Rita Marley, Keeping The Marley Legacy

As the only legitimate wife of the legendary Bob Marley, Rita was not just a domestic companion but also a business cum professional associate.


After the demise of Bob Marley, Rita who married Bob in 1966 and became an integral part of the musical family ensured that the legacy of Bob Marley did not diminish. In her capacity as the matriarch of the Marley family, Nana Rita Marley saw to it that all the uncompleted works of Marley were brought to the lime light.

Firstly, in 1986, she transformed Bob Marley’s house into the Bob Marley Museum and also being the founder and chairperson of the Museum, the Robert Marley Foundation, the Robert Marley Trust, the Bob Marley Group of companies and the Rita Marley Foundation, she continues to make manifest her commitment to the great works of her dearly beloved husband, Bob Marley. She also nurtured Marley’s children, both hers and those from other women not married to Bob who were barely teens when their industrious father passed on to the great beyond. With time, they have not only continued in the tradition but have also expressed their musical prowess, winning Grammy awards. Remarkably, Rita’s efforts enlarged the coast of the Marley estate, fulfilling her mission to enlighten and entertain through philanthropy and music.

As a sponsor of countless humanitarian causes, Nana Rita’s works extend to outside of Jamaica and has reached as far as Africa. A patron of the konkonuru Methodist schools in the Aburi Mountains of Africa in Ghana where she relocated, she is always soliciting assistance for the children and the village where she has successfully spearheaded the repairs of the main roads as well as drilling of water boreholes for the community. Nana Rita has most passionately adopted 35 children in Ethiopia and has assiduously worked to impact their lives in a practical and positive manner.

In addition, Nana, as she is fondly called by her admirers has assisted over 200 children of the Konkonuru Methodist Schools in Ghana and the people of surrounding villages, where she has been crowned Queen of Development (Nkosoo Hemaa). In addition, she opened the Marley Medical Centre and recording studio in Ghana.

As an Amazon, Rita has been the driving force behind keeping the legacy of her late husband alive and one of her major activity is the Bob Marley Birthday celebration each year in Jamaica. It has been staged both in Jamaica and Africa, Ethiopia, Ghana, South Africa respectively where the festivities have taken place in honour of Bob Marley, the legendary King of Reggae. The question which continued to be in the mouth of the teaming fans and followers of the Marley tradition was whether his children would be able to fill the vacuum which the music giant’s death created. Time has eventually answered that question, though, just as his children admitted that no one can fit his shoes; it is evident from their achievements so far that all Marley’s achievement, the one that he would cherish the most was the fact that he was able to inspire his children, especially, his sons to keep up to his tradition.

When a reference is made of Marley, one is not only referring to Bob himself but to the wide array of talents that exist in the family, not forgetting the tenacity and doggedness of the amazon, Rita Marley.