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List Price: $9.99 | | Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Salesrank: 419634
Released: May 22, 2007 |
| Our Price: $5.00 |
| Used Price: $4.15 |
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| Media: Paperback |
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Editorial Review:
Bob Marley was a reggae superstar, a musical prophet who brought the sound of the Third World to the entire globe. Before the Legend: The Rise of Bob Marley goes beyond the myth of Marley to bring you the private side of a man few people ever really knew. Drawing from original interviews with the people closest to Marleyincluding his widow, Rita, his mother, Cedella, his bandmate and childhood friend, Bunny Wailer, his producer Chris Blackwell, and many others—Legend paints an entirely fresh picture of one of the most enduring musical artists of our times.
This is a portrait of an artist as a young man, from his birth in the tiny town of Nine Miles in the hills of Jamaica, to the making of his debut international record, "Catch a Fire." We see Marley on the tough streets of Trench Town before he found stardom, struggling to find his way in music, in love and in life, and we take the wild ride with him to worldwide acceptance and adoration. From the acclaimed journalist, Christopher John Farely, the author of the bestselling AALIYAH and the reporter who broke the story on Dave Chappelle's retreat to South Africa, Legend is bursting with fresh insights into Marley and Jamaica, and is the definitive story of Marley's early days.
Before the Legend: The Rise of Bob Marley Reviews:
Nothing new, except the author's indulgences 
2009-08-15 - This book contains no new information, as promised, and you'd be much better off to read Timothy White's Catch A Fire. I read White's book, loved it, hoped to get more. Very disappointed by Farley's account, which takes the reader on so many of his tangents of self indulgence, that it is distracting and incoherent at times. We get to a point, as a reader, where we are thinking, "What is he talking about now? Where are we?" He takes us on trips through his academic past, relaying every possible association in his literary knowledge and rock-world experiences, and we end up knowing more about Farley than we do Marley in the end, and trust me, Marley is far more interesting. And he makes bold claims too, such as the "evidence" that Bob Marley really wasn't half white, and was less white, because of some ambigious information on the marriage record that no one in the family can verify. Rather than suggest it was a mistake, he makes quite a leap instead and we as the reader are left saying, "So what?" But perhaps what is most disappointing to me is that I was promised more. I was promised access to the Red X Tapes, and conversations with Bunny Wailer that he claims only a black man was able to arrange, and what did it yield? Nothing. No new information. Nothing at all.
DON'T DO IT!!!!!! 
2007-06-14 - Do not, I REPEAT, Do NOT waste your time or MONEY on this so-called book.
This man knows nothing about Bob, Rasta, OR BLACK CULTURE. It's an insult
to us who are Rasta, Jamaican and fed up with Americans USING Bob for their gain. This is why true Rasta, only reason and Follow Jah. We not
on their path to glory fame money.
One day a voice will emerge chosen by Bob himself to speak the REAL TRUTH,
and that will become the true story.
Too much SAID, not enough WISDOM Foolish man, soon find hiself wit other
fools. Now, I waste my time no more.
Bob trust nobody: we tired of this. Jah bring Truth.
HE IS TRUE!!! 
2006-12-02 - THE WHOLE BOOK IS ALL WHAT INSPIRES ME.
BOB MARLEY IS ONE OF THE GREATEST LEGENDS IN THE WORLD
AND HE STILL LIVES AS I'M CONCERN.
CHRISTOPHER JOHN FARLEY,THANK YOU FOR TAKING ME CLOSER
TO HIM MORE AND MORE THROUGH YOUR WONDERFUL WRITINGS.
I HAVE BEEN HAVING THIS BOOK SINCE THE RELEASE DAY AND
I NEVER THOUGHT OF DOING THE REVIEW.BUT NOW IS THE TIME.
I ENJOY EVERY PAGE OF THIS BOOK AND IT'S REALLY AMAZING
HOW A WRITER CAN TOUCH MY HEART THIS FAR.
I'M MUCH MORE MOVED BY MUSIC BUT I NEVER THOUGHT FOR A
SECOND A BOOK COULD WORK ME TOO.HE REIGNS FOREVER AND BOB
MARLEY WILL ALWAYS STAY MY NUMBER 1(#1) OF ALL TIMES.
KEEP WRITING AND DOING YOUR THING CHRISTOPHER...
JAH BLESS!
Great read about Marley before "Exodus"
2006-08-22 -
I got wind of this book when an excerpt was published in - of all places - the Wall Street Journal. It turns out the author, Christopher John Farley, is an editor at the Journal, which probably explains how it ended up being excerpted there.
