Thirty years after his death, Bob Marley is still one of the most talked about music artists in the world. On Facebook, Bob Marley has 47.6 million “likes,” second only to modern pop sensation Rhianna. His popular hits, such as No Woman, No Cry; I Shot the Sheriff; Jamming; and Waiting in Vain, are just as popular with the modern generation as they were decades earlier, when he first recorded them onto vinyl. His music is timeless, with the younger generation sat in their bedrooms on leather sectionals, downloading and playing it on their modern iPods.
During his brief life, Marley changed the face of reggae music forever, popularizing it across the United States, Britain and Europe. Time Magazine chose Bob Marley & The Wailers‘ Exodus as the 20th century’s greatest album, and in 2001, Bob Marley was awarded a posthumous Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Marley has also been posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Bob Marley has evolved into a global icon, with his image becoming a highly valuable asset. Marley was one of the first artists ever to have become a global symbol. His image was immortalized on T-shirts and merchandise, long before such things became common practice. While Marley’s musical legacy lies in the timelessness of his music and the number of musicians and songwriters that he influenced, his name and image is causing controversy, as people battle over the rights to the Bob Marley brand.
Bob Marley’s half-brother, Richard Booker, is currently fighting a lawsuit that other family members have brought, to stop him from using Marley’s name and image without authorization. Booker, who shares the same mother as Bob Marley, Cedella Booker, was using the Bob Marley brand to promote an annual Miami music festival and several other businesses ventures, including the “Mama Marley” restaurants in Jamaica. Bob Marley’s name, image, lyrics and other intellectual property are licensed with Fifty-Six Hope Road Music who represent Bob’s wife, Rita Marley, and nine of his children.
Fifty-Six Hope Road Music filed a lawsuit in December 2011, aimed at halting Booker from using references to Bob Marley. Booker described the move as a family dispute that had got out of hand. However, spokesperson for the Fifty-Six Hope Road Music, Jill Peitrini said: “Mr Booker’s sympathetic position is that he is honoring his brother Bob Marley by taking something he does not own and exploiting it for his own personal gain. We don’t call that honor, we call it infringement and we look forward to defending our claim in court.”
The legal battle is said to be driving a wedge between the Marley family. Three of Marley’s sons are scheduled to perform at the Miami music festival,
which will be held for the 19th time in March, and yet if the lawsuit is successful, none can use any reference to their father during the promotion of the concert. Booker denied any attempts at infringing his brother’s legacy saying in a statement that Marley’s mother participated in many of his businesses before she died in 2008 and that the legal battle is financially motivated.
This current family battle is quite ironic, as the name Bob Marley happened quite by accident. Born in Jamaica as Nesta Robert Marley, the name Bob Marley only came about due to a passport official mixing up the first and middle names.
Bob Marley died in 1981, aged 36, after a brief battle with cancer. During his life, he is said to have fathered eleven children, three with his wife Rita, two whom he adopted from his wife’s previous relationships, and six others from different women. However, there have been many other allegations over the years from people claiming parentage from Bob Marley. Bob Marley’s father died when the singer was only 10 years old. His mother Cedella Booker remarried in the early 1960s to Edward Booker, an American Civil Servant and Richard Booker’s father. Richard was one of two sons born out of that marriage. Police shot his Richard’s brother Anthony during an incident in a shopping mall in Miami. Cedella died in 2008, aged 81, and sources close to the family suggest the divisions and legal wrangling over the Bob Marley estate have worsened ever since.
Isabella Woods – (pics by Dennis Morris)
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Ivan Serra, 35 years old, inherits the love for Bob Marley from his father. In 1984 he buy his first Bob..s album, “Legend”, and it..s love at first sight. Ivan is a musician, a guitarist, and a talent web master. He interviews Roger Steffens, Ziggy Marley, italian Journalists Daniele Caroli and Marco Basso who provide some of the rarest photos of Bob..s stay in Italy. Ivan has a large archive of rare and unreleased Marley tapes, videos, memorabilia. 
Did you read Booker’s entire press release? You reference it, and included the quote from Rita’s, but it doesn’t seem like you really took time to read through it (if at all). The entire press release can be found at Michael Santucci’s website. He’s the man representing Booker. http://www.spl-law.com/blog/
Many of the businesses Rita is targeting were founded for, and with, Cedella Marley-Booker. “Mama Marley’s” is a restaurant chain made for, and with, Cedella. The Bob Marley Movement of Jah People began as the first official Bob Marley Fan club, in 1978. Guess who it was made for and with. After she passed, Booker was given control these charitable businesses, which Rita is now trying to take hold of. She had 20 or more years to make these moves, but knew she could never win against Cedella. Booker is being wrongfully targeted, just because his name. He’s just as much a “Marley” as anyone else, and lived with Cedella in Miami for years after Bob passed. You say Booker ‘reneged’ on agreements for trademark, but if you read what they were trying to control you’d be much more sympathetic.
Just take the time to see both sides of the story, its obvious you know, respect, and love Bob and his music very much. Give the same concern to Cedella and Booker as they try, and tried, to do the same.
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