Norval Marley
Encyclopedia
Norval Sinclair Marley. The phenotypically white Jamaica
n became famous as the father of the Reggae
musician Bob Marley
.
Norval Marley was born in Jamaica to Albert Thomas Marley, an English
man from Sussex
, and Ellen Broomfield a bourgeois coloured Jamaican. He travelled to England from America where he joined the British Army in August 1916 at Liverpool
and was enlisted in to the Labour Corps (Home Service); he had previously been employed as a Ferro-Concreter in Cuba. Marley family members, such as Norval's nephew Michael George Marley (son of Norval's brother Noel) stated that he was a descendant of Syrian Jews. In a 2003 interview, Michael George Marley revealed: "…I was told by my mother, grandmother and uncle, [that] the Marleys were Syrian Jews that migrated from the Middle East to England and then to Jamaica. About ten years ago I did research on the surname which also showed that to be true"
Later he was sent back to Jamaica where he met 18-year-old Cedella Malcolm (later Cedella Booker
), who gave birth to their son Robert Nesta (Bob) Marley on February 6, 1945. No other children arose from this relationship. The couple split after a short time. Bob Marley, at his own admission, never really came to know his father.
Bob was about ten years old when Norval Marley died of a heart attack in 1955.
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
n became famous as the father of the Reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
musician Bob Marley
Bob Marley
Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley, OM was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead singer for the ska, rocksteady and reggae band Bob Marley & The Wailers...
.
Norval Marley was born in Jamaica to Albert Thomas Marley, an English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
man from Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
, and Ellen Broomfield a bourgeois coloured Jamaican. He travelled to England from America where he joined the British Army in August 1916 at Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
and was enlisted in to the Labour Corps (Home Service); he had previously been employed as a Ferro-Concreter in Cuba. Marley family members, such as Norval's nephew Michael George Marley (son of Norval's brother Noel) stated that he was a descendant of Syrian Jews. In a 2003 interview, Michael George Marley revealed: "…I was told by my mother, grandmother and uncle, [that] the Marleys were Syrian Jews that migrated from the Middle East to England and then to Jamaica. About ten years ago I did research on the surname which also showed that to be true"
Later he was sent back to Jamaica where he met 18-year-old Cedella Malcolm (later Cedella Booker
Cedella Booker
Cedella Malcolm Marley Booker was the mother of Jamaican reggae musician Bob Marley and a singer and writer.-Biography:...
), who gave birth to their son Robert Nesta (Bob) Marley on February 6, 1945. No other children arose from this relationship. The couple split after a short time. Bob Marley, at his own admission, never really came to know his father.
Bob was about ten years old when Norval Marley died of a heart attack in 1955.