Marley’s house gets blue plaque
It was enveloped most of the time in a cloud of marijuana smoke. And it was where Bob Marley entertained his girlfriend, the reigning Miss World, while his wife, Rita, stayed round the corner.
Now, in the ultimate sign of establishment approval, the west London house where Marley lived while recording his hit album Exodus is to be marked with an English Heritage blue plaque. Marley stayed with a group of friends at 42 Oakley St, Chelsea, for nine months in 1977 while he wrote and recorded Exodus and the follow-up, Kaya, with his band, the Wailers.
Recognising the singersongwriter is part of English Heritage’s drive to be more diverse in the people it honours with plaques. It revealed its plan to honour Marley as a plaque was unveiled to the film-maker and gay rights activist Derek Jarman, 25 years after his death. Marley died 38 years ago.
‘‘We went through a long phase when it was only if you were white and male that you had much chance of getting a blue plaque,’’
Sir Tim Laurence, chairman of English Heritage, said. ‘‘Now we are trying to make the selection more balanced, more diverse. Roughly half of the plaques approved this year are for women. Bob Marley is an example of our diversity.’’
David Olusoga, a member of the blue plaques panel, said: ‘‘I would love for him to have been recognised earlier. But I am really glad that he is being recognised today. He is an incredibly important figure. It was also while living there that Marley said he regarded London as his second base. He came to London at that point as a refugee. The political situation in Jamaica was very dangerous. He had survived an assassination attempt. He came for a place of renewal.’’
Russell Clarke, a music historian, described Oakley St as ‘‘a playhouse, a den’’ where Marley’s entourage would hang out. His girlfriend Cindy Breakspeare, who was crowned Miss World in 1976, would visit him there, and later bore his son, Damian.
‘‘The time he spent here was one of the happiest of his life,’’ Clarke said. ‘‘The house was something of a magnet for fellow dreads and Rastafarians and what are often euphemistically called ‘herbsmen’, plus assorted hangers-on. The place was usually packed with people.’’
If he and Breakspeare needed, privacy, he said, they went to Claridges.
Marley, who died in 1981 from skin cancer, would often cross Albert Bridge to play football with his friends in Battersea Park.
Fewer than 4 per cent of the 900-plus English Heritage plaques in London honour black and Asian figures.
In 2016 English Heritage set up a working party to increase the number of black and Asian nominees. Since then a dozen suggestions have been made. Five have been approved, although they have not yet been finalised. –