Get To Know Bob Marley’s Many Sons And Daughters – And How They Remember The Reggae Legend

Reggae superstar Bob Marley is an icon to this day, nearly four decades after his death. His music and image, as well as his spiritual and social beliefs, are recognized as pioneering and vitally important to Jamaican cultural identity. His sprawling family is still a huge presence in the world too. Did you know that he was father to at least 11 children? Let’s take a look at their relationship to their iconic father.

As U.K. newspaper The Guardian wrote in 2018, “Bob was not one of life’s monogamists and the number of children he had is open to debate, but the official figure stands at 11.” Bob’s children, as well as his wife Rita, control his vast estate, which was valued at around $130 million in 2017. They keep his likeness and music in the cultural conversation.

Bob’s children are also responsible for continuing to reinforce the message inherent in his music. He dealt with subjects of social justice and championed the freedom of the underprivileged all over the world. Amazingly, Bob’s efforts were rewarded on a global scale: he won the United Nations Medal of Peace in 1978. Many of his children share his musical abilities and belief in social activism.

Interestingly, on top of the confirmed children that run Bob’s estate, there have been a few pretenders to the Marley throne over the years. For example, in 2016 musician Fabian Marley’s claim to be one of Bob’s sons was disproved thanks to DNA analysis. For more than two years, the Marley family had been firm in their belief that Fabian was not Bob’s child, gaining vindication ultimately.

Two other people have been put forward as Bob’s children, but they are not listed on his official website. A biographer named Meredith Dixon claimed that Bob had fathered a woman named Makeda in 1981, and she had become part of the estate, but this has always been contested by the family. A claim that another woman named Imani, born in 1963, is Bob’s daughter has also never been proven.