http://www.thejewishadvocate.com/news/2013-02-15/Arts/Jamaican_Jew_...
"Jamaican Jew: Marley’s ‘tribal’ roots----Reggae star’s father was the son of Ellen Broomfield"
Was the late Bob Marley part of the tribe? Well, sort of.
The Scroll (www.tablet mag.com/scroll), which discovered last summer that Elvis Presley was Halachally Jewish,
announced on Feb. 6 – which would have been Marley’s 68th birthday – that Marley’s estranged father
Norval was the son of Ellen Broomfield, a white Jewish Syrian Jamaican.
Norval is said to have been born in Jamaica in 1885, although the record is disputed.
By the time he met Marley’s mother Cedella, he would have been around 60 years old.
The relationship didn’t last long and he died of a heart attack when Marley was 12.
Marley was known for making reggae music a world phenomenon with hits such as
“I Shot the Sheriff ” (famously covered by Eric Clapton),
“Buffalo Soldier,” “Redemption Song” and others.
He died of cancer on May 11, 1981.
According to The Scroll, “The love affair between Jews and Bob Marley is one of the world’s worst-kept secrets.
For some, it has to do with Marley’s music as some kind of aural accompaniment for smoking pot.
For others, it has to do with the attribution of Jewish wandering (‘Exodus’)
or the defiance and prideful yearning for home (‘Iron Lion Zion’ and ‘Redemption Song’)
in Marley’s songs. For others yet, it’s more inchoate.”
Presley, the other music legend with Jewish roots, died in 1977 at the age of 42.
Follow Us
Like Us
