Forty five years ago today, the world lost Bob Marley. He was 36 years old. Born in rural Jamaica to a white father who was largely absent and a Black mother who raised him in the slums of Trenchtown, Kingston, Marley turned pain into poetry and gave a voice to the voiceless. He took reggae from the streets of Jamaica and put it on the global stage, selling over 75 million records and becoming the first superstar from the developing world to cross into the Western mainstream without ever compromising who he was. In 1977, a melanoma was discovered beneath his toenail after an injury on a football pitch. Doctors recommended amputation. He refused, reportedly on the grounds of his Rastafari faith, which holds the body as sacred and whole. The cancer spread slowly and silently through his body over the following years. He continued touring, continued recording, continued performing even as his health deteriorated. His final concert was in September 1980 in Pittsburgh. He collapsed while jogging in Central Park the following day. Eight months later, he died in a Miami hospital. His last words to his son Ziggy were: "Money can't buy life." RIP 🕊 #pubity #viral