Sidilla Editha "Cedella" Booker (previously Marley,

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Malcolm; 23 July 1926 – 8 April 2008) was the mother of

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

legend

Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981) was a Jamaican singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, he fused elements of reggae, ska and rocksteady and was renowned for his distinctive voca ...

Biography

Booker was born Sidilla Editha Malcolm in Rhoden Hall, Saint Ann Parish,

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

, the daughter of Albertha Whilby and Omeriah Malcolm, a farmer, "bush doctor", and one of the most respected residents of Nine Mile. Her paternal grandfather was Robert "Uncle Day" Malcolm, who descended from the

Coromantee Coromantee, Coromantins, Coromanti or Kormantine (derived from the name of the Ghanaian slave fort Fort Amsterdam, Ghana, Fort Kormantine in the Ghanaian town of Kormantse, Central Ghana) is an English-language term for Atlantic slave trade, en ...

(or Akan) slaves shipped to Jamaica from the Gold Coast, today known as

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

, in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. At 18, she married 59-year-old Norval Sinclair Marley, a

white Jamaican White Jamaicans are Jamaican people whose ancestry lies within the continent of Europe, most notably Great Britain and Ireland. There are also communities of people who are descendants of people who arrived from Spain, Germany, Portugal, Franc ...

of English descent. She became pregnant with their son, Robert Nesta (whose middle name "Nesta" means "wise messenger"). After Norval's death in 1955, Booker and her son moved to Trenchtown, a slum neighborhood in Kingston. This was the only place Booker could afford to live at the time, being a young woman moving from the country to the city. While living in Trenchtown, Booker gave birth to a daughter, Claudette Pearl, with Taddeus Livingston, the father of Bunny Wailer, who formed the original Wailers trio with Bob Marley and

Peter Tosh Winston Hubert McIntosh (19 October 1944 – 11 September 1987), professionally known as Peter Tosh, was a Jamaican reggae musician. Along with Bob Marley and Bunny Wailer, he was one of the core members of the band Bob Marley and the Wa ...

in 1963. She then married Edward Booker, an American civil servant, and resided first in

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

, where she gave birth to two more sons, Richard and Anthony, with him. After Edward Booker's death in 1976, Cedella moved to

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, where she was present at the deathbed of her famous son, who died from

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

in 1981. In 1990, Anthony was killed in a shootout with Miami police, after walking through a shopping mall with a 12-gauge shotgun and opening fire on responding police. Booker lived in Miami for the remainder of her life. In 1993, Booker conceived and created what is today called the 9 Mile Music Festival, an annual music event held every year since in Miami to help keep alive Bob Marley's message of peace, love, and unity. As part of the admission fee to the one-day

music festival A music festival is a festival, community event with music, performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock music, rock, blues, folk music, folk, jazz, classical music), nation ...

, attendees bring canned goods that are collected and donated to help feed the needy in the Miami area through various local charities. Called "the keeper of the flame," Booker grew voluminous

dreadlocks Dreadlocks, also known as dreads or locs, are a Hairstyle, hairstyle made of rope-like strands of matted hair. Dreadlocks can form naturally in Hair#Texture, very curly hair, or they can be created with techniques like twisting, Backcombing, ba ...

, adopted her grandson Rohan, Bob Marley's son by Janet Hunt, and occasionally performed live with Marley's children, Ky-Mani, Ziggy,

Stephen Stephen or Steven is an English given name, first name. It is particularly significant to Christianity, Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; he is w ...

, Damian, and Julian. Later, she released the albums ''Awake Zion'' and ''Smilin' Island of Song.'' Cedella Booker participated in the festivities in

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; ,) is the capital city of Ethiopia, as well as the regional state of Oromia. With an estimated population of 2,739,551 inhabitants as of the 2007 census, it is the largest city in the country and the List of cities in Africa b ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

, commemorating Marley's 60th birthday in 2005. Booker died in her sleep from natural causes in Miami on 8 April 2008. She was survived by her son Richard Booker and his children, Princess Booker (whose mother is Lucy Pounder, also the mother of Julian Marley), Crystal Booker and Zaya Booker.

Works

Booker wrote two books on Bob Marley. * ''Bob Marley: An Intimate Portrait by His Mother'', which was published in 1997 by Penguin Books Ltd (UK), * ''Bob Marley, My Son'', which was published in 2003 by Taylor Trade Publishing,

References

External links

The story of Cedella Booker and Bob Marley
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Booker, Cedella Marley 1926 births 2008 deaths Musicians from Saint Ann Parish Jamaican non-fiction writers Jamaican women writers Jamaican writers Jamaican emigrants to the United States 20th-century Jamaican women singers C ROIR artists Jamaican reggae singers 20th-century non-fiction writers