December 7, 2010

New Book: I &I The Natural Mystics: "Bob Marley 'blacked up' hair to fit in."



A new book has revealed that Bob Marley was so angst-ridden over his race that he used shoe polish to blacken his hair.
I&;I: The Natural Mystics: Marley, Tosh and Wailer, highlights the insecurities the Jamaican-born reggae legend - who had a white father and a black mother - faced during his teenage years.
In the book, his widow Rita Marley recalls how her husband was so aware of bullying for being mixed-race that he asked her to 'rub shoe polish in his hair to make it more black, make it more African.'
The author, Colin Grant, interviewed some of the singer's relatives and those close to him for the book, which is published in January.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1335635/New-book-reveals-reggae-legend-Bob-Marley-blacked-order-fit-in.html#ixzz17Soho0te


Update: (12/8/2010): Colin Grant's Facebook page where he discusses the issue:
http://en-gb.facebook.com/pages/I-I-The-Natural-Mystics-Marley-Tosh-and-Wailer/162370420462689?v=wall

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2 comments:

Dave Lucasa said...

Sad to hear Bob Marley was unable to celebrate his own diversity.

Geoffrey Philp said...

It was a tough time...I talk about it in the poem "Red."