Catch a Fire: The Life of Bob Marley

The classic biography of reggae legend Bob Marley, updated and revised for the twenty-fifth anniversary of his death

Bob Marley left an indelible mark on modern music, both as a reggae pioneer and as an enduring cultural icon. Catch a Fire, now a classic of rock biography, delves into the life of the leader of a musical, spiritual, and political explosion that continues today.

Under the supervision of the author’s widow and with the collaboration of a Marley expert, this fourth edition contains a wealth of new material, including many revisions made by the author before his untimely death. An appendix to the new edition chronicles Marley’s legacy in recent years, as well as the ongoing controversy over the possibility that Marley’s remains might be exhumed from Nine Mile, Jamaica, and reburied in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where hundreds of Rastafarians live. The new edition also contains an expanded discography and is factually updated throughout.

“Probably the finest biography ever written about a popular musician.”
—San Francisco Chronicle

“As close as rock journalism comes to transcendent literature.”
—Playboy

“White has a deep appreciation for reggae’s immediacy, hypnotic power, and contradictions . . . An exhaustively researched labor of love.”
—Chicago Sun-Times