In the 1970s, Kate Simon was an American rock photographer living in London, living what must have been an incredibly glamorous — or at least incredibly cool — life. She shot the titans of UK rock, working with everyone from Rod Stewart and Queen, to Led Zeppelin and the Who.
With such a resume, one might assume that Simon would be hard to impress. But that was far from the reality — Simon was awestruck by Bob Marley and the Wailers' performance at London's Lyceum theater in 1975.
"That's when I was really blown away by reggae. That was the beginning," Simon recalls. The show was also the beginning of a photographic relationship with reggae music; Simon photographed Marley and other reggae luminaries on stage and behind the scenes until 1980. Among her many works is the cover for Marley's 1978 record, Kaya.
Simons' significant archive is featured in the photobook Rebel Music: Bob Marley & Roots Reggae. Originally published in 2004 in a limited run of 500 copies, Rebel Music Simon's photos and stories from 24 contributors, including Chris Blackwell, Lenny Kravitz, Keith Richards, Paul Simon, Patti Smith and Bruce Springsteen. A new edition via Genesis Publications, which is available Nov. 7 in a larger run, includes additional never-before-seen photos and additional stories.
"Look at these pictures of these guys — forget that I took them — that was such an amazing time for music," Simon reflects. "How mystical and beyond belief was this music? It was just so special."
In celebration of the release, Simon spoke with GRAMMY.com about several of the crucial images from Rebel Music: Bob Marley & Roots Reggae. Read on for eight things Simon shared about photographing Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Peter Tosh and others.
All images copyright Kate Simon
Bob Marley Was A Particularly Humble Superstar
Kate Simon first met Marley in 1975, backstage at his now-infamous string of shows at the Lyceum Theater in London; her friend Aninha Capaldi was married to a member of the band Traffic, who was friends with Chris Blackwell of Island Records.
"We had an instant kind of rapport," Simon recalls. "Bob was completely charming, and just delightful. Just friendly, just lovely. Really willing to be photographed."
Marley also had a different personality than many of his contemporaries. Simon describes him as a down-to-earth, humble musician whose personality on and off stage lacked any traditional rock star quality. Marley wore the same denim long-sleeved shirt, jeans and jacket for the entire European tour, she recalls, and never had "minders" as some other acts might have.
"He didn't have anybody surrounding him and distancing him from other people. He was very self reliant and very bold," Simon reflects. "I think he was very present and very self aware…reflective and intelligent."
The Lyceum Shows Were A "Watershed Moment" For Reggae
Although Marley and the Wailers had broken through to the international market with 1973's Catch A Fire, his 1975 run of shows — and, particularly, the two gigs at the Lyceum Theatre in July — were a "watershed moment" for the band and reggae as a whole, Simon asserts.
The Wailers' booker had a policy of booking the group at venues much too small for their growing following, Rebel Music details, and there were regularly hundreds of fans who were unable to get inside. In the book, reggae documentarian Roger Steffens describes the vibe outside of the Lyceum shows as "bedlam" and 1975 as "the year that [Marley] became an international star."
Those who were lucky enough to get inside the Lyceum were packed tight to watch Marley, drummer Carlton Barrett, bassist "Family Man" Barrett, guitarist Al Anderson, and backing vocalists the I-Threes. "The band was so tight, and they were ready and there was such an enthusiastic crowd," Simon recalls.
Simon further described the performance in Rebel Music: "It was shocking. The beauty of his voice; the brilliance of his band; the hypnotic power of the music. For me, it was a calling to reggae. I wasn't prepared for it."
The two Lyceum shows became a live album, Live!, released on Island Records that same year.
Bob Marley Was A Great Photo Subject — But He Took Coaching
Taken during the Exodus tour in 1977, the above photo has never been published before. Simons explains that Marley was a great photo subject, though shooting him during performances could be difficult because "he never stops running" around on stage. Still, that movement helped her capture "whirling dread shots."
While Marley was keen to be photographed live and offstage, Simon did offer some advice:
"He was completely possessed by the music. I just remember telling him 'Bob, you gotta open your eyes more, because your eyes are always closed.' He's meditating in the music," she says with a laugh. "I could be being egoistic, but I noticed him opening his eyes a little bit more, especially when he sang the phrase 'open your eyes and look within.'"
Bob Marley Was Part Of The "Mount Rushmore Of Reggae"
Although they weren't with Marley during his 1975 tour, the original Wailers — Marley, Bunny Wailer and Peter Tosh — had been performing together since 1963. Recently an independent nation, ska was the freedom sound of Jamaican music at the time and the trio first topped the charts singing "Simmer Down" with legendary group the Skatalites.
