Bob Marley's Real Name: Robert Nesta Marley

Quick answer: Bob Marley's full name was Robert Nesta Marley. He was born on February 6, 1945, in Nine Mile, St. Ann, Jamaica, and died of cancer in Miami on May 11, 1981, at age 36. With the Wailers he carried reggae to a worldwide audience through songs like "No Woman No Cry," "Exodus," and "Redemption Song" (Britannica; Library of Congress).

Real name and early life

Britannica's quick facts list "In full: Robert Nesta Marley," born February 6, 1945, and died May 11, 1981, in Miami. The Library of Congress files him as "Marley, Bob," with the variants "Marley, Robert Nesta" and "Marley, Nesta Robert." One LOC citation gives the order "Nesta Robert," and another places his birth at Rhoden Hall in St. Ann Parish. Britannica spells his home village "Nine Miles."

Britannica says his father, Norval Sinclair Marley, was a white rural overseer, and his mother, the former Cedella Malcolm, was the Black daughter of a local civic official. His maternal grandfather was a prosperous farmer and herbal healer. As a young boy he was taken by his mostly absent father to live with an elderly woman in Kingston until a family friend found him and brought him home. By his early teens he lived in Trench Town in West Kingston. He apprenticed as a welder alongside singer Desmond Dekker and cut his first single, "Judge Not," with producer Leslie Kong in 1961.

Career highlights

In Trench Town he formed the Wailers with friends later known as Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer. In December 1963 they recorded his song "Simmer Down" at Coxsone Dodd's Studio One. Work with producer Lee Perry (1969–71) raised their standing. After they signed with Island in 1972, Catch a Fire introduced their rock-shaped reggae to a global audience. Eric Clapton's 1974 cover of "I Shot the Sheriff" spread his fame further.

His landmark albums included Natty Dread (1974), Live! (1975), Rastaman Vibration (1976), Exodus (1977), Kaya (1978), and Uprising (1980). His wife, Rita Marley, sang backup. In December 1976 gunmen attacked his home before the Smile Jamaica concert, wounding him, Rita, and others. He went into exile and recorded Exodus in London. At the One Love Peace Concert in April 1978 he brought rival politicians Michael Manley and Edward Seaga together onstage. In 1980 he performed at Zimbabwe's independence celebrations.

Jamaica awarded him the Order of Merit in April 1981, a month before his death from cancer. The compilation Legend (1984) became the best-selling reggae album ever. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.

Name notes for searchers

Bob is short for Robert. Nesta is his middle name, though some LOC sources reverse the order as "Nesta Robert Marley." Marley was his father's surname.