In 1963 Marley formed The Wailers with Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer (having gone through a series of unsuccessful names, including The Teenagers and The Wailing Wailers). Playing ska and rocksteady, the Wailers adapted to reggae as the genre became more popular. It would take until 1973 however for the band to release its first international studio album Catch A Fire on Chris Blackwell’s legendary Island Records label.

While Catch A Fire achieved great international success, it was the follow-up Burnin’ that really propelled the Wailers onto the world stage. Featuring such gems as ‘Get Up, Stand Up’ and ‘I Shot The Sheriff ’, Burnin’ firmly established Marley as a reggae performer and songwriter of immense talent.

As Eric Clapton covered ‘I Shot The Sheriff ’ however, the Wailers were breaking up as Tosh and Wailer both preferred to concentrate on their solo careers. Marley’s momentum never let up, however, scoring a worldwide hit single with 1975’s ‘No Woman, No Cry’. Still popular more than 30 years after it first appeared – in 2004 it was selected in the top 40 of Rolling Stone’s ‘500 Greatest Songs of All Time’ – ‘No Woman, No Cry’ was written by Marley, but he gave the songwriting credit to his friend Vincent Ford who ran a soup kitchen in Trenchtown. The ensuing royalties did more than enough the keep the establishment open and fl ourishing. Marley moved to England in 1976 and released the Exodus – selected by Time magazine as the greatest album of the 20th century – and Kaya albums, but by 1980 he was suffering badly with cancer. In May 1981 he was flying from Germany home to Jamaica to see out his final days, but fell gravely ill on the flight which was diverted to Miami, where he died in hospital aged just 36.