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Who Was . . . ? Series
Who Was Bob Marley?
Get Up, Stand Up! for the king of reggae music!
Bob Marley was a reggae superstar who is considered to be one of the most influential musicians of all time. Born in rural Jamaica, this musician and songwriter began his career with his band, The Wailing Wailers, in 1963. The Wailers went on to spread the gospel of reggae music around the globe. Bob's distinctive style and dedication to his Rastafari beliefs became a rallying cry for the poor and disenfranchised the world over and led to a hugely successful solo career. After his death in 1981, Bob Marley became a symbol of Jamaican culture and identity. His greatest-hits album, Legend, remains the best-selling reggae album of all time. Who Was Bob Marley? tells the story of how a man with humble roots became an international icon.
This title in the New York Times best-selling series contains eighty illustrations that help bring the story to life.
Bob Marley was a reggae superstar who is considered to be one of the most influential musicians of all time. Born in rural Jamaica, this musician and songwriter began his career with his band, The Wailing Wailers, in 1963. The Wailers went on to spread the gospel of reggae music around the globe. Bob's distinctive style and dedication to his Rastafari beliefs became a rallying cry for the poor and disenfranchised the world over and led to a hugely successful solo career. After his death in 1981, Bob Marley became a symbol of Jamaican culture and identity. His greatest-hits album, Legend, remains the best-selling reggae album of all time. Who Was Bob Marley? tells the story of how a man with humble roots became an international icon.
This title in the New York Times best-selling series contains eighty illustrations that help bring the story to life.
112 pages, Paperback
Published June 6, 2017
55 people are currently reading
408 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
May 24, 2019
The information was pretty thorough on Marley's life. I sometimes see people saying they have 1st graders reading these Who? biographies, but they are generally targeted at a middle grade audience, and this is an example of the more mature content that might require some adult conversation with young readers.
This particular biography reports:
"While on tour, Bob had children with women other than (his wife) Rita..
Bob eventually had thirteen children.. with eight different mothers," including three children born to three mothers within a month of eachother in 1972. Rita, too, had a child from an affair, and while none of this is elaborated on in depth, it's stated bluntly, "Bob adopted Stephanie, but she wasn't his child" in ways that I feel would raise questions for kids of certain ages.
Marijuana (ganja) use is also noted openly.
Known as the King of Reggae, Marley's musical journey, those who were a part of it, and rise to fame are documented, along with his political messages for justice, peace, and hope.
There is inspiration in a worldly sense through his message: "I like to see mankind live together."
I don't see Bob Marley's personal lifestyle as a heroic example to young people. I suppose now that I look for it, messages are there - to follow your dreams: "he was beginning to see that he would rather make music than do anything else." And that despite a disadvantaged childhood, the sky is the limit. Bob Marley didn't know his father, had different colored skin than the kids around him, lived in very poor conditions in Trench Town, yet achieved great success as a musician and became culturally idolized.
But I'd want to emphasize to younger readers the importance of staying in school and not doing drugs as they pursue their dreams.
This particular biography reports:
"While on tour, Bob had children with women other than (his wife) Rita..
Bob eventually had thirteen children.. with eight different mothers," including three children born to three mothers within a month of eachother in 1972. Rita, too, had a child from an affair, and while none of this is elaborated on in depth, it's stated bluntly, "Bob adopted Stephanie, but she wasn't his child" in ways that I feel would raise questions for kids of certain ages.
Marijuana (ganja) use is also noted openly.
Known as the King of Reggae, Marley's musical journey, those who were a part of it, and rise to fame are documented, along with his political messages for justice, peace, and hope.
There is inspiration in a worldly sense through his message: "I like to see mankind live together."
I don't see Bob Marley's personal lifestyle as a heroic example to young people. I suppose now that I look for it, messages are there - to follow your dreams: "he was beginning to see that he would rather make music than do anything else." And that despite a disadvantaged childhood, the sky is the limit. Bob Marley didn't know his father, had different colored skin than the kids around him, lived in very poor conditions in Trench Town, yet achieved great success as a musician and became culturally idolized.
But I'd want to emphasize to younger readers the importance of staying in school and not doing drugs as they pursue their dreams.
January 3, 2022
This was a quick read...basically a timeline of Bob Marley's short life.
