7.
Bob Marley – Natty Dread
I’ve a friend called Clayton – still a friend today, we both grew up in High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire. And when I was 15, he and I used to sit round at his house, listening to this album virtually non-stop. I know you get some people who have a go at Marley, but I don’t think any purist could be sniffy about him. He was around as far back as 1963. He did everything – he even did Tom Jones covers. Then, like I say, Desmond Dekker really looked after him, helped him move to the next phase.
After that, he evolved into one of the greatest ever songwriters. He did more for black people, for Africa, than anyone else I can think of – that whole Marcus Garvey thing – people in every corner of the world have got his message. I remember, Bob Marley wasn’t a hero to me initially – I found his stuff sad, for some reason. It was only as I got a bit older that I realised just how positive, how uplifting he was as an artist.
