Bob Marley

(http://historical-people.blogspot.com/2011/11/bob-marley.html)

    Did you know that Bob Marley desired to be a Black Panther or join up with Che Guevara, but realized that he preferred a peaceful and less violent world? Bob Marley rose from a slum town in West Kingston to become the most famous reggae musician in the world, through hard work and determination. Bob Marley is a hero because he is inspiring, he was dedicated, and he overcame hardness.

 Bob Marley lived in the slums of West Kingston during his childhood where he started a music group with Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh, Junior Braithwaite, Beverley Kelso, and Cherry Smith called "The Teenagers" but eventually changed their name to "The Wailers". Bob Marley introduced the world to reggae. He was one of the most important and charismatic champions of music and human freedom in the 1970's. He received five achievements including Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001, Induction in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, Jamaican Order of Merit in 1981, Peace Medal of the Third World in 1978, and a Star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame in 2001.

 Bob Marley is a hero because inspires people. "Marley's melodies will be as prevalent ad those of any songwriter who has ever lived. "No Woman No Cry" will still wipe the tears from a widow's face". Bob Marley inspired, and still inspires, millions with his songs. The songs inspire people to love because we are all the same. ""One Love" will be the international anthem of a coffee-colored humanity living in unity, in a world beyond borders, beyond beliefs, where everyone has learned at last to get together and feel all right"(Steffens). Marley's melodies affected people in a positive way. He told them that they should preach peace instead of hate of war. Marley inspired people with his music and his messages.

Bob Marley was dedicated in spreading his song about peace and love. Marley wouldn't stop sharing his music even if people tried to make him stop.

"One bullet struck Marley in the sternum and the bicep/Despite the attack, Marley still played at the show after much deliberation". Even though he was viciously attacked in his own home, Marley still went and played his music at a concert the next day. Marley dedicated his time working on his music so that they affect people, and he desired for the people to hear the songs. "Marley was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor that had spread to his lungs and stomach. He played his last concert with the Wailers at the Stanley Theater in Pittsburgh during the Uprising tour" (Pendergast). Though Marley was sick with cancer, he kept on singing and performing for at least a little longer. He only stopped singing when he couldn't sing anymore. Bob Marley's dedication is one of the reasons he is a hero.

 Another thing that makes Bob Marley a hero is that he overcame hardness. He used his past life as an inspiration for his music to help others. "Marley's early abandonment and his rough, impoverished childhood later became instrumental to his success in songwriting and musical composition" (Pendergast). Because he had a tough life as a child and overcame those things, he understood the things that people were going through. He made his music according to how his people and his fans felt. Marley also was very poor in his childhood. He worked bad jobs for almost no money and lived in an awful slum. "by his early teens Marley was back in West Kingston, living in a government-subsidized tenement in Trench Town, a desperately poor slum often compared to an open sewer. In the early 1960s, while a schoolboy serving an apprenticeship as a welder" (Anthony). Bob Marley had a broke life as a child and he used those hardships. He had a better understanding of where some of his fans were coming from, and he created him music based on his fans. Because he overcame tough times during his childhood, he was more empathetic of what some of his fans were going to.