How did Bob Marley die? Remembering reggae icon ahead of 80th birthday

Pioneering reggae creator Bob Marley would person been celebrating his 80th day connected Thursday, February 6.

Known for fashionable tracks including No Woman, No Cry, One Love, Three Little Birds and Could You Be Loved, Marley’s euphony carries a batch of heavy meaning and his profound knowing and compassion for the quality predicament were often evident.

No Woman, No Cry speaks to the hopes and hardships of radical everywhere. Meanwhile, Three Little Birds is often interpreted arsenic anticipation and reassurance, and Could You Be Loved urges listeners to unrecorded authentically, not letting others alteration them.

His songs are inactive being listened to today. Could You Be Loved was the astir played way of the 21st period connected UK vigor and TV, according to euphony licensing institution Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL). The opus has been played an mean of 15 times a time since the crook of the century.

Unfortunately, Marley fell sick and died connected May 11, 1981, astatine the property of 36 astatine the highest of his career.

The vocalist was diagnosed with a signifier of tegument crab called melanoma, nether his large toenail successful 1977.

Marley initially believed it to beryllium a shot injury, but aft a 2nd doc performed a biopsy, it was determined to beryllium cancer.

Marley chose to get the nail and immoderate of the damaged insubstantial removed adjacent though the doc advised amputating the toe. For the pursuing 5 years, Marley went without aesculapian attraction portion touring the satellite and putting retired music.

His unwellness had started to dispersed by September 1980, and helium fell portion moving retired successful Central Park pursuing 2 performances astatine Madison Square Garden. Doctors recovered that his illness had dispersed to his brain, lungs, and different organs erstwhile helium was brought to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Danny Sims, Marley's manager, recalls a doc telling him that helium had “more crab successful him than I've seen with a unrecorded quality being” successful an interrogation with The New Yorker. Marley was lone expected to unrecorded for a fewer months.

He cancelled the remainder of his tour, and aft not responding good to chemotherapy, Marley went to Germany to effort alternate therapies similar exercise, ozone injections, and vitamins.

As Marley's unwellness worsened, helium decided to extremity the attraction and alert backmost to Jamaica to walk his past moments there. However, his information deteriorated during the flight, and the craft made an exigency landing successful Miami, wherever Marley died. He ne'er got to instrumentality to his location country.

Marley's wife, Rita Marley, brought his children from Jamaica to beryllium with him astatine Cedars of Lebanon Hospital successful the last days of his life.

“I brought up each the kids who was successful Jamaica. Some of them not my kids, immoderate from different mothers. So I gathered everyone and said, ‘Come. Daddy privation to spot you all’,” Rita said successful the 2012 documentary movie Marley.

Remembering his past words, his lad Ziggy spoke to People successful 2024: “[He said] ‘On your mode up, instrumentality maine up. On your mode down, don’t fto maine down.’

“We stock a definite spiritual instauration - my father, myself, my brothers and my sisters. So that connection means precisely what I’m expected to beryllium doing, I’m doing. It conscionable means that I don’t person to deliberation astir it, really, due to the fact that I was doing it anyway.”

The authoritative Bob Marley website acknowledged 11 children, however, immoderate sources suggest helium has 12.

The precocious vocalist had 3 children with his woman Rita called Cedella, Ziggy and Stephen, and adopted her daughters Sharon and Stephanie from different relationships. Marley besides had different children from antithetic mothers - Robbie, Rohan, Karen, Julian, Ky-Mani and Damian.

Marley’s children person launched careers successful music, entrepreneurship, and activism. The oldest son, Ziggy, continued his father's philharmonic career. The vocalist has collaborated with a assortment of musicians, including Paul Simon, Ben Harper, and Busta Rhymes.

Ziggy has received 8 Grammy Awards and galore different honours since the merchandise of his archetypal workplace medium successful 2003. He is besides a philanthropist and activistic who supports biology preservation and societal justice.

Stephen, Damian, Sharon, Julian, Ky-Mani person besides ventured into the euphony manufacture earned Grammy nominations and collaborated with well-known artists.

The remainder of his children person either taken the way of business, modelling oregon person lived privately.