Bob Marley is really the great popularizer of Reggae in Europe and the U.S., going back to the late 70's and early 80's. He was the rage when I lived in Jamaica from 1977 to 1979. His album "Exodus" was a hit at the time.
Marley died in 1982 of brain cancer, at the age of 37. The cancer may have been induced by the vast volume of ganja (that's marijuana) he ingested in the form of giant spliffs in the prior 15 or 20 years.
Since his death, his popularity has grown exponentially. The album "Legend", kind of a "Bob Marley and the Wailers" greatest hits album is one of the all time bestsellers worldwide. And "Exodus" was named the "album of the century" by Time Magazine.
In fact, the book is very good, very enjoyable. It takes you from Marley's birth in 1945, discusses his family, the fact that his mother was black but his father was mostly white, his life as a poor boy in Kingston, and his musical aspirations. The author Farley was born in Kingston himself but raised in upstate NY and attended Harvard. He interviewed all the major people who are still living and knew Marley well. And there is an extensive bibliography.
There's a whole heap of stuff about Jamaican culture, about the influence of slavery on the culture, and the author paints a nuanced picture of life in Jamaica in the 50's and 60's.
Marley was very much a man of his culture. A sincere Rastafarian, married at 21, at least seven children by four different women. Able to survive by his wits in a culture where many of the artists and producers carried guns as a matter of course.
Marley spent a good deal of time in the U.S. In fact he was a member of the UAW! He worked for several years in Delaware in a car parts factory. This all before the big breakthrough in 1972, when he produced on Island Records (through Chris Blackwell - Island Records was a British label) his first big album, "Catch a Fire".
So the book is a fine looking glass into Jamaica, it's culture, and the group, Bob Marley and the Wailers. There were a number of people who moved in and out of the Wailers, but the two who were there the whole time were Peter Tosh (shot dead in his own house in 1987) and Bunny Wailer who is still making music in Jamaica.
The book inspired me to get an early album of the Wailers. A collection of ten of their early songs, the "Millenium Edition". Good, but a rough album, in the sense that the songs were all produced in Jamaica, without exactly state of the art production facilities. More importantly, they lack the rock influence, which was probably crucial to driving their popularity overseas. I also got another copy of "Reggae Bloodlines" a great book from the late 70's - great text, great pictures - off Amazon, second hand. I am surprised this book wasn't in Mr. Farley's excellent bibliography.
Brigid and I are fans of Marley. In April 2005, while visiting Jamaica, we stopped in the tiny village of Nine Miles to see where Marley was born. We were on our way from Runaway Bay on the north coast to the town of Mandeville where we had met and been married in 1979.
There's a museum and a kind of shrine there, where he is buried. We didn't go in but simply had a look in the gift shop and chatted to the museum "guides." It's an interesting trip if you want more out of Jamaica then just beaches and Red Stripe beer.
The beginning of a legend 
2006-07-14 - As the title states this book is primarily about the early days and beginning of Bob Marley's musical career. Fans of Marley know most of this information already but it's still enjoyable to read.
The book starts with Bob being born in the country and his eventual relocation to Trenchtown. We read about his family roots and how he came to be interested in music with his friends. Eventually he formed the Wailers with them.
Some of the more fascinating information in the book is the revealing of Bob and the Wailer's early struggles. They recorded over 200 songs and toiled in the music industry for 10 years before they finally got their big break with Catch a Fire. Prior to this they were continually denied getting paid what they deserved by record producers and were broke most of the time. Another area that is captivating is Farley's account of the history of reggae and even its influence on rap.
For those of you interested in the spiritual side of Marley there is discussion of Rastafarianism. After all, you can't really separate Bob and his spiritual aspects from his music.
Overall, this book is pretty brief at just over 200 pages and I found a few aspects disappointing. I was a little disappointed at the abrupt ending of the book. I felt that I was reading about the development of Bob's career, his life, and his message up till Catch a Fire and boom the book was over. Obviously, the book is about the rise of Bob and not his whole life but it seemed like the author was under time constraints and had to just finish in a hurried fashion. Christopher Farley has writing ability and you can tell his Harvard education comes into play. However, with this writing skill, why not expand it and give us more to chew on?
Despite the few minor setbacks this book has, as a music fan you'll enjoy it. Not only do you get to read some about the history of reggae and Jamaica but you also get to read about one of the most influential artists of all time. Some would even argue one of the greatest men of the 20th century. You can never go wrong there.
