Like Marcia Griffiths and Judy Mowatt, the other two members of the I-Three, Rita was able to launch her successful solo career, independent of star-boy Bob. So I also hear my voice, I also hear me.” Rita is more than a back-up singer. But I hear more, because I’m on almost all of the songs. Then, Rita immediately insisted that her own voice must also be heard: “And one interesting thing about it, to me, is that most people only hear him. Sign up for The Gleaner’s morning and evening newsletters. Because you do really hear his voice wherever you go. Rita first acknowledged Bob Marley’s overpowering voice: “So if I hear his voice now, it’s only confirming that he’s always around, everywhere. Right from the “Prologue”, she insistently set the record straight. She rejected the role of an anonymous ‘someone’. Rita Marley did not allow herself to be silenced. It is also a moving and inspiring story of a marriage that survived both poverty and then the strains of celebrity.” The anonymous writer of that dust-jacket blurb should really have added the ‘s’ word, sexism. In a remarkably shameless manoeuvre, the publishers of the book opportunistically marketed Rita’s autobiography in this way: “Full of new information, No Woman, No Cry is an insightful biography of Marley by someone who understands what it meant to grow up in poverty in Jamaica, to battle racism and prejudice. Male domination! She is positioned as a mere foil destined to reflect the greater glory of her superstar husband. The book’s title and, even worse, its perverse sub-title confirm one of the major forces that Rita had to confront. Her struggles and triumphs are documented in her autobiography, No Woman No Cry: My Life With Bob Marley, published in 2005. Rita Marley’s journey to claim her specialness – her distinctive identity – was not easy at all.
I always felt, as a little baby, that I had something special in me.” But I was brought up with that dignity and pride of being black and having something in me. No, no, although I was raised in Trench Town. And then I stand for certain principles and respect because I see myself as Black Queen Omega, not just a little skirt or daughter on the corner. In 1983, I interviewed her for Pulse magazine. Like a mystic, Rita Marley intuitively knew she was divinely called to fulfil a queenly mission. To mark this occasion, she has been dubbed “Mystic of a Queen”. Today is Nana Rita Marley’s 75th earthstrong.
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