Happy Birthday Bob Marley!

If he was still alive today, Feb.6th, 2013, Bob Marley would have been celebrating his 68th birthday.

The Jamaican artist passed away due to complications with cancer in 1981 at the tender age of 36, but he left a legacy that has withstood the test of time through his music. Marley is widely credited with being the driving force behind the spread of both reggae music and the Rastafari movement to the world in the 18 years he spent making music.

“Legend: The Best of Bob Marley and the Wailers,” released three years after his death, is reggae’s biggest selling album to date, moving more than 10 million copies in the United States alone, and an estimated 25 million albums sold worldwide. Marley continued to win accolades well after his passing, winning such awards as BBC’s song of the millenium for “One Love” and getting inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. In 1999, Time Magazine named Bob Marley & The Wailers’ “Exodus” as the greatest album of the 20th century.

Marley is survived by Ziggy and his 10 other children, Sharon, Cedella, Stephen, Robbie, Rohan, Karen, Stephanie, Julian, Ky-Mani and Damian.

I.M.