No Woman No Cry My Life with Bob Marley

Rita Marley grew up in Trench Town, a slum in Kingston, Jamaica, and was raised by her beloved Aunty. Music ran in their family, and even as a child Rita possessed a talent for singing that was remarked upon. Nevertheless, by the time she was eighteen, she had become an unwed mother, and it seemed as if her musical career was going nowhere. It was then that Rita met Bob Marley, literally on the road in front of her house. Later, after being reintroduced at a local recording studio, they became close friends and fell in love. Soon, Rita was singing backup for the Wailers, Bob's reggae group. When he was twenty-one and she nineteen, they married. The rest is history: Bob and the Wailers set all of Jamaica, and eventually the entire world, on fire with their incredible style of reggae music. But while Bob's star rose and he traveled the world to promote his art, Rita stayed at home trying to feed their growing family. From peddling Bob's records on the back of her bicycle to living in a shack without electricity and washing his one pair of underwear every night, Rita was the devoted wife. Eventually her burning desire to be in the music world was satisfied as well, and she was recognized for her incredible talents as the lead singer of her own group, the Soulettes, and as a backup singer with the I-Three.

Rita Marley performs with the reggae group the I-Three and helps run the Bob Marley Foundation. Rita was married to Bob Marley in 1966 when she was nineteen and he was twenty-one, and she remained his wife until his death in 1981. The mother of Bob's children, she performs worldwide. She makes her home in Ghana, West Africa. Hettie Jones is a poet and prose writer, author of numerous books, including How I Became Hettie Jones a memoir of the Beats and of her former marriage to LeRoi Jones (now Amiri Baraka). She lives in New York City, where she teaches writing at New School University and the 92nd Street Y Poetry Center.