Bob Marley

Who is the role model I admire in particular?
It could be strange but I choose without any hesitation Bob Marley. In fact, this real leader of reggae music is one of the singers of the sixties whose songs are still listened to by persons in the whole world. This marvelous man gets merits since he has never ceased to give people faith, hope and serenity.
I will give you a short biography of him.

He was born 6 February 1945 in the village of 'Saint-Anne' in Jamaica. He lived during his childhood in a ghetto of Kingstown called 'Trenchtown' where poverty and bribery have brought out the misery of the ghetto. Despite this sad condition,Bob Marley had a real passion for reggae music and he decided to form a group in 1964, "The Wailers", in particular with Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailers (his friends of Kingstown). They had success quickly in Jmaica where reggae music became more and more popular.

The Wailers were the first Jamaican group to do philosophy and to talk about "Rastaman Vibrations". This man was persuaded that people don't have to do politics or to be pessimistic and that people must leave Babylon (the capitalist system) to be in accordance with 'Nature'.
He has never been afraid of defending his faith and opinions about the discrimination of the poor community by governments, the sad situation of Africa, and so on.

To understand how marvelous this man is, you just have to listen carefully to his songs like 'Africa Unite', 'So much trouble in the world', 'Time will tell.' He was considered as the defender of the poor and even if he had an enormous fortune, he always wanted to be simple, anti-materialistic and to be near persons who needed some help.

In 1972, the Jamaican government accused the Wailers of putting the country in a mess and for expounding a revolutionary philosophy. As a consequence, Bob Marley decided to leave the country to travel all over the world to disperse his messages of peace and spirituality. He was the first half-caste singer to get so much success in the sixties to nowadays and he was really appreciated by every country(Japan, England, Europe, Africa, etc).

In 1972, a group of persons tried to kill him because he had too much influence in Jamaica. He was shot twice but he survived and continued singing with faith and courage. In 1977, he got skin cancer because of a mole on his big toe but he didn't wanted to amputate it, so he died 11 May 1981 at 36 years old in Miami bacause his cancer became general.

To conclude, I want to say that everyone has to listen to his messages and despite his drug tendencies, we don't have to catalogue him! I confess too that I don't feel just admiration for him but a real love! This is what he said in "Keep on moving," written after his attack, and he explained that he had to keep on moving despite it:
"I know someday we'll find a piece of land somewhere not near Babylon, the war will soon be over and Africa will unite, the children who lived in the darkness will see the great lights."