No Woman No Cry: My Life with Bob Marley [Hardcover]

Rita Marley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 28, 2004

The story of Rita Marley's life as the girlfriend, wife, and eventual widow of Bob Marley, the legend of reggae music, whose distinctive sound has been part of the world's popular culture for more than three decades.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Fans of reggae legend Bob Marley will welcome this no-nonsense biography from his wife, Rita, who was also his band member, business partner, musical collaborator and the only person to have witnessed firsthand his development from local Jamaican singer to international superstar. Aided by poet and memoirist Jones (How I Became Hettie Jones), Rita presents the powerful details of her early life story: her youth in the Trench Town ghetto of Kingston, Jamaica, living with "thugs, thieves, killers, prostitutes, gamblers"; her encounters with the early "Wailing Wailers"; and how her relationship with Bob cemented as they spent days recording in Dodd's Studio One. Throughout, this memoir emphasizes Rita's own substantial musicianship, first as part of Bob Marley's backing vocalists, the I-Threes, and later her own career after his death "carrying on a legacy that means so much to the world." Those subjects provide a positive balance to unpleasant experiences such as dealing with Bob Marley's various mistresses during his life and defending herself from accusations after his death that she was financially abusing his estate. This is far from a definitive look at Bob Marley, and for a comprehensive, critical look at the singer it would be hard to compete with Timothy White's definitive Catch a Fire. But this book makes an important contribution to our understanding of Marley and Jamaican music in general.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Widow of Bob and mother of Ziggy, Rita Marley would merit mention in reggae history even had she not recorded, too. Here she tells of growing up poor in Jamaica, loving the ambitious Marley, and how her life changed when he became pop music's first Third World superstar, only to die at 36. Alfarita Constantia Anderson met Bob Marley by waiting for him on the way from Jamaica's legendary Studio One. He introduced her to Rastafarianism, and when she saw the stigmata on Haile Selassie's hand during the Ethiopian emperor's visit to Jamaica, she "went home screaming and cheering." Many might call her relationship with Marley troubled, what with its physical confrontations early on and outside affairs and offspring later, but Rita says she decided to "be strong, stand up and fight," despite his frequent and open infidelity. Eventually, "as long as [she] was respected [and] given whatever [she] needed financially," she "let him be." Now business manager of Marley's legacy, Rita is a strong woman whose angle on him is fresh and authoritative. Mike Tribby
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion; 1st ed edition (April 28, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786868678
• ISBN-13: 978-0786868674
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,072,161 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Courage and Hope, April 22, 2004

By 

Shelia M Goss (Essence Magazine Best-Selling Author of My Invisible Husband, Delilah, Hollywood Deception and more.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: No Woman No Cry: My Life with Bob Marley (Hardcover)

NO WOMAN, NO CRY: MY LIFE WITH BOB MARLEY by Rita Marley with Hettie Jones is an intriguing and engaging account of the life of Reggae singer, Rita Marley.

It's a story of a woman who in spite of her circumstances was able to overcome many obstacles.

Rita came from humble beginnings. Growing up in Trench Town, a rough part of Kingston, Jamaica, didn't offer her many choices. When she got pregnant at an early age, she was able to continue her education due to the help of her Aunty.

Rita had a natural talent for singing and attempted a singing career. It was during her early years that she met Bob Marley. They started off as friends, but eventually their love for music drew them together and before long they were married.

Subsequently, Rita put her music career on hold to raise her and Bob's children. Meanwhile, Bob's career continued to flourish. No matter what happened between them, Rita remained committed to Bob. She was the glue that kept her family together.

With Bob's success came much turmoil with their relationship-namely Bob's infidelities and children outside of his marriage. Strange as it seems, Rita and Bob remained married.

Rita re-entered the music business as a member of Bob's backup group, The Wailers, when the original members quit. Her and Bob were together once again as a musical team and traveled the world until he became ill. When Bob was diagnosed with cancer, it was Rita who stood by his side and was his support system. She truly loved him to the very end.

Rita Marley's generous spirit is evident throughout the book. The book is about choices and the inner drive to survive in spite of what life dishes out. Most importantly, Rita teaches us to have faith and never lose hope.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Talking About a STRONG WOMAN................, May 2, 2005

By 

Venessia Young "Mississippi Chocolate Chick" (Ridgeland, MS United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: No Woman No Cry: My Life with Bob Marley (Hardcover)

This book takes us on a journey from Rita's humble begginings in Trench Town, a ghetto in Jamaica, to the things that happens when your husband turns into a star. Rita was a woman with patience, virtue, and was very true to her Rasta religion. Some of the things she dealt with made me feel as if she should have left Bob, but I know that love is blind and you can't walk in someone else's shoes. Bob had many flings and girlfriends, all of which she knew about and some she even met!!! What made me envy her was that she never forgot about the children and she even helped raise some of the outside children. She never crumbled in front of the children or showed them her sadness. Bob and Rita had a marriage that truly was for the better or worse, and now she is a living testiment to all people in relationships.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Woman Beside the Man, October 27, 2004

By 

Loose Leaves Book Review (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: No Woman No Cry: My Life with Bob Marley (Hardcover)

Aptly titled No Woman No Cry, this collection of memories from Rita Marley, wife of international reggae superstar Bob Marley, is a heartfelt account of her life with Bob. When she should have been crying, and perhaps filing for divorce, Rita took the lyrics to heart: "No woman no cry/ No woman no cry/Little darlin' don't shed no tears..." and she didn't.

With this biography, Rita Marley takes readers on an extraordinary journey from humble beginnings in Trench Town, Jamaica to worldwide stardom. She talks about how she went from Alfarita Constantia Anderson, an ambitious little girl with dreams of becoming the next Diana Ross, to Rita Marley, a singer, mother and wife of a reggae music icon.

Growing up in a third world ghetto full of killers, thieves and prostitutes is no small feat. Rita shares some of her innermost thoughts, including how she was essentially abandoned by her mother and raised by her father, who later immigrated to England. Her mother figure was her beloved Aunty who was there for her through thick and thin. Rita also reveals how she had to deal with black-on-black discrimination because of her dark complexion.

With a musical background (her father played the tenor sax, her aunt sang in the choir and her uncle was a well-known baritone), Rita was destined to sing. At the age of ten she won her first radio competition. She and her cousin Dream would later put on shows for the community.

But at age eighteen, Rita finds herself unwed and pregnant, a cardinal sin in Aunty's house, but she manages. A year later she meets Robert "Robbie" Nesta Marley of the Wailers, a shy guitarist with whom she falls in love and marries. Much like their romance, life with Bob was a whirlwind of activities from becoming Rastafarian and being an entrepreneur to having three more kids, going on tour as a backup singer, and later discovering Bob's numerous affairs.

Through it all, Rita is strong. She remains tough when her husband's life, as well as her own, is threatened. She maintains her strength when Bob is diagnosed with cancer and later succumbs to the disease. She even keeps a poker face when people doubt her ability to manage Bob's estate and musical legacy. Not only is Rita a woman of great emotional strength, she's simply a good woman.

"People still look for that good woman behind every strong man. We need to bring that good woman forward, especially in Jamaica, where we have been so far behind...It's important for us to move that good woman from behind to beside-and sometimes in front!" {page 204}

Without knowing it, Rita Marley is the "good woman" she mentions and I commend her for sharing her life with the world in this candid, but carefully written memoir.

Reviewed by Joan Burke Stanford for Loose Leaves Book Review