His father was white

His father's name was Norval Marley, as we already mentioned. Captain Norval Sinclair Marley, a white British Army soldier in his early 60s, was his father. Bob lived in poverty for the majority of his early years and never saw his father. With the exception of a brief period spent in Kingston, he spent the first twelve years of his childhood in the island's rural interior.

He was Jamaican even if his family was English. When Cedella Booker was 18, he married her. The following year, Bob was born. Since his father spent the majority of his time abroad, he never really got to know him. However, Norval consistently transferred money to Cedella. Norval provided financial support for his wife and child but seldom saw them as he was often away. Bob Marley attended Stepney Primary and Junior High School which serves the catchment area of Saint Ann. In 1955, when Bob Marley was 10 years old, his father died of a heart attack at the age of 70. Marley's mother went on later to marry Edward Booker, a civil servant from the United States, giving Marley two half-brothers: Richard and Anthony.