Jamaica's reggae legend Bob Marley - FILE
TWENTY-FIVE years after his death, a new biography on reggae legend Bob Marley will be released. The book, Before The Legend: The Rise of Bob Marley, was written by Jamaica-born journalist, Christopher John Farley.
It will be launched May 1 in the United States by publishers Amistad/Harper Collins.
Farley, an editor with The Wall Street Journal, was born in Kingston, but raised in the U.S. Before The Legend is his fifth book; Kingston By Starlight, My Favourite War, Aaliyah: More Than a Woman and Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues (co-author) are his previous efforts.
For Before The Legend, Farley says he interviewed several persons close to the Rastafarian singer/songwriter, including Bunny Wailer, Bob's widow Rita, close friend and Wailers bass player Aston 'Family Man' Barrett and Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records which distributed Marley's most acclaimed work.
"I wanted to show readers a side of Bob they had never seen before. I wanted to tell them stories about Bob they had never heard before," Farley told the Jamaicans.com website. "There have been some interesting things written about Marley in the past, but this book tells the definitive story of his early years. My book sets the record straight by talking to the folks that knew him best - his family and the musicians who played with him."
Marley made a mark interna-tionally in the 1970s, thanks to cutting-edge albums like Catch A Fire and Exodus. He died in Miami from cancer in May 1981 at the age of 36.
Before The Legend is the latest Marley bio. Americans Timothy White, Roger Steffens and Stephen Davis have written similar books, so too Jamaicans Dermot Hussey and Don Taylor, Marley's former manager.
Taylor's tell-all, Marley and Me, was a sensation when it was released here in 1995.
Christopher John Farley is
a graduate of Harvard University who has also written for USA Today and Time Magazine.
