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Bob Marley: The Lion’s Last Roar

Lord, I’ve got to keep on moving
Lord, I’ve got to get on down
Lord, I’ve got to keep on grooving
Where I can’t be found
–“Keep on Moving”

On September 23, 1980, Bob Marley took the stage at The Stanley Theatre in Pittsburgh, and played the longest known concert of his life—a three-encore epic that culminated with a six and a half-minute rendition of “Get Up, Stand Up.” Months earlier, tickets sold out immediately for the gig, and when Marley and the Wailers finally arrived, the capacity crowd of 3,500 got everything they wanted, and more than they even understood. Having spent that night watching from the wings, peering out at the frenzied, packed house, owner/promoter and fervent Marley fan Rich Engler remembers being spellbound. “It was spectacular. I can’t even put into words how good it was. They just lit it up.”

Yet, it’s a performance that the surviving Wailers can barely remember. To put it simply, “Pittsburgh was a blur,” notes guitarist Al Anderson. And for good reason. Unbeknownst to Engler and the Pittsburgh fans who kept calling Marley and the company back for encore after encore, the band and entourage were on pins and needles the whole time—their eyes fixed on their leader, worried that he might at any moment suffer a seizure or faint onstage.

Two days earlier in New York, Marley collapsed during a morning jog in Central Park. As his body was “freezing up” and pain was shooting through his neck, he fell into the arms of friend Alan “Skill” Cole, who carried him back to hotel they were staying at, the Essex House. Although he recovered in a few hours, a neurologist examined Marley the next day and gave him just two weeks to live. “They came in and said, ‘Bob, you’re in a lot of trouble and you need help immediately,’” says Anderson, who was there for the diagnosis, alongside Cole and manager Danny Sims. “It was like time started moving in the other direction.”

Marley ignored the prognosis, just as he had done during the past five years—ever since the steel spike of another player’s cleat during a soccer match had pierced the big toe on his right foot. In 1975, that toe became infected. By 1977, when his toenail fell off, doctors told him that he needed an amputation—that it was a matter of life or death. Again, the Rastaman ignored them, suffocating the toe in boots he wore onstage and offstage, believing Jah Rastafari would cure him. They told him that he needed to go for check-ups every three months, which he blew off. Now, the melanoma that started in his toe had infested his entire body. At just 35 years old, Bob Marley had a terminal brain tumor.

As the doctor was diagnosing Bob, the rest of the entourage—including his wife Rita—continued on to Pittsburgh, unaware of just how sick he was. Meanwhile, Marley’s booking agent phoned Engler and informed him that although the band was en route, Marley may not leave New York. That night, in her hotel room in Pittsburgh, Rita had an ominous dream in which a sickly, bald Bob spoke to her through iron bars.

Back at the Essex House, Marley paid a visit to longtime Island Records boss Chris Blackwell, who was living in a suite on the top floor of the hotel. Largely responsible for Marley’s international stardom in myriad ways, Blackwell had long avoided taking a posed photograph with Marley, worried that the circulation of such an image wasn’t in keeping with his artist’s rebel persona, and, frankly, because he deemed it kind of corny. In yet another one of the eerie moments surrounding this final week of the Uprising tour—the first and only week of the ill-fated U.S. leg of that tour—Marley reportedly suggested that they pose for a photograph before he left town.

The next morning, Rita told her fellow I-Threes backup singers, Marcia Griffiths and Judy Mowatt, about her premonition, and called Bob at the Essex House, where the phone was passed around to his remaining entourage and business people. She eventually hung up irritated, learning only that Bob was not feeling well. She didn’t learn of the severity of his condition until his arrival in Pittsburgh, hours later, when he told her about the tumor. “I felt as if my heart had left my body,” she wrote in her autobiography. Outraged, she went to Griffiths and Mowatt, then to Sims, trying desperately to cancel the show. She phoned Blackwell and Bob’s lawyer and doctors in Miami. Alan enraged her even more by telling her “the doctor said he might as well do the tour, because he’s going to die anyway.”

Comments

There are 52 comments associated with this post

Jesse Moore May 10, 2011, 13:35:18

That’s a very heavy story!!! I’ve always loved the man and his music!!! I’ve read other things about him, like when he was shot!!! That story moved me deaply in many ways!!! Now after reading this, I’ve gained an even deaper respect for the man!!! May “the soldier” forever march on, in our hearts, minds and our souls !!! Bless You Bob Marley and thank you for all you taught us !!!

Bayo Fapohunda May 11, 2011, 02:28:41

A lifetime of inspiration.Peace and love every time.
Thank you Bob.

tina henthorn May 11, 2011, 10:33:50

one love,,,what else can i say xxx R.I.P

frank jasper lyimo May 11, 2011, 11:53:30

Bless you Bob,mic you a lot

Stelio Matlombe May 11, 2011, 14:59:23

grande Bob

Tony .A. May 12, 2011, 00:09:31

The man, the music , the love ,the peace,the message ~~ is forever loving JAH!.. love yourselves childern! .. What we must take from Bob is what we must leave to our youth, and that is “A ONE HARMONY”.. ~ I will always love you Bob your voice your views and certainly your words and feelings, R.I.P. brother and thank you for the insperation!! Soul rebel~

yokolee August 24, 2011, 13:11:29

The Bible says you should always fallow your
Dr. advices, is too late for Bob Marley, but is not
too late for the rest of the Rastafarian
R.I.P Bob Marley

adela juliana October 17, 2011, 17:15:44

Every time i read something like this, it gets me so down, and always ended up with a new why?
R.I.P Bob Marley

