There’s a long list of musicians that have utilized their musical genius to impose a change upon the masses of society. Many to this day are only recognizable through their music but not by the changes that they contributed to society. Some musicians stand out when compared to others because of their political views ,but when spirituality is used to infuse the souls of many who share a common life experience through the means of music this is an iconic event. The focal point of this paper is to illustrate the social change and impact that Bob Marley had upon a vast majority of the world’s population. His influence upon the many who experienced the different aspects of poverty and hardships in their daily lives .
In 1944 Captain Norval Marley ( a white young man ) married a young Jamaican girl named Cedalla Booker ( a black teenager). On February 6, 1945 at 2.30 a.m. their son, Robert Nesta Marley was born in the house of his grandfather. Bob Marley’s love for music began to bloom, when he acquired a childhood friend named Neville "Bunny" O'Riley Livingston, whom attended the same school, and shared a love for music similar to his own. In fact it was "Bunny" O'Riley Livingston who inspired him to learn how to play the guitar. These two could be assumed to be illegitimate brothers , due to the fact that Livingston's father and Marley's mother became involved and they all lived together for a time in Kingston. This was the transitional period in Bob’s life before he was famous and when he mostly experienced the struggles that he sang about in his music. One would suspect that such greatness comes from a upbringing consisting of wealth and prestige, but Bob Marley was a product of the slums of Trench town (West Kingston) Jamaica. The wealth that he acquired was built upon his desire to bring forth a political and conscious change within those whom could relate to his music.