So Much Things to Say: The Oral History of Bob Marley, is written by noted Marley archivist Roger Steffens.
Released on July 11 by W.W. Norton & Company, the book revisits interviews Steffens did with a number of persons who were close to the singer before he became a superstar.
They include Joe Higgs, his former mentor; Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer, Cherry Green and Beverly Kelso, Marley’s colleagues in The Wailers; his former manager/publisher Danny Sims; confidante Alan ‘Skill’ Cole and Cindy Breakespeare, Marley’s long-time lover.
Jamaican people tell Bob’s story
“My goal for the book was to let Jamaican people tell Bob’s story in their own words and make this the first book that people will turn to in the future to learn the true story of Bob’s incredible life and career. No made-up conversations by white boys who weren’t there. And deeply detailed observations of his final five years, which books like Catch A Fire race through as if under a fast-approaching deadline,” Steffens told Caribbean National Weekly.
According to Steffens, ‘So Much Things to Say’ took him 15 years to complete. It is built around 44 years of research, 37 years of interviews with Bob and 75 of his closest associates.
One of those associates was Sims, an African-American who first met The Wailers in Jamaica during the mid-1960s. He and singer Johnny Nash, his business partner, produced a number of songs, including Stir it Up and Guava Jelly which Nash also recorded.
Mob Connections
Sims, who had Mob connections, claimed Marley and Cole approached him in September 1980 for protection against persons who were threatening Marley’s life. Steffens said Sims disclosed the fantastic tale in an April 2012 interview; Sims died in October that year.
Marley, who died in May 1981 from cancer, was in New York City to open for Rhythm and Blues group, The Commodores, at Madison Square Garden. Sims who didn’t give the source of the threats, said, “I took Bob and Allan to see a guy named Joey Armone, the head of the Gambino (Mafia) organization at a restaurant. Armone was my partner for 40 years before he died. Allan told Joey they wanted protection at Madison Square Garden,” Sims recalled.
So, there were Gambino henchmen at Marley’s two Madison Square Garden shows. The Gambinos were one of the five Mob families that traditionally controlled New York City.
Other revelations in the book include Marley’s challenge fighting cancer in Germany; details of how The Wailers split up in 1973; the assassination attempt on Marley’s life in December, 1976, and his relationship with Breakespeare, a white Jamaican who was Miss Jamaica World in 1976.
The 75 -year-old Steffens interviewed Marley during his 1979 Survival tour of the United States. Over the years, he has amassed Marley/Wailers memorabilia at his Los Angeles home, considered the largest of its kind in the world
