8 A Legend and His Legacy

CHAPTER 8 A Legend and His Legacy In June 1980, the album Uprising was released. The album was a hit in the UK and was rising up the US charts. In September, Bob and the Wailers performed at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The shows were packed. Bob had reached a new level of success and had many fans in the US. Sometimes, when Bob and Rita were in New York City, they went to church together on Sundays,

especially the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. The morning after the shows at Madison Square Garden, Rita called Bob to invite him to go along with her. Bob sounded strange on the phone. "What happened? You didn't sleep last night?" Rita asked. Bob said he felt nauseous. Rita stopped by his room to check on him. He seemed like he just needed rest, so Rita went to church without him. To get some air, Bob went jogging in Central Park with a couple of friends. Before they got very far, Bob

collapsed. His friends helped him to his feet. They took Bob to the hospital. The cancer from years before had spread to Bob's brain. The doctors said Bob was very sick. But they advised him to continue performing until he couldn't anymore. Rita was worried. She wanted to believe that there was something else they could do for Bob. A few nights later, Bob gave his last performance in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. For ninety minutes, the band played and the crowd cheered, and no one could tell Bob was sick. When the show ended, the audience called the band back onstage to play some more. It was as great a show as ever.

该页暂无翻译

Bob's doctors told him that he had only three weeks left to live. But he was going to fight. Bob and his family traveled to Germany. There Bob received chemotherapy, a strong treatment for cancer that makes the body very weak. Bob had always been thin. But the chemotherapy had made him skinny. He lost his hair. His dreadlocks had always been an important link to his Rastafari beliefs. Then, in a move that surprised his fans, Bob was baptized in the Orthodox Christian Church. On February 6, 1981, Bob celebrated his thirty-sixth birthday in the hospital with friends and family. He wanted to travel back to Jamaica one last time. He had also just received the Jamaican Order of Merit, an honor reserved for two people each year. He left Germany and traveled to Florida so that he could see his mother. On May 11, 1981, Bob died at a hospital in Miami with family by his side. He didn't live long enough to

see Jamaica again. Three days later, one hundred thousand people passed by Bob's coffin in Kingston to have their last look at the reggae superstar—as many people as had greeted Emperor Selassie years earlier. The Jamaican government paid for Bob's funeral. And on May 21, he was buried with his guitar on the tallest hill in his hometown of Nine Mile.