Although their sound would change significantly over the years both as a group and as solo acts, Tosh, Wailer and Marley remained titans in the field — "the Mount Rushmore of reggae music," as Simon suggests, "the three major songwriters and singers of the original Wailers."
Bunny Wailer would go on to win three GRAMMY Awards, one for Best Reggae Recording (Time Will Tell - A Tribute To Bob Marley) and two for Best Reggae Album (Crucial! Roots Classics, Hall Of Fame - A Tribute To Bob Marley's 50th Anniversary). Tosh took home a golden gramophone at the 1998 GRAMMYs for his song "No Nuclear War."
Bunny Wailer Was Less Amenable To Photographers
Simon and a few journalists had traveled to Jamaica to interview Bunny Wailer on the occasion of his new record, 1976’s Blackheart Man, which featured reggae classics like "Dreamland" and many of the best musicians in Jamaica.
"Bunny Wailer was really revered on the island and in regard to roots rock reggae music," Simon notes. "He has one of the most beautiful singing voices I've ever heard. I think he's a great songwriter."
Yet speaking to the man was no easy task. Wailer made the group wait for about seven days before arriving at producer and singer Tommy Cowan's house in Kingston.
"[Bunny] took his time, but when he showed up, I got two and a half of the best rolls of film I ever shot in black and white, and then I got a better roll in color," Simon says.
Peter Tosh Could Control The Weather…At Least One Time
Simon interviewed Tosh in Kingston in 1976, around the time of the release of his song "Legalize It."
"I had been told that Peter had this kind of serious vibe," Simon recalls of the session. "He had this beautiful speaking voice, and he's wearing that ‘Legalize it’ pin on his hat. He was doing all these karate moves. He was really a great photo subject."
In the middle of the shoot, lightning struck. "And he said, 'Jah Rasfafari. You hear that? I made that happen.' I was like, 'uh-huh, ok.' Who am I to know? That was kind of like this entrée to Jamaicanisms that I was going to hear the whole time I was down there."
Lee "Scratch" Perry Was A Major Influence On Reggae, And Bob Marley In Particular
Behind the scenes, GRAMMY-winning producer Lee "Scratch" Perry was shaping the sound of reggae music. From his home studio in Kingston, the Black Ark, Perry invented dub music — a forebearer of all modern electronic music that utilizes the mixing board as an instrument. Recalls Simon: "Everybody went to [Perry's] studio, and he was really a genius. I loved photographing him."
Perry worked with Marley, Bunny and Tosh, Sly & Robbie, and many other notable artists. "He really had such an impact on everybody doing music at the time," Simon adds. "He sort of got a reputation for being kind of eccentric, but I saw it; he was really brilliant. How he influenced Bob Marley was really significant. I've read that [Scratch] helped Bob in the beginning, and that Bob lived in his studio or something like that. He certainly helped the early Wailers; he produced some of their earliest tracks."
When Simon took the above photograph, the producer was working with the Heptones and the Congos. Eventually, Perry made Simon's photo into a painted mural on the side of the Black Ark.
Bob Marley's Success Wasn't Expected, But It's Unsurprising
By the time Marley and the Wailers were on their Exodus tour in 1977 (Simon was the photographer during the tour's European leg), the group had already released Exodus, Catch A Fire, Burnin', Rastaman Vibration, Natty Dread — all by the time he was 32 years old.
"That's an astounding amount of art," Simon says.
As a Rastafarian, Bob Marley operated with a set of spiritual beliefs that also permeated his music; Simon found his perspective and attitude appealing. "It really is similar to the perspective that I like to work with and live by," she says. "I think that Bob's music was about interdependence. 'When the rain fall/ it don't fall on one man's house.'"
The global impact of Marley's music and message — as well as the long-lasting popularity of reggae music as a whole — was far from foretold. "But am I surprised? Not even slightly," Simon reflects. "Over 40 years later, why do I want to put a book out about Bob? Why do I listen to Bob Marley if I had my choice, more than anyone else? There's something about this music that is eternal.
"And I think the only one who knew that was Bob," Simon adds, referencing a 1979 interview where Marley described wealth as "life forever." Indeed, the music of Bob Marley and his contemporaries is timeless and a high watermark in reggae music.
"You go around the world [and see images of] Bob Marley, John Lennon and Che Guevara," Simon says. "I think that Bob will continue to be, you know, loved and be an inspiration most importantly, and he'll I think he'll, he'll get bigger and bigger. He's forever."
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