February 24, 2022
Another one we will use again when needed. I love Bob Marley's music & I have enjoyed learning more about him with our 8th y/o son for his Black History Month History Class. We will use this one again perhaps next year again. Or if needed sooner as well. These are easy to follow for him and I loved using these "Who Was?" books bc it works for different ages and I mark this one for me bc he's not the only one learning, but I am as well.
February 12, 2019
"One Love! One Heart! Let's get together and feel all right!"
March 10, 2019
It tells a lot about Marley's inside life and outside life.💁🏻
April 8, 2022
I have learned quite a bit about the culture of Jamaica. This was an interesting book. Well worth the read.
August 25, 2020
Bob Marley has always been a fascinating and complicated character to me, even though I have seldom felt the need to study him in any particular great depth. A large portion of his musical discography has long been accessible and frequently played on the alternative radio stations I listen to. Marley's own life history is clouded by relationship drama and by his own ambivalent status when it came to politics as well as identity. If Marley's own instincts were to bring people together, his immense success and wealth prompted a large degree of envy, and his own bi-racial heritage made him an object of ridicule as someone who did not quite fit in among the blacks of Trench Town, where he spent a great time growing up. And while he sought to encourage peace in the face of political warfare between Jamaica's two political parties in the late 1970's, his own wealth made him a target for violence as well and forced him into exile. And sadly he was unable to return to his homeland because illness got in the way, leaving him to return to his native land only as a corpse to be beloved and well-thought of in death as he was not quite thought of in life, sadly.
This book does a good job at presenting the rough overview of Marley's life and it is a complex life, full of twists and turns, including being abandoned by his British father and raised by his young Jamaican mother, who eventually took up with another man who did not always appreciate Marley around. Marley's time in the United States was somewhat ambivalent, and while he had recorded some music and started the Wailers before going to America, his time there apparently to make money did not lead to a desire to remain and he returned to become a reggae superstar in the musical genre that he had helped to create through the blend of his own poetic skill with the music of Jamaica and the Caribbean as a whole. And with superstardom came arguments and disagreements with his bandmates over money and credit and power, as well as the lure of political power and his own inability to be faithful to his wife or, ultimately, for her to be faithful with him, all of which has led to a complex family situation involving his numerous offspring. The author also does a good job in this short book of about 100 pages to discuss the life as well as the career ups and downs of this most notable Jamaican musician.
Also of interest, besides the musical career of Marley, was his relationship with religion. Raised as a devout Christian, Marley became known during much of his career as a patriotic rastafarian with a noted fondness for ganja, and died as a member of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. One wonders how he thought of his own religious journey over the course of his life. It appears that he had a consistency in his desire for peace and harmony, a desire that has has been helped and spread as well by his children and former bandmates and those who have been influenced by his approach to music. Given his success it is not surprising that so many people during his lifetime wanted him on their team in Jamaica and abroad, nor is it surprising that he would struggle to find his own voice and seek his own path, even if that made it hard to find people to collaborate with who had their own thoughts and ideas and their own desire to be respected as creative people. And it is all too sad that the wealth that Marley enjoyed made him a target for envy and hatred during his life, as much as it led him to be lionized after his death, as so often happens.
This book does a good job at presenting the rough overview of Marley's life and it is a complex life, full of twists and turns, including being abandoned by his British father and raised by his young Jamaican mother, who eventually took up with another man who did not always appreciate Marley around. Marley's time in the United States was somewhat ambivalent, and while he had recorded some music and started the Wailers before going to America, his time there apparently to make money did not lead to a desire to remain and he returned to become a reggae superstar in the musical genre that he had helped to create through the blend of his own poetic skill with the music of Jamaica and the Caribbean as a whole. And with superstardom came arguments and disagreements with his bandmates over money and credit and power, as well as the lure of political power and his own inability to be faithful to his wife or, ultimately, for her to be faithful with him, all of which has led to a complex family situation involving his numerous offspring. The author also does a good job in this short book of about 100 pages to discuss the life as well as the career ups and downs of this most notable Jamaican musician.
Also of interest, besides the musical career of Marley, was his relationship with religion. Raised as a devout Christian, Marley became known during much of his career as a patriotic rastafarian with a noted fondness for ganja, and died as a member of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. One wonders how he thought of his own religious journey over the course of his life. It appears that he had a consistency in his desire for peace and harmony, a desire that has has been helped and spread as well by his children and former bandmates and those who have been influenced by his approach to music. Given his success it is not surprising that so many people during his lifetime wanted him on their team in Jamaica and abroad, nor is it surprising that he would struggle to find his own voice and seek his own path, even if that made it hard to find people to collaborate with who had their own thoughts and ideas and their own desire to be respected as creative people. And it is all too sad that the wealth that Marley enjoyed made him a target for envy and hatred during his life, as much as it led him to be lionized after his death, as so often happens.
