Bob Marley

Bob Marley born with the name, Robert "Bob" Nesta Marley, a reggae musician, born February 6, 1945 was a Jamaican musician, singer-songwriter and Rastafarian. His best known hits include, "I Shot the Sheriff", "No Woman, No Cry", "Exodus", "Could You Be Loved", "Stir It Up", "Jamming", "Redemption Song", "One Love" and, together with The Wailers, "Three Little Birds.

Bob Marley had 13 children, three with his wife Rita, two adopted from Rita's previous relationships, and the remaining eight with separate women. In July 1977 Marley was diagnosed with Acral lentiginous melanoma, a skin Melanoma, more so a tumor. It is a rarer type of skin cancer, it is due to uncontrollable growth of pigment cells. This type of melanoma is most common in Asians and Blacks. It was located on Marley's right big toe. Marley refused amputation, because of the Rastafari belief that the body must be "whole": "Rasta no abide amputation. I don't allow a man to be dismantled." True to his belief Marley refused any surgical possibilities. He also refused to register any type of will because that was too against his religious beliefs. The Rastafari belief that writing a will is acknowledging death as inevitable, thus disregarding the everlasting (or everliving, as Rastas say) character of life.

The cancer then started to spread to his brain, lungs, liver, and stomach. He played his final concert in Stanley Theater in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on September 23, 1980. He then sought out for medical help, but by then it was too late, the cancer had reached the terminal stage.

Marley became very ill and went to Miami for medical attention. He died at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Miami, Florida on the morning of May 11, 1981 at the age of 36. His final words to his son, Ziggy were, "Money can't buy life."

Bob Marley has had a lot of awards and honors, in 1976 Band of the Year by Rolling Stone, June 1978: Awarded the Peace Medal of the Third World from the United Nations, February 1981: Awarded Jamaica's third highest honor, the Jamaican Order of Merit, March 1994: Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 1999: Album of the Century for Exodus (Time Magazine), February 2001: A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, February 2001: Awarded Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, 2004: Rolling Stone Magazine ranked him #11 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, "One Love" named song of the millennium by The BBC, Voted as one of the greatest lyricists of all time by a BBC poll, 2006 A plaque dedicated to him by Nubian Jak community trust and supported by Her Majesties Foreign Office.