This Day in History: <br />Bob Marley Dies May 11, 1981 The heart and soul of reggae <br />was only 36 years old when he <br />died in a Miami, FL, hospital. He had been diagnosed with <br />late-stage cancer less than <br />eight months prior after collapsing <br />during a jog in NYC's Central Park. Marley dropped out of school <br />in his mid-teens in Trench Town, <br />a rough ghetto in Kingston, Jamaica, <br />to make music with friends. Riding the creative musical wave <br />happening in their country, the trio <br />would perform together as Bob Marley and the Wailers. After Eric Clapton covered <br />the band's song "I Shot the Sheriff," <br />the charismatic Marley became the focus. The popularity of his three albums released in <br />the late 1970s — 'Exodus,' 'Kaya' and 'Uprising' — <br />have continued to grow since his death.
