Bob Marley gets new statue for 70th birthday

(Jamaica Gleaner) Just in time for the 70th birthday celebration, a new life-size likeness of the late Robert Nesta Marley will be unveiled at the one-time home of the reggae icon in Trench Town, Kingston.

Under the Agency for Inner-City Renewal, the $10.2-million project to renovate the Trench Town Culture Yard tourist attraction, a new Bob Marley statue was commissioned (sculpted by Scheed Cole), as well as directional signs and storyboards. Additionally, rehabilitation and emergency electrical work has been done at the facility where Marley lived during his teen years.

The old statue, which came from the Bob Marley Museum and was set up in the yard in 2004, will be renovated and erected at the park on First Street in Trench Town where Bob Marley used to play.

The unveiling of the new statue and renovated Cultural Yard takes place this Sunday as part of a grand 70th birthday celebration, which begins today at the Bob Marley Museum in St Andrew.

Osmond Watson sanding down the new, unfinished life-size statue of the late reggae super star Bob Marley at the Trench Town Culture Yard in Kingston on Thursday. Sculpted by Scheed Cole, the completed statue will be unveiled tomorrow. Cole was commissioned to do the statue in late December last year to replace the old one.
Osmond Watson sanding down the new, unfinished life-size statue of the late reggae super star Bob Marley at the Trench Town Culture Yard in Kingston on Thursday. Sculpted by Scheed Cole, the completed statue will be unveiled tomorrow. Cole was commissioned to do the statue in late December last year to replace the old one.

Following Sunday’s unveiling, there will be a flurry of activities under the banner ‘The Spiritual Trod of Bob Marley’, which will include a symposium, serving of Bob’s favourite cornmeal porridge and an outside broadcast. In the evening, there will be an international event at Boys’ Town, featuring a host of artistes.

Bob Marley – singer-songwriter and musician, who achieved international fame and acclaim – was born on February 6, 1945, and died May 11, 1981.