"One Love"

April 27, 2006

How Marley Caught Fire

Repackaging the Reggae King
As a Rock Star Helped Sell
His Music to the World

By CHRISTOPHER JOHN FARLEY

The reggae star Bob Marley never sold out, but he understood the importance of selling well. He came to terms with the necessity of marketing at an early age.

He began his music career in 1962 in Trench Town, a ghetto area of Kingston, performing the jittery Jamaican dance music known as ska, before settling on reggae -- a warm, rhythmically mesmerizing music that was also born and bred in Jamaica. Initially, he made so little money that he relocated to America for a short time to work in an automobile-assembly plant to support his family.

Most music executives in the early 1970s saw Mr. Marley as too edgy for mainstream acceptance. He spoke with a thick Jamaican accent; he was also a vocal believer in Rastafari, a religion whose creed includes the wearing of dreadlocks, the smoking of marijuana as a sacrament and the divinity of Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia.

But Chris Blackwell, the British-born founder of Island Records, sensed Mr. Marley's star potential. In 1972, he repackaged the group that had been known as Bob Marley and the Wailers, giving a rougher rock 'n' roll edge to their gentle reggae grooves and presenting them as a black band even while adding white backup players. The transformation helped spark Mr. Marley's ascension from local hero to global icon.

Wall Street Journal editor Christopher John Farley drew on original interviews with some of Mr. Marley's closest associates and family members for his new book, "Before the Legend: The Rise of Bob Marley." An adaptation:

Bob Marley was 27 years old in 1972 when he began recording "Catch a Fire," the album that introduced him to the world. Twenty-seven is a tragic age in rock. Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison all died at the age of 27. Kurt Cobain of Nirvana would commit suicide at that same age. Mr. Marley had lived a full life by 27. He had several albums, several children and several extramarital affairs under his sturdy belt. But something else was in store for him instead of musical martyrdom at rock's traditionally appointed hour. The reggae performer Bob Marley would indeed pass away, in a sense, at age 27. But through producing, packaging and promotion he would be reborn -- as a rock star.

In 1972, Mr. Blackwell met in London with the members of Bob Marley and the Wailers: Mr. Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer. He was so taken with their charisma he gave them £4,000 (about $7,150) on the spot to record an album. Later that year, Mr. Blackwell flew from London to Kingston to hear what the Wailers had recorded.

Mr. Blackwell recalls he heard only five or six tracks that day. It was enough. The group had conjured the sound he had dreamed about. The music was intelligent and mysterious. It evoked images of sex and revolution. Tears came to his eyes as he listened. "When I heard those mixes, it was such a high point for me," Mr. Blackwell said later. "That money I had given them, it all went in there."

Mr. Blackwell loved what he heard in Kingston. He loved it so much that he wanted to change it. He felt he had to make it as good as it could possibly be. Island had started as a label for Jamaican music. It had become a rock label. Rock was what was selling. Rock was what the critics respected. Mr. Blackwell wanted to turn the Wailers' reggae album into a reggae-rock album. He flew back to London.

Mr. Marley wasn't happy with the idea of tinkering with what he had created in Jamaica. He thought the album was something special. Now he was concerned. He had been cheated and abused by a long line of producers. Would Mr. Blackwell compromise what the Wailers had done? How could British musicians possibly play reggae? Mr. Marley didn't want to leave the album in someone else's control. He flew to England to monitor the album postproduction. He was ready for a fight.

Mr. Blackwell, engineer Tony Platt and Mr. Marley began overdubbing and mixing the tracks at Island's Basing Street studio in London. Mr. Blackwell immediately axed two songs from the record: one felt too R&B, and the other seemed too sentimental. "There are nine tracks on 'Catch a Fire,' " said Mr. Blackwell, "because to me, a 10-track album was a pop album. A nine-track album -- that's a rock album."

Mr. Blackwell wanted fewer tracks, but he wanted each track to be longer and weightier. "So what I did is mess with the tape, make a copy of a track and then edit it and double the length or triple the length," he recalls. "I think with 'Stir It Up,' I tripled the length. I wanted to make it more like rock was and less like pop."

To flesh out the material, Mr. Blackwell brought in several American rock session players. He recruited keyboardist John "Rabbit" Bundrick, who had played with the rock band Free and would go on to work with the Who. He also brought on board Wayne Perkins, a 20-year-old guitarist with the American band Smith Perkins and Smith, which also had a contract with Island. Mr. Pe