Wippit Featured Artist Previous     Next  BOB MARLEY It's not without good reason that Bob Marley became - and remains - Jamaica's first international superstar. There aren't many places on the planet that haven't been touched by his music and his oeuvre gave the impoverished and oppressed of his homeland a much needed voice. Born in 1945 to a white middle-aged father and a black teenage mother, Marley flew the roost at 14 to persue a career in music. After several incarnations, Marley formed The Wailers in 1963 with Peter Tosh, Bunny Livingstone, Junior Braithwaite, Cherry Smith and Beverly Kelso and cut some 70 tracks for legendary producer Coxsone Dodd at his famed Studio One. Splitting the band in 1966, Marley married Rita Anderson and relocated to Newark, USA where he spent a year working in a factory. Returning to Jamaica in 1967, Marley reformed The Wailers with Tosh and Livingstone and shortly after the trio converted to the Rastafari faith. Having then spent the next few years working with producer Lee "Scratch" Perry, Marley recruited former Upsetters bassist Aston "Family Man" Barratt and his drumming brother Carlton for a new incarnation of The Wailers and in 1971 formed their own independent label Tuff Gong before signing with Chris Blackwell's Island Records in 1972. Their Island debut, 1973's "Catch A Fire" propelled Bob Marley & The Wailers to a global audience and the follow-up,"Burnin" spawned the track "I Shot The Sheriif" which became a massive hit for Eric Clapton. Shortly afterwards, Livingstone and Tosh left for solo careers and were replaced by backing singers I-Threes which featured Marley's wife Rita. Their 1975 album "Natty Dread" contained the worldwide hit "No Woman No Cry" and was followed by sell-out shows at London's Lyceum which were recorded and released as the "Live!" album. By now, the band was playing to racially mixed audiences and as the "Rastaman Vibration" LP climbed the U.S. charts it was obvious that Marley had crossed over to a wider audience. Such was Marley's status in Jamaica that he was the subject of a political assasination attempt in 1976. Finding himself in London in self-imposed exile, Marley cut the classic "Exodus" album in 1977 and acknowledged the punk-rasta interface with "Jamming's" b-side "Punky Reggae Party". The "Kaya" album soon followed and was flagged by the single "Is This Love". 1980 proved a watershed year for Marley. Having completed gigs in Zimbabwe, The Wailers were preparing themselves for a major U.S. tour when Marley collapsed in New York's Central Park. Upon examination, it was discovered that Marley had been suffering from cancer for some time and by now the diseasae had spread to his brain, lungs and liver. He died on May 11th, 1981, aged 36. Download Bob Marley now or subscribe to Wippit. IAN BROWN Sometimes, it's difficult to escape your past no matter how hard you try - especially if you've been the front man of one of the most influencial and revered bands of the 1980s and 90s. And yet somehow, against all the odds, Ian Brown emerged unscathed from the wreckage that was The Stone Roses to forge a remarkably successful solo career as one of this country's finest purveyors of hit singles. Having split The Stone Roses at the end of a disasterous performance at the 1996 Reading Festival, it seemed that King Monkey's career had gone the way of the dodo yet to the suprise of many Brown returned in early 1998 with his debut solo album "Unfinished Monkey Business". Recorded with the help of ex-Roses replacement guitarist Aziz Ibrahim, the album yielded the hits "My Star" and "Corpses In Their Mouths" . Wasting no time, the follow up "Golden Greats" was released in 1999, quickly persued a year later by "Music of the Spheres". The hits kept flowing and with "F.E.A.R." Brown released what is commonly held to be his finest single. Following a brief cameo in "Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban", Brown released the "Solarized" album which featured his collaboration with Noel Gallagher, "Keep What Ya Got". His new album "The Greatest" is a collection of his many hit singles. Download Ian Brown now or subscribe to Wippit.