Bob Marley's Britain: How the UK helped make the reggae artist an icon
In the 1970s Bob Marley saw Britain as his second home. From places he lived, to the venues he performed with the Wailers and even where he played football, a new BBC documentary, When Bob Marley Came to Britain, celebrates the connection, offering a glimpse of the footprint he left in this country, the impact of his music and an insight into how crucial Britain was in facilitating his rise to superstardom.
As Marley said in a 1980 BBC interview in the film: “England’s the place man… If the people in England don’t like it [the music], plenty of people are not gonna like it. It’s the truth!” Talking to me about the film, the DJ and musician Don Letts, who spent time with Marley, said: “The UK opened the door to the rest of the world for Bob.”
The film is set against the background of social, cultural and political turmoil, from industrial action to the rise of the National Front, in Seventies Britain. What’s apparent is that Marley's presence struck a timely chord with many black Britons. Letts, who is among the numerous contributors who worked with, or met Marley, suggests: “We were the children of the Windrush generation and along comes Marley with these tunes that somehow resonated with our situation growing up in the UK… He gave us the beginnings of an identity.”
The film’s director Stuart Ramsay, concurs: “He helped many people in Britain find answers to the questions about their identity and sense of self.The fact he spent so much time in the UK was really important in making that connection, because it meant he wasn’t just a face on a record sleeve – he was on British televisiom, on the radio and you could even see him perform in your home town, whether that was Glasgow, Bristol or Doncaster.” Here's where to look if you want to explore this heritage for yourself.
Blue plaques
Marley stayed in numerous places in the west of London during his time in Britain. Three of them have blue plaques, although only one is an official English Heritage marker. That’s in Oakley Street in Chelsea, where he stayed for a significant period from 1977 after an assassination attempt in Jamaica. With a large entourage, he turned the house into a Rastafarian haven. The other two “plaques” can be seen at a flat in Ridgmount Gardens in Bloomsbury, where Marley lived on one of his first visits in 1972, and a red-brick house in The Circle in Neasden (also in 1972) where he hung out with Neville “Bunny Wailer” Livingston and Peter Tosh; the three were often seen walking down the high street. “It was like seeing the Beatles,” said former Aswad frontman Brinsley Forde.
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On stage
Marley and the Wailers were still largely unknown outside the reggae scene in 1972 and early visits saw them playing in clubs, pubs and universities. The following year during the Catch A Fire tour, the band continued to play gigs in small venues all over the UK, from Bristol to Northampton and Teeside, plus the old Speakeasy (now The Beat Club) in London’s Fitzrovia, watched by the likes of Bryan Ferry and Bianca Jagger. One concert stands out though: the Lyceum Ballroom (now Theatre) in London on a hot July night in 1975 on the Natty Dread tour; the venue was packed with a “50/50 black and white audience” and the reception was ecstatic. As Marley’s biographer Chris Salewicz said, “It felt something had shifted in the culture,” while Letts described it as like “a religious experience… I came out of that gig a changed man – empowered and informed”.
Studio time
Basing Street Studios, a former church, and one-time Notting Hill HQ of Island Records, was where Marley first impressed the label’s founder Chris Blackwell. It was also here that the Catch a Fire album was extensively remixed using American session musicians giving it a rock and pop element and thus a wider appeal. Marley also worked on the Exodus album and briefly lived in an apartment here.
Kickabout
After music, football was Marley’s big passion. When he lived in Oakley Street, he regularly popped across the river to Battersea Park for a game. “He was quick, skilful and difficult to get the ball off,” said one observer. It’s suggested he supported Tottenham Hotspur because he admired their Argentinian star, Ossie Ardiles.
Back to school
Visiting Soho’s Ronnie Scott’s one evening in 1972, Marley met an art teacher who persuaded him to visit his school – then Peckham Manor School (now the Damilola Taylor Youth Centre) – and perform a set for the pupils. Marley turned up a few days later and played a two-hander with the American singer Johnny Nash, performing songs such as Stir It Up and I Can See Clearly Now. In the film, three former pupils recall that memorable afternoon and how he played football in the playground.
On the road
One of the oddest gigs Marley and the Wailers played was at The Coach House at the back of the Fleming Arms pub in Southampton in May 1973. The venue’s DJ was short of a few dates at the club and was told by the booking agent that an “unknown” band called Bob Marley and the Wailers were available. Despite an advert in a local paper listing them as “Bob Marley and the Whalers”, the gig sold out and the atmosphere was “mesmerising”. Bingley Hall in Stafford, on the other hand, was where the band played their last UK gig on July 13, 1980.
The Mural
A striking image of Bob Marley by the street artist Dale Grimshaw can be seen on the wall of the Brockley Barge pub in south-east London. It was commissioned after a crowdfunder in 2015 when an original Marley mural was destroyed during a nearby redevelopment.
Mancunian Rastas
Rastafarianism was seen as a bit of a cult until Marley’s involvement – according to the film he gave the movement credence and people started taking it more seriously. Marley attended various Rastafari 12 Tribes religious meetings when in the UK, one of which was at the Ardri Club in Hulme, Manchester.
‘When Bob Marley Came to Britain’ is on BBC2 on Saturday, August 29 at 9.45pm. ‘Don Letts’ Culture Clash Radio’ is on Radio 6 Music every Sunday at 10pm.
