Meet Reggae Legend Bob Marley's family, his sons, daughters & grandchildren all in one zone

 

This new month of July, on the first day of this fresh month the world remembers Bob Marley.

The iconic legend who popularized this Jamaican genre of Reggae music may have died years ago but his inspirational music lives on through the years. 

Adapted from qg courtesy of qg-fashion

Reggae icon Robert Nesta Bob Marley did not die a poor man and his family escaped destitution, thanks to the wealth he left behind from his years of musical dexterity which shot him to global acclaim as one of the best musicians of all time.

Born on February 6, 1945, Bob Marley lived a humble life as he promoted freedom for poor and oppressed people, social equality, and justice. However, his death on May 11, 1981, from cancer was followed by decades of lawsuits over his estate which was reported to be worth about $30 million when he died.

Bob Marley did not leave behind a will as per his Rastafari beliefs that characterize lawyers and legal documents as evil and tools of Babylon. His family could only depend on the Jamaican intestate law to decide on the distribution of his wealth.

His wife, Rita Marley, would have received 10% of his assets and would be entitled to another 45% throughout her life while his at least eleven children by seven different women would share the balance. This didn’t seem fair to some and it didn’t go down well.

Marley’s business attorney, David Steinberg, and an accountant, Marvin Zolt, convinced Rita to forge his name to a series of documents, and predate them to before he died. The plan was to transfer control of the large majority of Marley’s corporate holdings, along with much of his royalty rights and money, to her.

The scheme was uncovered by one of Marley’s former managers and it began a long series of legal battles which ended after the two accomplices were found guilty to fraud and other illegalities to the tune of $6 million.

Rita Marley also confessed and stated that she acted upon the advice of the attorney. She lost her administrative control of Bob Marley’s estate which she had since his death until 1986.

At the same time, other legal claims popped up from several children of Marley and their mothers; one from the Wailers, Marley’s eight bandmates at the time of his death; and another from Cayman Music, which claims to own some of Marley’s recordings.

Marley’s mother also moved to his $300,000 South Dade house in Miami in 1977 and Chris Blackwell, president of Island Records, Marley’s record label, wanted to include the property in an $8.2-million sale of Marley’s estate.

Blackwell would get royalty rights from Marley’s recordings, copyrights for his songs after 1976 and real estate including South Dade house if the deal sailed through. He expressed willingness to negotiate the sale of the house but Bob Marley’s mother contested the deal. The legal battle ended after a decade with both parties benefitting.

The scheme was uncovered by one of Marley’s former managers and it began a long series of legal battles which ended after the two accomplices were found guilty to fraud and other illegalities to the tune of $6 million.

Rita Marley also confessed and stated that she acted upon the advice of the attorney. She lost her administrative control of Bob Marley’s estate which she had since his death until 1986.

At the same time, other legal claims popped up from several children of Marley and their mothers; one from the Wailers, Marley’s eight bandmates at the time of his death; and another from Cayman Music, which claims to own some of Marley’s recordings.

Marley’s mother also moved to his $300,000 South Dade house in Miami in 1977 and Chris Blackwell, president of Island Records, Marley’s record label, wanted to include the property in an $8.2-million sale of Marley’s estate.

Blackwell would get royalty rights from Marley’s recordings, copyrights for his songs after 1976 and real estate including South Dade house if the deal sailed through. 

He expressed willingness to negotiate the sale of the house but Bob Marley’s mother contested the deal. The legal battle ended after a decade with both parties benefitting.

The proceeds are derived from the sale of products in more than 48 countries, according to Forbes, which included headphones, Marley Natural cannabis, smoking accessories, Get Together portable speakers (which logged $6 million in sales in 2016) and Smile Jamaica earphones ($8.1 million).

There are also Uplift earphones; Marley Coffee (managed by Rohan) and Marley Natural (managed by Cedella) which sells herb-related products such as smoked-glass water pipe.

The Marley family have hired a team to help run House Marley and to deal with the unauthorized use of Bob’s name and likeness. Forbes estimates that unauthorized sales of Marley music and merchandise generate more than half a billion dollars a year, though the estate disputes this.

Bob Marley‘s career after he broke out as a young Jamaican musical sensation spanned just ten years yet his global fame was apparent before he turned 30. Marley, via Bob Marley & The Wailers, was already known to many in the Caribbean, the United States and the United Kingdom before an attempt was made on his life in Jamaica in 1976.

By the late 1970s, he was playing in Africa, a continent he espoused so much love for. 

He was in Kenya and in Ethiopia in 1978. Of course, Ethiopia, the home of the Rastafarian saint Haile Selassie, was always going to be on Marley’s list of destinations. 

He was also in Zimbabwe where he was the special musical guest to mark that country’s independence in 1980. 

However, it was in Gabon in 1980 that Marley found love in the embodiment of Pascaline Mferri Bongo Ondimba, the daughter of El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba, born Albert-Bernard Bongo. 

The Bongo name has been synonymous with Gabon for so long because Omar ruled that country from 1967 to 2009, only to be succeeded by his son, Ali.

Marley became intimately close to Pascaline but according to the latter’s own version of events, their actual first meeting was in 1979 in the US, making the meeting in 1980 a reunion of a sort.

“The first time I met him was in America in 1979 and when we went backstage when he saw me, he said “Gosh you’re ugly”,” Stephanie said in the Ken MacDonald-directed documentary Marley (2012). Stephanie was in the States with her father and went to see Marley perform in Los Angeles. She managed to secure a backstage pass to meet the musician who was unfortunately not impressed by her looks.

However, according to Bob Marley and the Dictator’s Daughter written by Anne-SophieAnne-Sophie Jahn, it was Pascaline who invited Marley to perform in Gabon. It would seem even after Marley’s rude remark, the 23-year-old’s spirit had not been broken on that night. Her invitation was welcomed by some members of The Wailers who had never seen the motherland they sang of.

Marley and his crew were not received by Omar, the head of state who also went by the unofficial title of “king”. Omar sent future president Ali to meet Marley and his company. This snub was not lost on The Wailers since they were essentially on a state visit to play at Omar’s birthday party. It later also dawned on them that Omar was a dictator who developed the parts of Gabon that mattered to him while the rest of the country laid in abject poverty.

However, according to Pascaline, Marley was not personally offended by Omar because “he [Marley] told me that my father had been the only one to suggest that Haile Selassie move to Gabon after he was dethroned. And that the Rastafarians felt that this was a strong act that deserved their respect and admiration”.