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Marley, Bob (1945-1981), Jamaican singer, guitarist, and songwriter, a pioneer of Jamaican reggae music. Considered one of the greatest artists of the genre, he was the first Jamaican reggae performer to achieve significant international stardom. He was born Robert Nesta Marley in Rhoden Hall, Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica . Marley was learning the welding trade in Kingston when he formed his first harmony group, the Rudeboys, in 1961. The group later became known as the Wailers. The Wailers included vocalists Bunny Livingston and Peter Tosh, both of whom later embarked on successful solo careers. The group's early recordings were in a style called ska, a hybrid of New Orleans rhythm and blues and Jamaican mento. Mento was the first of the reggae styles. (The term reggae is commonly used as a collective designation for a number of successive forms of Jamaican pop music—ska, rock steady, poppa-top, and reggae.) By the late 1960s, influences from United States rhythm and blues, Jamaican folk rhythm, and dub (rhythmic, improvised verses) were synthesized into the rock steady and poppa-top styles, and Marley emerged as a rising talent in this new genre of Jamaican music. In 1967 he converted from Christianity to Rastafarianism,