kept the name as 'Bob Marley & The Wailers'; Tosh released Legalize It as a solo debut in 1976.

The Island Records boss gave Marley his Kingston house at what address, later the Bob Marley Museum?

The property, then called Island House, housed Tuff Gong Studios and was turned into a museum by Rita Marley in 1986.

Which 1976 album was Marley's first to reach the top 10 of the Billboard 200?

It peaked at number eight and produced 'Roots, Rock, Reggae', the only Marley single ever to enter the Billboard Hot 100.

Marley was shot at home on 3 December 1976, two days before which free concert?

Marley played the show anyway, backed by the band Zap Pow while the Wailers were still in hiding, before a crowd of 80,000.

After the shooting Marley spent two years in self-imposed exile in which country?

He first spent a month recovering and writing at the site of Blackwell's Compass Point Studios in Nassau, then settled in London.

Which 1977 album, recorded in London, did Time magazine name the best album of the 20th century?

It spent 56 consecutive weeks on the UK album chart and yielded four UK hit singles.

A future supermodel appeared as a child in the 1978 video for 'Is This Love'. Who?

The video was shot at the Keskidee centre, a Black-led arts venue in London; the single reached number 9 in the UK.

At the 1978 One Love Peace Concert, Marley joined the hands of Michael Manley and which opposition leader?

The moment came during 'Jamming' at Kingston's National Stadium, in the middle of a near civil war between the PNP and JLP.

What was Marley's 1979 album with African flags on its sleeve originally to be titled?

Its sleeve shows the flags of African nations, and the record was partially censored in apartheid South Africa.

In April 1980 Marley was invited to perform at the independence celebrations of which African country?

He had recorded a song named for the country on Survival, and the flag on that album's sleeve was still the two-flag design of Zimbabwe Rhodesia.

Marley's final studio album released in his lifetime, in June 1980, was called what?

It closes with 'Redemption Song', and 'Could You Be Loved' from it reached number five in the UK.

Unusually for a Marley track, 'Redemption Song' is recorded how?

Rita Marley said he was already secretly in a lot of pain and dealing with his own mortality when he made it.

Lines in 'Redemption Song' derive from a speech by which Pan-Africanist orator?

The speech was called 'The Work That Has Been Done'; Marley had quoted it publicly at the Amandla Festival in 1979.

The hit 'Buffalo Soldier' was first released on which posthumous 1983 album?

The album collected unreleased material recorded during his lifetime plus new mixes of Jamaica-only singles.

'Buffalo Soldier' refers to what?

Its bridge was rumoured to borrow from the theme of the 1968 children's TV show The Banana Splits.

Marley's 'Stir It Up' first succeeded abroad after a 1972 cover by which American singer?

Nash put it on his I Can See Clearly Now album; Marley had toured the UK with him earlier that year.

The 1984 compilation Legend is the best-selling reggae album ever, with roughly how many copies sold worldwide?

It has spent more than 950 weeks on the Billboard 200, the second-longest run in the chart's history.

Legend's peak on the Billboard 200, Marley's highest US chart placing, was what?

In the UK it has spent well over 1,200 weeks in the top 100 of the albums chart.

In July 1977 Marley was diagnosed with acral lentiginous melanoma. Where on his body was it found?

He refused amputation on religious grounds; contrary to legend, a football injury did not cause the lesion.

Marley played his last concert in September 1980 in which US city?

The venue was the Stanley Theater, now the Benedum Center, two days after two shows at Madison Square Garden.

Marley spent eight months having alternative cancer treatment at Josef Issels' clinic in which country?

The Issels regime, at Rottach-Egern in Bavaria, was partly based on avoiding certain foods and substances; it did not stop the cancer.

Marley died in May 1981 in a hospital in which city, after his flight home to Jamaica was diverted?

He was taken to Cedars of Lebanon Hospital, now the University of Miami Hospital, and was 36 years old.

Shortly before his death Marley was baptised into the Ethiopian Orthodox Church under what name?

Archbishop Abuna Yesehaq performed the baptism on 4 November 1980 with Rita and the children present.

Three months before he died, Jamaica awarded Marley which national honour?

It is Jamaica's highest honour for people in the arts, literature or science; he received a state funeral on 21 May 1981.

Marley is buried in a mausoleum in his birthplace, Nine Mile, in which Jamaican parish?

His mother Cedella Booker is buried there too, and the site is run as an attraction by his family.

Marley's official website acknowledges how many children?

Three were born to Rita, two more from her earlier relationships were adopted by Bob, and others came from relationships with women including Cindy Breakspeare.

Damian Marley's mother, Cindy Breakspeare, held which title in 1976?

Damian's album Halfway Tree is named for his parents coming from the rich and poor halves of Kingston.

Ziggy Marley led which family band until 2002?

He has since won eight Grammy Awards and produced the 2024 biopic Bob Marley: One Love.

Which English football club did Marley support?

He grew up following Santos and Pelé, and made Jamaican international Allan 'Skill' Cole his tour manager.

Marley joked that his car brand's initials stood for 'Bob Marley and the Wailers'. Which brand?

He owned a 1602 and later a 2500 from the marque.

Peter Tosh, Marley's original bandmate, died in 1987 how?

He had gone solo with Legalize It and later recorded for Rolling Stones Records.

Who played Marley in the 2024 biopic Bob Marley: One Love?

Lashana Lynch played Rita and James Norton played the Island Records boss; the film premiered in Kingston in January 2024.

In which year was Island Records founded, with $10,000 from its founder's parents?

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame calls him the person most responsible for turning the world on to reggae; he sold Island in 1989.

Which older singer in Kingston taught the young Marley guitar and coached the Wailers' harmonies?

Higgs was half of the successful vocal duo Higgs and Wilson and lived nearby.

Marley was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in which year?

Rolling Stone later placed him inside the top dozen of its 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

Rita Marley says she was born in which country, though her mother-in-law disputed it?

Cedella Booker suggested Rita was actually born in Jamaica, and a US visa application was once refused on those grounds.

The Kingston neighbourhood where Marley grew up was named after livestock land of an immigrant from where?

Daniel Power Trench was descended from the Earls of Clancarty; today the area's Culture Yard is a National Heritage Site.

Peter Tosh was born under which surname?

He was born in Westmoreland, Jamaica's westernmost parish, in autumn 1944.

Under what pseudonym was Marley's 1962 single 'One Cup of Coffee' released?

He cut four songs at Federal Studios for producer Leslie Kong; three came out on Beverley's label.

The Wailers' first Island album was packaged like a rock record with what novelty sleeve?

Catch a Fire initially sold 14,000 copies; the follow-up Burnin' gave Eric Clapton 'I Shot the Sheriff'.

Which Jamaican international footballer did Marley make his tour manager in the 1970s?

Marley grew up following Santos and Pelé and played football everywhere from parking lots to recording studios.

In which stadium did Marley play his biggest concert, to 100,000 people, on the 1980 Uprising Tour?

His final outdoor show followed at Dalymount Park in Dublin, and he collapsed jogging in Central Park that September.

Which novel about the attempt on Marley's life won the 2015 Man Booker Prize?

Marlon James's fictional account made him the first Jamaican author to win the prize.