The Death of the Prince of Reggae

Bob Marley and The Wailers : Three Little Birds

On May 11, 1981, at half past noon, Bob Marley died in Cedars of Lebanon hospital in Miami. He'd been secretly battling cancer for nearly a year when he was first admitted to New York hospital, supposedly suffering from exhaustion. In truth, he had a form of skin cancer that had spread from under the nail of a toe. His faith would not allow him to amputate the toe, which might have saved his life. Instead, he tried some experimental treatments in Germany, never chemotherapy,  hoping to fight off what was now lung and brain cancer.

"He could hardly walk and the brain problem affected the coordinated movement of his legs, " his wife Rita had said a month earlier.

In a cover story, Record World wrote:

 "Almost by himself, he brought reggae out of the ghetto, from a simple form of R&B to a true international force, backed by the power of the Rastafarian faith...He was the black prince, a bearer of peace and love and unity, and his tragically early death at the age of 36 has robbed the world whose life work was far from complete."