Bob Marley and Doo-wop Rare Tapes
“Only once in your life, I truly believe, you find someone who can completely turn your world around. You tell them things that you’ve never shared with another soul and they absorb everything you say and actually want to hear more. You share hopes for the future, dreams that will never come true, goals that were never achieved and the many disappointments life has thrown at you. When something wonderful happens, you can’t wait to tell them about it, knowing they will share in your excitement. They are not embarrassed to cry with you when you are hurting or laugh with you when you make a fool of yourself. Never do they hurt your feelings or make you feel like you are not good enough, but rather they build you up and show you the things about yourself that make you special and even beautiful. There is never any pressure, jealousy or competition but only a quiet calmness when they are around. You can be yourself and not worry about what they will think of you because they love you for who you are. The things that seem insignificant to most people such as a note, song or walk become invaluable treasures kept safe in your heart to cherish forever. Memories of your childhood come back and are so clear and vivid it’s like being young again. Colours seem brighter and more brilliant. Laughter seems part of daily life where before it was infrequent or didn’t exist at all. A phone call or two during the day helps to get you through a long day’s work and always brings a smile to your face. In their presence, there’s no need for continuous conversation, but you find you’re quite content in just having them nearby. Things that never interested you before become fascinating because you know they are important to this person who is so special to you. You think of this person on every occasion and in everything you do. Simple things bring them to mind like a pale blue sky, gentle wind or even a storm cloud on the horizon. You open your heart knowing that there’s a chance it may be broken one day and in opening your heart, you experience a love and joy that you never dreamed possible. You find that being vulnerable is the only way to allow your heart to feel true pleasure that’s so real it scares you. You find strength in knowing you have a true friend and possibly a soul mate who will remain loyal to the end. Life seems completely different, exciting and worthwhile. Your only hope and security is in knowing that they are a part of your life.”
― Bob Marley
Bob Marley (February 6, 1945 – May 11, 1981), born Nesta Robert Marley which was later to be changed by passport officials to Robert Nesta Marley, was a Jamaican singer-songwriter, guitarist, and activist. He was the most widely known writer and performer of reggae, and more specifically roots reggae. He is famous for popularising the genre outside of Jamaica and the Caribbean. Much of his music dealt with the struggles of the spiritually wealthy rasta and/or spiritually powerful Jah Rastafari.
Bob Marley was a member of this Rastafari movement, whose culture was a key element in the development of reggae. Bob Marley became the leading proponent of the Rastafari, taking their music out of socially deprived areas of Jamaica and onto the international music scene.
Now considered a “Rasta” prophet, Marley’s adoption of the characteristic Rastafarian dreadlocks and famous use of marijuana as a sacred sacrament in the late sixties were an integral part of his persona. He is said to have entered every performance proclaiming the divinity of Jah Rastafari.
A few months before his death, Marley was baptised into the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and took the name Berhane Selassie (meaning the Light of the Holy Trinity in Amharic).
His best known crossover songs are a mixture of reggae, rock, and rhythm and blues, which include “I Shot the Sheriff”, “No Woman No Cry”, “Exodus”, “Could You Be Loved”, “Jamming”, and “Redemption Song”. His posthumous album Legend (1984) became the best-selling reggae album ever, with sales of more than 12 million copies.
Marley tragically died of cancer at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Miami, Florida on May 11, 1981.
In 1993, Marley was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Time magazine chose Bob Marley & The Wailers’ album Exodus as the greatest album of the 20th century.
