Mourners pay tribute to Bob Marley's mom
AP, Apr 27, 2008 9:00 pm PDTThousands of mourners paid tribute Sunday to the late mother of reggae superstar Bob Marley, whose renowned music promoting social justice and "one love" made him one of Jamaica's most beloved sons. Richard Booker, one of two sons from a second marriage, remembered his mother as a deeply spiritual woman who joyfully cared for her family.
Cedella Booker's casket was draped in blue, red, yellow and black cloths, the colors of the Rastafarian faith, and displayed in Kingston's National Stadium.
Booker died earlier this month in her Miami home at age 81. She will be buried Monday alongside her late son in his birthplace, the town of Nine Miles.
"She read her Bible every day and listened to gospel music every evening," he told crowds of friends and relatives who gathered as drummers performed traditional Rastafarian rhythms and chants.
Booker, a native Jamaican, was 18 when she married Norval Marley, a British man 32 years her senior. Their son brought reggae music world fame, becoming its international frontman with songs including the classic "One Love."
Marley died of a brain tumor in Miami in 1981, at age 36.
Norval Marley died in 1955 and Booker remarried an American man, settling in Delaware. She wrote two biographies of her son and recorded two albums, "Awake Zion!" and "Smilin' Island of Song."
Booker is survived by two children and several grandchildren, including Bob's son Ziggy Marley, who won four Grammys with the Melody Makers, a band that included brother Stephen and sisters Sharon and Cedella.
(This version CORRECTS SUBS 5th graf to correct that drummers performed music, not relatives.)
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