Bob Marley, who died on 11 May, 1981, aged 36 was not just an accomplished and influential musician; he was the first ambassador of Jamaica music.

In his 10 years of international fame, he almost single-handedly introduced reggae music to a worldwide audience, and with it, the first knowledge of the Rastafarian faith that he followed and always espoused in his music.

Bob Marley achieved the rare feat of being a popular figure, feted by the fashionable but never compromising his credibility as a spokesman for a generation of young blacks.

Bob Marley’s music has grown in popularity in the years since his death and Time magazine voted his Exodus album as the greatest of the 20th century.

Robert Nesta Marley was born on 6 February, 1945, in Nine Miles, Jamaica, son of Norval Marley and his wife Cedella Malcolm. Norval was white and a British soldier aged 50 when his son was born; Ms Malcolm was an 18-year-old Jamaican.

Some reports say Norval abandoned his family; others that he was away on business. In either case, a young Bob saw his father rarely; dying when he was 10.

In 1950 he and his mother moved to Kingston and he made friends with Bunny Livingston (later known as Bunny Wailer) and his family. Bob and Bunny, like other young Jamaicans, found life tough in Kingston and escaped reality by writing songs.

He left school at 14 to be an apprentice welder. In his free time, he and Bunny made music with Joe Higgs, a singer and devout Rastafarian, and met another would-be musician Peter McIntosh, later known as Peter Tosh .

In 1963, Mr Marley released his first singles, Judge Not and One Cup of Coffee under the pseudonym Bobby Martell. Neither was a success but he pressed on and formed a ska group called the Teenagers with Bunny Livingston, Pete McIntosh, Junior Braithwaite, Beverley Kelso, and Cherry Smith. They changed their name to The Wailing Rudeboys, then The Wailing Wailers, and finally The Wailers.

Junior Braithwaite, Beverley Kelso, and Cherry Smith later left, leaving the core trio of Mr Marley, Bunny Livingston, and Pete McIntosh. He took on the role of leader and singer, and main songwriter. The ska beat slowed down and became reggae.

In 1971, Bob Marley and the Wailers signed with Island Records and the first album, Catch a Fire , was a worldwide success in 1973. The 1974 follow-up, Burnin’, which included I Shot The Sheriff , which Eric Clapton turned into a single hit, raising Mr Marley’s respect.

Reggae-mania even spread to the United States, where Rolling Stone magazine named Bob and the Wailers band of the year in 1976. The original Wailers broke up in 1974. The next year, he had his biggest hit with No Woman, No Cry from the Natty Dread album.

In July 1977, Mr Marley was diagnosed with cancer in a football wound on his right big toe. Amputation gave the only hope of arresting the condition but Mr Marley refused, believing as a Rastafarian that the body must be “whole”.

The cancer then spread to his brain, lungs, liver, and stomach and he collapsed while jogging in Central Park, New York.

He was flying to Jamaica to die when he became increasingly ill and the plane landed in Florida so he could receive urgent medical attention. He died at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Miami. He was given a state funeral in Jamaica, and buried in a crypt near his birthplace with his Gibson Les Paul guitar.

Bob Marley had 13 children: three with his wife Rita Anderson (whom he married in 1966), two adopted from Ms Anderson's previous relationships, and the another eight with other women. His final words to his son Ziggy were “Money can’t buy life”.