Religion:
Bob Marley was a member of the Rastafari movement, (not rastafaranism as that is seen as a derogortory term as Rasta’s don’t like being refered to as an ism) whose culture was a key element in the development of reggae music in Jamaica. Rastas belive they are outcast from their native Zion and looked on Ethiopia as their real home and Tafarai Makonnen, who took the title Haile Sellasie I(Power of the Holy Trinity in Amharic), after he became the emperor of Ethiopia, as their leader. Rastas belive H.I.M. is Jesus in flesh. Rastas are considered to be black Jews. Rastas claim their root from King Solomon and Abbysinian queen of Sheba, through lineage of their son Menelik, emperor of Abbysinia. H.I.M. is said to be a direct decendant of Menelik. ‘Ras’ means Head and ‘Tafarai” means Creator. ‘Jah’ is the shortened form of the Hebrew word Jehovah. Rastas belive in one truth and that is the truth of His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Haile Sellasie I, King of kings, Lord of lords, conquering Lion of the tribe of Judah, two hundred and twenty-fifth ruler of the three thousand year old Ethiopian empire, elect of Jah, Light of the world. Jah Rastafari live out.Rastas preach a non-materialistic, egalitarian way of life. Bob Marley became a leading proponent of the Rastafari, taking their music out of the socially deprived areas of Jamaica and onto the international music scene. Bob Marley was baptized by the Archbishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian Church in Kingston, Jamaica on November 4, 1980. Marley’s diet was ital; fruit, vegetables and fish; which is food approved by the Rastafari movement.
Bob Marley had 13 children: three with his wife Rita, two adopted from Rita’s previous relationships, and the remaining eight with separate women.[19] His children are, in order of birth:
Imani Carole, born May 22, 1963, to Cheryl Murray;
Sharon, born November 23, 1964, to Rita in previous relationship;
Cedella born August 23, 1967, to Rita;
David “Ziggy”, born October 17, 1968, to Rita;
Stephen, born April 20, 1972, to Rita;
Robert “Robbie”, born May 16, 1972, to Pat Williams;
Rohan, born May 19, 1972, to Janet Hunt;
Karen, born 1973 to Janet Bowen;
Stephanie, born August 17, 1974; according to Cedella Booker she was the daughter of Rita and a man called Ital with whom Rita had an affair; nonetheless she was acknowledged as Bob’s daughter;
Julian, born June 4, 1975, to Lucy Pounder;
Ky-Mani, born February 26, 1976, to Anita Belnavis;
Damian, born July 21, 1978, to Cindy Breakspeare;
Makeda, born May 30, 1981, to Yvette Crichton.
Bob Marley Top Tracks HERE thanks to last.fm
Bob Marley and Doo-wop Rare Tapes
According to an article in The New York Times, Marley experimented on the tape with different sounds, adopting a doo-wop style on “Stay With Me” and “the slow love song style of 1960′s artists” on “Splish for My Splash”.
“What is strange, especially for those accustomed to his reggae, is the style in which Marley sings. On one track, ”Stay With Me,” Marley sings in an almost doo-wop style; on another ”Splish for My Splash,” he appropriates the slow love song style of 1960′s artists like Sam Cooke.“
Sometime in the spring of 1968, a lanky, clean-cut 23-year-old Jamaican arrived at an apartment on Valentine Avenue in the Bronx with a guitar and a future no one could have possibly imagined.
He was Bob Marley, who eventually sold tens of millions of albums and built reggae into an international musical movement but who at this point was dead set on learning the mysteries of rhythm and blues. To that end he had gone to the Bronx to sit at the heels of Jimmy Norman, then a 31-year-old composer and crooner who had written dozens of hit songs for the singer and producer Johnny Nash. Mr. Nash had just signed Marley to his record label, JAD Records.
”He was just a nice young guy who loved music,” Mr. Norman recalled. ”He loved the Impressions, and he loved James Brown.”
The two men, along with Marley’s wife, Rita, and Mr. Norman’s writing partner, Al Pyfrom, jammed for the next three days. Then Mr. Norman set up a tape recorder and recorded 24 minutes of music onto a cassette that soon disappeared.
It was not played again for 34 years, during which time Marley become a global superstar and died of cancer at 36 in 1981. Forgotten by Mr. Norman, the tape remained in a box of cassettes in his apartment on the Upper West Side until it was discovered last June by a volunteer from the Jazz Foundation of America who was cleaning the place. By JESSE McKINLEY for The New York Times
Bob Marley Stay With Me Demo 1968
Bob Marley Splish For My Splash **Original**
As in
http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/25241.Bob_Marley
http://www.last.fm/music/Bob+Marley/+wiki
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/19/arts/pre-reggae-tape-of-bob-marley-is-found-and-put-on-auction.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Marley