Michael December 5, 2011, 08:10:15

Really great, informed piece. www.marleyarchives.com

shaun s March 16, 2012, 23:07:21

bob is always in my heart

Dan Einhorn March 21, 2011, 01:41:44

It was the summer of 1976 when we absorbed Rastaman Vibration. The days when the album side would play over and over again until someone flipped over to the other side of heaven. The Rastaman Vibration title track was absorbed through the skin until your heart was melted into No woman No cry. If it wasn’t for dem crazy baldheads I may have died. Like the heat, and heavy humidity of Jersey, Bob took us down to Jamaica with ganga in our lungs and our knees to the ground as we let the mystic lead us to a place we never knew. Every song a treasure and a lesson in every verse anew with every round about 33 1/3. The 4 piece compilation of his early years is even more rewarding with each verse of lyrics to be translated after he left us all behind. Thanks for your words and new release. Love to the people all over the world. It took a while but people are standing up for their rights. REVOLUTION OF ;
LOVE AND PEACE-FREEDOM-HE FOUGHT FOR FREEDOM, the message has been repeated over and over by Ritchie Havens, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Freedom, Freedom.

Oyewole abimbola March 27, 2011, 17:30:02

Bob is my man. His music has influenced me a lot.

Emily Allison March 30, 2011, 16:11:04

Check the Marley tribute at True for Now! http://truefornow.blogspot.com/2011/01/cause-him-lord.html

Jonathan Ryan Easterwood March 30, 2011, 17:15:19

Won’t you help to sing these songs of freedom :”) cause all I ever had…Redemption Song” these songs of FREEDOM myspace.com/jre3v

Chris March 30, 2011, 17:17:45

One last show. In this world of corruption and trouble music sometimes takes me as close to God as I’ll ever get this side of the grave. That was one of those moments maybe. Totally dedicated to the sound and to God with all your strength. Praise Jah! May you rest in the Everlasting Arms Bob

Maria March 30, 2011, 17:52:23

I listen to Bob Marley everyday! His music inspires me tremendously and I “MISS” him so much!!

PACHI MADERA March 30, 2011, 18:08:57

ONE LOVE LISTEN TO HIM AND U SEE

anonymous 420 March 30, 2011, 18:43:52

So as I read this part… “Various accounts report that Marley, while in the hotel, hid away from the crowd in his room, nonplused by—among other things—the rampant cocaine use in his suite.” I thought…no…I know that the so called “various accounts” is really the babylon system trying to brainwash us. I love Bob Marley. He was…no he is one of the greatest people that ever lived. His music lives on forever. Give thanks and praise to HIM Emperor Haile Selassie I, Kings of Kings, Lords of Lords, Conquering lion of the Tribes of Juda…JAH RASTAFARI One Love, Peace

Julie France March 30, 2011, 19:05:37

I am in total shock….. I fell in love with Bobs music when I was 14 in high school, with ‘Is this Love’ This song was sooo beautiful for a 14 yr old! I am now 47 and still ADORE his music…and ALWAYS will. A beautiful man who wanted love and peace in the world and for people to stand up for themselves. He shared all of this and much more with his music. Thank you for being YOU Bob Marley.

Roland Ohaeri March 30, 2011, 19:37:48

Bob is not dead, never dead. He went home cos his work is over. He tells me “the preaching and talking is done, we’ve got to live up woh now, cos the Father’s time has come! Though I find tears in my eyes every now and again when I feel deeply I cant see him, I feel his teachings come into my lips and I sing the songs of freedom, liberation, Godliness, togetherness, peace and love and unity. Nesta lives. Nest is, never was. Nesta is here and will end when the world ends. My Buffalo Soldier, Mentor, Teacher, THE BEST I ever have. Nesta is the best part of my life. Nesta cannot be compared with any other because he is not comparable. Nesta stands alone and only him alone can be him. Nesta sets the captives free. Nesta is now. Nesta is the future. ROBERT BOB NESTA MARLEY. I have a running stream of love for you.

Janet March 30, 2011, 20:04:31

TEARS!........ROBERT NESTA MARLEY,we only get one.

Diane March 30, 2011, 21:03:22

Thank you…Robert Nesta Marley,I love love love your music,I love love love love your philosophy. I feel very prevliged to have seen you in concert in 1976 in Bloomington Indiana. I have been to your home in Saint Anns Parish Jamaica for those who haven’t had the opportunity put it on your bucket list It’s the most spiritual place I have ever been…RASTAFARI

Veronica Muoz Bunster March 30, 2011, 22:27:55

one day , hearing a scientist cuantic fisic , he said that we exist at the same time in diferent dimensions , then i thought that our beloved robert nest marley is alive in one of it , so i surrounded him in gold sphere of protection and love om

FlamingoShane March 30, 2011, 23:03:52

Bob Marley: Humanist, prophet, Revolutionary Rastaman – Repose in peace my brother

hielofuegoo March 30, 2011, 23:30:59

me gustan sus temas

stacey anderson March 31, 2011, 00:43:42

Bob said tell the children the truth

Wilfred Mascrinas March 31, 2011, 02:15:54

Bob Marley will alwyas be treasured for his message, music and love for the down trodden..
He is an inspiration for living life right and fair .. RIP Bob YNWA..

MARCO March 31, 2011, 02:34:17

all about bob marley and his last concert at
www.bobmarleymagazine.com

fanfan March 31, 2011, 04:48:21

supet jadore bisou

Igbo March 31, 2011, 06:59:26