If you put together all the famous musicians of the 20th century who died young or youngish—Elvis and Buddy, Lennon, Jimi/Janis/Jim—you can argue that none of them created a larger and more lasting (and still evolving) legacy and impact worldwide as Bob Marley.
The life, music, and legacy of the first “Third World Superstar” is detailed in a revised/updated edition Bob Marley and the Wailers: The Ultimate Illustrated History by Richie Unterberger (208 pp., $30, Quarto Publishing).
Marley is of course mostly responsible for introducing reggae music to the world. He also became a towering political/spiritual figure, especially in his home country of Jamaica. And the worlds’ best-known practitioner of Rastafarianism (with marijuana smoking a close second).
And as a songwriter, Bob Marley easily shifted from hard-edged political/social commentary (“Exodus,” “Get Up, Stand Up,” “Trenchtown Rock,” “Burnin’ and Lootin”) to sensitive romance (“Is This Love,” “No Woman No Cry,” “Three Little Birds,” “Stir It Up”) to a defining song for Eric Clapton via Slowhand’s cover (“I Shot the Sheriff”).
It’s also the latest addition into the increasingly-expanding bookshelf of “Illustrated Biographies” of mostly Classic Rock legends and icons. The format is usually a handsome, coffee-table book on glossy paper featuring hundreds of photos and ephemera, and a biography/musical analysis. And while not reaching the detail of a regular biography, they can still be surprisingly detailed in the hands of a capable author.
Here, Unterberger certainly meets that criteria. He thoroughly delves into Marley’s life and music, but also bandmates and the concurrent solo careers of original Wailer bandmates Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer. Marley and Tosh would both be targets: Marley of a failed 1976 assassination attempt that injured himself, wife Rita, his manager and another houseguest. The harder militant Tosh would be killed in a 1987 home invasion robbery.
Unterberger also sometimes comically upfront area areas of the Marley story whose “truths”—ranging from lists of session personnel to recording dates to even the number of Marley’s own children (likely more than the dozen most recognized by six different women) will never been definitively documented. And though the text is primarily sourced from previously published materials and other media, it doesn’t feel like a haphazard “clip job” at all.
In 2023, the music of Bob Marley continues to live, thrive, and attract new audiences. The Legend compilation is one of the best-selling catalog titles of all time (and issuing a copy to freshman college boys seems to be a requirement of higher education). Two years ago, Forbes ranked Bob Marley as the No. 11 current earner of all dead celebrities. And he’ll get the biopic treatment in February 2024 with the film Bob Marley: One Love.
Bob Marley and the Wailers: The Ultimate Illustrated History gets its job done—and very well—for both the fan who knows the given name of Wailer “Family Man” to those to only hear Marley’s music on travel commercials for island or tropical destinations.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2023.
