Interview Salim Jaffer

Stevie Wonder travelled to Jamaica in october 1975 to perform alongside The Wailers at the National Stadium. It was the last time the three most famous Wailers (Marley, Bunny Livingston and Peter Tosh) performed together on the same stage. That night, Stevie gave a full set, which included Superstition and I Shot The Sheriff, which he did with The Wailers. In 1979 at the Black Music Association concert in Philadelphia, Bob was joined onstage by Stevie Wonder for the encore (Get up stand up and Exodus).

An European tour came the following year: the Wailers broke festival records throughout the continent, including a 100,000 capacity show in Milan. It was a period of maximum optimism and plans were being made for an American tour, an opening slot with Stevie Wonder for the following winter (Stevie was one of the biggest acts in pop music when he released the Hotter Than July album in the summer of 1980. The set included the smash Master Blaster, a Reggae track on which he paid tribute to Bob).

Bob and Stevie Wonder met last time in 1980: it was at a concert that took place in Washington (probably 26 september), during which Bob didn’t sing but spoke to the public with Stevie Wonder, while both was on stage. Bob emerged from nowhere while Stevie was singing Master Blaster Jamming, probably when Stevie was singing “Marley’s hot one the box” About this event, I’ve contacted Salim Jaffer, who was Stevie’s Travel Agent in the early 80′s and organised his North American and European Tour for ‘Hotter than July”.

Salim: “Hi Marco, I remember a few things about Bob Marley. I met with Bob with Stevie end of September or beginning of October 1980. I can’t remember exactly. We met at a hotel for lunch, near Grand Central Station. I can’t remember the name but I think Bob was staying there. I knew he wasn’t well, but I didn’t know what was wrong with him. I heard he was having some treatment in New York. He didn’t look well but he was upbeat.
Stevie was very close to him. A few things that I can remember is that Bob had a concert in New York and I was backstage at Madison Square Gardens with him. I do remember an event after that that Stevie performed at and Bob got on stage but I was not there. I met with Bob and Stevie after that and they were talking about that event and how Bob was reciprocating for Stevie getting up on stage with Bob and joking about it. We were actually in the midst of planning a tour with Bob and the Wailers and Stevie, but it never materialized. I also remember that Bob had a single in the charts at the time as Master Blaster was on. I had kept some notes somewhere about Stevie’s concerts and such with Bob’s schedule. Bob was brilliant individual. He had an amazing personality and being from Africa myself, I was very proud of him. He told me he had done a few concerts in Africa, I believe in Zimbabwe.”

Everyone’s feeling pretty
It’s hotter than july
Though the world’s full of problems
They couldn’t touch us even if they tried From the park I hear rhythms Marley’s hot on the box Tonight there will be a party On the corner at the end of the block
- Stevie Wonder (Master Blaster)