BOB MARLEY !!!!

Marley was born in Jamaica on 6 February 1945, the son of a British Army officer and a Jamaican woman.

His father left Bob's mother when Bob was still very young and Marley accompanied his mother to the capital, Kingston, in her search for work.

That exposed him to the music that would influence him and he joined music classes run by the famous Joe Higgs.

Marley, like many other young Jamaicans, saw music as a possible escape from the daily harshness of his life.

He formed various groups of musicians made up friends and family members. 

Along with Peter Tosh, Bunny Livingston, and a few others, Marley went on to form the Wailers in 1964. By the '70s, the group was an international success.

The first indication that something was amiss with Marley's health came in May of 1977. While on tour in France, Marley re-injured a right toe during a soccer game. The injury refused to heal and instead quickly worsened -- the entire nail came off and doctors recommended amputation. Citing religious beliefs, a limping Marley refused the surgery and gamely continued on tour. Later that summer, Marley finally allowed an orthopedic surgeon to perform a skin graft on the toe, and the procedure was deemed "a success."

In September of 1980, a weakened Marley almost fainted onstage while performing in New York. The next day, he collapsed while jogging in Central Park. Marley was diagnosed with a brain tumor (a result of the untreated cancer in his toe) and given less than a month to live. Despite the grim news, Marley played one final show in Pittsburgh before being flown to Miami. There doctors verified that the singer had cancer in the brain, lung, and stomach.

Marley travelled to Germany for controversial cancer treatment, but it proved unsuccessful and he wanted to travel home to die in Jamaica.

He never made it, on 11 May 1981 Bob Marley died of a cancerous brain tumour in a Miami hospital.,and his body was flown back from Miami to Jamaica where he was posthumously awarded Jamaica's Order of Merit.