Sadness

Bob Marley's mother dead at 81

BY MICHAEL HAMERSLY
Cedella Marley Booker, mother of late reggae icon Bob Marley, died Tuesday night at her South Florida home after a long illness. She was 81.
Booker was surrounded by loved ones inside her South Miami-Dade home and was ''very happy and very peaceful,'' said daughter-in-law Sharien Booker. ``Her vision was always to bring people together. She was a very loving person, and we know she's happy.''

Booker's grandson, Ky-Mani Marley, an accomplished musician himself, told The Miami Herald she had always been a ``caring and supporting person in my life. She was always there to help me -- even when I didn't ask for help, she knew I needed help. She had that instinct to know when things were wrong and had the courage to fix it.''

Marley said the family was fortunate to be by Booker's side.

''We all live very close by, really just blocks away, so we were all in the vicinity,'' he said.

And though Booker had been struggling recently with heart problems, her death still came as somewhat of a shock, her grandson said.

''We knew she was sick, and she'd keep fighting and pulling through,'' he said. ``So it was expected, but unexpected. It's a great loss.''

Several prominent Jamaican leaders were moved to comment on Booker's legacy.

''Mrs. Booker was the matriarch of a movement so powerful that the mystical qualities of the Marley musical legacy remain strong and potent,'' said Jamaican Information Minister Olivia Grange.

''She was a star in her own right,'' Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding said in a statement. ``Her life was one of hardship, struggle and eventual fulfillment, and through it all, she exuded hope, strength and confidence.''

Born in Jamaica in 1926, Booker was 18 when she married Norval Marley, a 50-year-old British quartermaster. After he died in 1955, she married Edward Booker, moved to Delaware, then relocated to Miami, where she lived for the past 20 years.

Booker was best-known for her famous son, but she was also an author and musician. Her two books about Bob Marley -- 1997's Bob Marley: An Intimate Portrait by His Mother and Bob Marley, My Son in 2003 -- offered glimpses into his personal life, shedding light on his relationships with his wife Rita and bandmates Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer.

Bob Marley died in Miami from a brain tumor in 1981.

Booker released two albums, Awake Zion in 1991, and in the following year a collection of Caribbean folk songs for children called Smilin' Island of Song.

She also frequently performed with Bob Marley's sons Ky-Mani, Ziggy, Stephen, Damian and Julian. Although she didn't perform at the family's annual Caribbean Fest concert in Miami in early March, Ky-Mani Marley said she was still performing as recently as ''about a year ago'' in Jamaica.

Booker is survived by two children, Claudette Livingston and Richard Booker, and 52 grandchildren.

Services will be held between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday at the Range Funeral Home, 3384 Grand Ave., Coconut Grove.

This report was supplemented by Miami Herald wire services.