April 21, 2020
Great information, i think the who was series , are a great source of information. A quick and easy to read series
March 18, 2021
Who Was Bob Marley? by Katie Ellison
June 6, 2017
#bgrtreadingchallenge 2021~A book featuring a character with locs
<3
Get Up, Stand Up! for the king of reggae music!
Bob Marley was a reggae superstar who is considered to be one of the most influential musicians of all time. Born in rural Jamaica, this musician and songwriter began his career with his band, The Wailing Wailers, in 1963. The Wailers went on to spread the gospel of reggae music around the globe. Bob's distinctive style and dedication to his Rastafari beliefs became a rallying cry for the poor and disenfranchised the world over and led to a hugely successful solo career. After his death in 1981, Bob Marley became a symbol of Jamaican culture and identity. His greatest-hits album, Legend, remains the best-selling reggae album of all time. Who Was Bob Marley? tells the story of how a man with humble roots became an international icon.
This title in the New York Times best-selling series contains eighty illustrations that help bring the story to life.
June 6, 2017
#bgrtreadingchallenge 2021~A book featuring a character with locs
<3
Get Up, Stand Up! for the king of reggae music!
Bob Marley was a reggae superstar who is considered to be one of the most influential musicians of all time. Born in rural Jamaica, this musician and songwriter began his career with his band, The Wailing Wailers, in 1963. The Wailers went on to spread the gospel of reggae music around the globe. Bob's distinctive style and dedication to his Rastafari beliefs became a rallying cry for the poor and disenfranchised the world over and led to a hugely successful solo career. After his death in 1981, Bob Marley became a symbol of Jamaican culture and identity. His greatest-hits album, Legend, remains the best-selling reggae album of all time. Who Was Bob Marley? tells the story of how a man with humble roots became an international icon.
This title in the New York Times best-selling series contains eighty illustrations that help bring the story to life.
October 26, 2021
I grew up familiar with Bob Marley‘s music. I only knew very little about his story. Being from Jamaica I only knew that he came from poverty. I also knew that he had at least 1000 children. Over the years of going to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, every year at least two or three of his children would perform in different bands. I did not know that his father was a British civil servant. He had a hard life starting out as a child working in the yard and potato fields. I also didn’t know what led him to get into music was a foot injury from playing soccer and being cut by a piece of glass playing barefoot. He move from the country into Kingston Jamaica, he was born and outsider being half white. That made his early life very difficult. He had to learn to fight. Later in his life he had to learn how to fight in a different way through his music. Through this, he became an icon that brought the reggae sound to the larger world. He was not long for this world, as most geniuses or not. He died at the early age of 36 on May 11, 1981 in Miami with his family by his side.
November 27, 2025
Who Was Bob Marley? by Katie Ellison tells the story about Bob Marley's life. When he was younger, he was playing soccer and accidentally got a piece of glass stuck in his toe, which later ended up causing a rare form of cancer that he would actually die from. This book also mentions all of the influential people that he met during his life, like Chris Blackwell, Joe Higgs, and Coxsone Dodd, as well as his other band members. This book explains how the band came together, how some of them split, and Marley's lifestyle, habits, and inspirations for songwriting. I like this book because of how detailed it is. It made me feel like Bob Marley was one of my friends because of how much information this book gives. I would love to have a little section in a fourth-grade classroom library with the "Who was/is..." book series. Celebrities can spark a student's interest to read the book, which could then lead to a lifetime of reading!
July 3, 2017
Bob Marley is remembered for popularizing reggae music and his message of peace and brotherhood. Major events in Marley’s life are provided starting with his humble birth in rural Jamaica in 1945 to his untimely death from cancer at age thirty-six mourned by a hundreds of thousands as a world famous singer. People and concepts that readers might not know (Rastafari, Haile Selassie) are explained in one to two page inserts. At the end, there are two timelines: Marley’s life and major world events from the 1940’s to the 1990’s. As in the other volumes in this series, a lot of information about the subject is conveyed though the total length is just over one hundred pages and illustrations are all black-and-white pencil sketches.
