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Bob Marley Facts & Worksheets

Robert Nesta Marley, famously known as Bob Marley, was a Jamaican musician who is considered one of the pioneers of reggae music

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Robert Nesta Marley, famously known as Bob Marley, was a Jamaican musician who is considered one of the pioneers of reggae music.

See the fact file below for more information on Bob Marley or alternatively, you can download our 24-page Bob Marley worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

EARLY LIFE

  • Bob Marley was born in Nile, Jamaica on February 6, 1945, to a British-Jamaican father and a black mother.
  • Owing to his mixed racial makeup, Bob was bullied when he was young, which earned him the nickname “White Boy.” 
  • He later said that this experience helped him develop the philosophy: I’m not on the white man’s side, or the Black man’s side. I’m on God’s side.
  • In Marley’s early teens, he was living in a desperately poor slum, Kingston’s Trench Town. Still, he managed to survive by working as an apprentice in the 1960s.
  • In February 1966, he married Rita Anderson-Marley, who later introduced the Rastafari religion to Bob. 
  • Three years later, Bob and his friends: Peter Tosh and Neville Livingston (Bunny Wailer) had fully embraced Rastafari. 
  • They grew their hair in dreadlocks and they smoked ‘ganza,’ also known as marijuana, believing it was a sacred herb that brings enlightenment. 
  • Bob was known as a Rastafari icon and wore dreadlocks, which became his trademark. 

MUSIC CAREER

  • In 1963, he started his professional music career with his friends Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer. The Teenagers was the original name of their band, which subsequently became the Wailers.
  • The Wailers’ debut studio album “The Wailing Wailers” was released in 1965 and featured the single ‘One Love’ as well as a reworking of ‘People Get Ready,’ which became a worldwide hit. The band was known as a rising figure in reggae music.
  • The Wailers released 11 studio albums over their career. The band’s name was changed to Bob Marley and the Wailers after they signed with Island Records in 1972.
  • The band began utilizing rhythmic-based song development in the late 1960s and early 1970s, which coincided with Marley’s conversion to Rastafari.
  • As his career progressed nationally and internationally, Marley’s lyrics grew increasingly spiritual, and Jamaican music evolved from bouncy ska beats to more sensual rock steady rhythms.
  • Eleven years after their founding, Tosh and Livingston left the Wailers to pursue their solo careers in 1974. Marley later formed the band Bob Marley and the Wailers with his wife Rita as one of three backup singers known as the I-Trees. 
  • During this period, some groundbreaking albums were released, including “Natty Dread” (1974) and “Rastaman Vibration” (1976), which reached the Top 50 of the Billboard Soul Charts.
  • Bob Marley’s most famous songs include: ‘No Woman, No Cry,’ ‘Three Little Birds,’ ‘Waiting in Vain,’ ‘Redemption Song,’ ‘Is this Love,’ ‘Buffalo Soldier,’ ‘Get Up, Stand Up,’ ‘Could You Be Loved,’ ‘One Love,’ and ‘Sun is Shining.’   

IMPACT ON THE WORLD 

  • Marley’s contribution raised the profile of Jamaican music around the world and established him as a global figure in popular music for more than a decade. 
  • He is also regarded as a global symbol of Jamaican music, culture, identity, and his outspoken support for democratic social reforms was controversial.

RELIGION, POLITICAL VIEWS AND SPIRITUAL BELIEFS 

  • Bob Marley was a Catholic before he converted to Rastafari. 
  • Marley wrote many songs about his faith and spiritual beliefs as a deeply religious Rastafarian. He incorporated spiritual elements into many of his other songs as well as his personal life.
  • He released a series of politically charged albums reflecting social consciousness that became synonymous with his lyrics.
  • He became an influential cultural icon after writing about the soaring unemployment, rationed food supplies, and pervasive political violence he witnessed in Jamaica.
  • Bob Marley’s songs cover a wide range of topics, from romantic love to political revolution, but even his most romantic love songs, such as ‘Mellow Mood,’ frequently include references to Jah, the Rasta word for God.

ACHIEVEMENTS

  • In 1978, the African delegation to the United Nations awarded Bob Marley the International Peace Medal of the Third World. He was also an honorary guest at Zimbabwe’s independence celebration two years later, which Marley described as the highest honor he’d ever received.
  • In 1981, he was awarded the Jamaican Order of Merit which is said to be the nation’s third-highest honor. 
  • In 1994, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

“The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.”

Bob Marley
  • Bob Marley was also ranked 11th on the list of 100 Greatest Artists of all time by “Rolling Stone” and then earned a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
  • “Time Magazine” declared “Exodus” the Album of the Century.
  • He also had a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and an induction into the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame. 
  • Marley ranks as one of the best-selling music artists of all time with estimated sales of more than 75 million records worldwide. 
  • In 2004, he was among the first selectees into the UK Music Hall of Fame.
  • He was voted as one of the greatest lyricists of all time by a BBC poll.

DEATH

  • In December 1976, Bob Marley survived an assassination attempt but received minor injuries to the chest and arm. 
  • However, Marley was diagnosed with acral lentiginous melanoma, incurable skin cancer in 1977. 
  • Despite his illness, he continued touring and was in the process of scheduling a 1980 world tour. But the disease soon weakened his physical state, thus rendering him weaker over the next few months.
  • Bob Marley died on May 11, 1981, at the age of 36. His fans from all over the world expressed their sorrow, and he was given a state funeral in Jamaica.

Bob Marley Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle that includes everything you need to know about Bob Marley across 24 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use worksheets that are perfect for teaching about Bob Marley who was a Jamaican musician and considered one of the pioneers of reggae music.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Bob Marley Facts
  • Jamaica
  • Rastafari
  • Reggae
  • About Society
  • The Society Now
  • About Love
  • No Woman, No Cry
  • Bob’s Words
  • Songwriting
  • Bob Marley

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Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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