Robert Nesta Marley was a Jamaican who developed love for music and the musical world at an early age, but it was more than that. In 1961, right about the time The Beatles were making international headlines, Marley cut his first record. Mitchell notes that the greatest legacy of The Wailers may be that Marley learned that he could make statements with his music. Marley, thus, was part singer and part educator. And instead of becoming a politician himself, he employed the stage on which he would sing to benefit Jamaicans.
All leaders are, in a way, singers.
During the '60s and '70s, many musicians made it to the top of the record charts. Marley, by contrast, seemed to be singing about bigger themes, to a much bigger audience, and for a much bigger cause. His music united Jamaican people like the battle for independence from England. He has been a public voice on leadership for more than 20 years.