April 23, 2021
All I knew of Bob Marley was his Jamaican roots and his unique reggae style music. For me, the most interesting part of this biography for young readers was his involvement in the Rastafarian faith. He was raised in a practicing Christian home, but he adopted this belief in the messianic nature of Haile Selassie as an adult. This concise biography does not go into depth regarding the tenants of this religion, but it does mention Bob's return to orthodox Christianity in 1980, less than a year before his death. The focus of this book was on Bob's music (as it should be), but I was happy to see them include his unexpected return to Jesus, the Messiah. This short bio, has peeked my interest toward some additional research into Bob Marley's walk of faith.
November 13, 2024
This is a great biography for young readers! The Who Was series packs so much information in a very engaging and inviting way for students. This book walks the reader through how Bob Marley first got into music and how his musical career started. It also includes facts about his personal life and the people who were close to him during his life. Bob Marley was known as the King of Reggae and impacted people all around the world with his music. I loved reading these books when I was younger and would love to include as many as possible in my future classroom library. These are fun books for students to do a biography project on.
January 16, 2018
Interesting short biography of Bob Marley. The illustrations, captions and timeline are included to describe and give a deeper understanding of the story. The author outlines the various stages of Bob Marley's life and the challenges faced and successes achieved. I found the description of his musical career path well detailed in terms of who mentored him, the opportunities he had, his work ethic, how he worked with other people, his decision making and his work life balance.
June 26, 2020
I really enjoyed learning more about Bob Marley. My knowledge was limited and even though the text is written very simplistically, I learned a lot. I liked that the author included song titles and lyrics, so I listened to each song mentioned while reading. The illustrations were lovely! I knew Marley was an iconic and had several “firsts”, but I enjoyed reading the progression of how it happened. A good biography; finished easily in one sitting.
October 25, 2020
Didn't take notes on this one as I was trying to read it before going on vacation.
I didn't know anything about Bob before reading this. He had a very interesting life and also seemed a bit sad at times. I found it odd how he had many children by many different women but it was accepted by his wife because she also had other children outside of their marriage while they were married. Oh well, to each his own.
I didn't know anything about Bob before reading this. He had a very interesting life and also seemed a bit sad at times. I found it odd how he had many children by many different women but it was accepted by his wife because she also had other children outside of their marriage while they were married. Oh well, to each his own.
April 12, 2024
I listened to this book with the hope of learning how to write about Bob Marley for kids, as well aspects like his children outside of marriage and smoking marijuana. They were both mentioned without focusing the whole story on them or judgement, which I appreciated. I was also surprised to learn new things about Bob Marley that I didn’t learn from his 400+ biography that I finished reading in the previous week. A lot of info without it feeling like an info dump.
February 19, 2020
Short children's biography regarding the life of Bob Marley. I thought the discourse between political parties in Jamaica were relevant, but a little too specific and lost my kids' focus in our reading. Only thing I wish these books would add would be suggestions for videos or links to see some examples of the artist's works.
May 10, 2023
If you are interested in knowing who Bob Marley was, then this is your book. It is another great book in the series. I enjoyed. It's quick and easy to read. I had heard of Bob Marley, but I had no idea who he was until I read this book. I had to admit it, but I cried at the end. Great book for music lovers and/or Black History Month.
January 25, 2024
He was a troubled person that seemed to find solace in women, though married. He had many women and children. Only Marley and God know how many. The reason he did is only a guess. Not my idea of a person to
admire.He did all people to live in love and peace. That is what most want, however. Not a book I see as being appropriate for children. CathyR
admire.He did all people to live in love and peace. That is what most want, however. Not a book I see as being appropriate for children. CathyR
July 10, 2020
Of all of the famous people young students could have access to learning about, I don't know that Bob Marley would be my choice...
My negative review has little to do with how writing of this book as much as, "Why Bob Marley???"
My negative review has little to do with how writing of this book as much as, "Why Bob Marley???"
June 10, 2017
Good read but be prepared to discuss infidelity with your children. I'm sure there will be questions.
July 27, 2017
Super fast bio on Bob Marley (because it is written for children!) It makes me want to know more about his shorty, yet dynamic life.
September 25, 2017
i liked it
November 6, 2017
Audiobook
December 14, 2017
One of my favorite musicians.
December 27, 2017
it was "interesting"
March 3, 2018
This is a fun kid's biography about one of my favorite musicians. I recommend it!
March 15, 2018
Wonderful account of the short life of this talented, peaceful man.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews