'even the newest stars are honored'
Cedella Marley Booker
REAL NAME: Cedella Malcolm Marley Booker
BIRTH DATE/PLACE:July 23, 1926, Rhoden Hall, Saint Ann
She was the Jamaican mother of the reggae musician Bob Marley and a singer and writer. Booker was born Cedella Malcolm in Parish, Jamaica; to Omeriah Malcolm, a prominent magistrate and landowner, and Alberta Whilby. At 18, Malcolm married Norval Sinclair Marley, a white Jamaican of Welsh ancestry, when she became pregnant with his son.
Norval Marley was a Marine officer and captain as well as the plantation overseer. He provided little financial support for his wife and child, and seldom saw them as he was often away on trips. Bob was ten years old when Norval died of a heart attack in 1955 at age 60.
Cedella and Bob then moved to Kingston, Trenchtown, a slum neighborhood. This was the only place Booker could afford to live at the time, being a young woman moving from the country to the big city on her own. While living in Trenchtown, Booker gave birth to a daughter, Pearl, with Taddeus Livingston, the father of Bunny Livingston – aka Bunny Wailer – who formed the original Wailers trio with Bob Marley and Peter Tosh in 1963. Cedella then married Edward Booker, an American civil servant, and resided first in Delaware, where she gave birth to two more sons, Richard and Anthony, with Booker. Anthony was shot dead by a Miami police officer; Richard Booker also survives her.
After Edward Booker's death in 1976, Cedella moved to Miami, Florida, where she was present at the deathbed of her famous son who died from cancer at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in 1981. Booker lived in Miami for the remainder of her life. Called "the keeper of the flame," Booker grew voluminous dreadlocks, adopted Rohan Marley, his son by Janet Hunt, and occasionally performed live with Marley's children, Ky-Mani, Ziggy, Stephen, Damian and Julian Marley.
Later, she released the music albums Awake Zion and Smilin' Island of Song. Cedella Booker participated in the festivities in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia commemorating Marley's 60th birthday in 2005.
She also wrote two Marley biographies. Cedella Marley Booker died at the age of 81 in Miami, Florida on April 8, 2008. The Malcolm house where her parents originally lived was torn down and replaced by the new Bob Marley Foundation building.
BIRTH DATE/PLACE:July 23, 1926, Rhoden Hall, Saint Ann
She was the Jamaican mother of the reggae musician Bob Marley and a singer and writer. Booker was born Cedella Malcolm in Parish, Jamaica; to Omeriah Malcolm, a prominent magistrate and landowner, and Alberta Whilby. At 18, Malcolm married Norval Sinclair Marley, a white Jamaican of Welsh ancestry, when she became pregnant with his son.
Norval Marley was a Marine officer and captain as well as the plantation overseer. He provided little financial support for his wife and child, and seldom saw them as he was often away on trips. Bob was ten years old when Norval died of a heart attack in 1955 at age 60.
Cedella and Bob then moved to Kingston, Trenchtown, a slum neighborhood. This was the only place Booker could afford to live at the time, being a young woman moving from the country to the big city on her own. While living in Trenchtown, Booker gave birth to a daughter, Pearl, with Taddeus Livingston, the father of Bunny Livingston – aka Bunny Wailer – who formed the original Wailers trio with Bob Marley and Peter Tosh in 1963. Cedella then married Edward Booker, an American civil servant, and resided first in Delaware, where she gave birth to two more sons, Richard and Anthony, with Booker. Anthony was shot dead by a Miami police officer; Richard Booker also survives her.
After Edward Booker's death in 1976, Cedella moved to Miami, Florida, where she was present at the deathbed of her famous son who died from cancer at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in 1981. Booker lived in Miami for the remainder of her life. Called "the keeper of the flame," Booker grew voluminous dreadlocks, adopted Rohan Marley, his son by Janet Hunt, and occasionally performed live with Marley's children, Ky-Mani, Ziggy, Stephen, Damian and Julian Marley.
Later, she released the music albums Awake Zion and Smilin' Island of Song. Cedella Booker participated in the festivities in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia commemorating Marley's 60th birthday in 2005.
She also wrote two Marley biographies. Cedella Marley Booker died at the age of 81 in Miami, Florida on April 8, 2008. The Malcolm house where her parents originally lived was torn down and replaced by the new Bob Marley Foundation building.
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RWW FASHION FEATURE - 'BRIDGET SANDALS'
Novia McDonald-Whyte - Contributing editor Jamaica Observer
Sunday, December 07, 2003
Sandals designer Bridget say "Bridget sandals" in Jamaica and fashion watchers, as well as lovers of sexy leather straps, will smile the smug smile of those in the know. It has been, for Bridget Brown, (known by thousands as Bridget), a journey of twenty-odd years. The fact is, the leather soles of her sandals almost left her barefooted on several occasions. "It took me three years," Bridget tells SunDay to get my feet off the ground. I paid the price for not going to school. I had to endure artisans not cutting the leather properly, bad work attitude, sabotage, you name it, I went through it."
A baptism of fire, some might be tempted to add for the former Playboy Bunny. "I was a bunny between 1972 and 1977 at the Playboy Boscobel Beach," says Bridget, flashing her signature toothy smile, and still conscious of that bunny poise.
"Playboy was forced to close (no tourists were coming to Jamaica). I was forced to come back to Kingston. I had to find some means of survival. My first stop was G's One of a Kind -- an upscale boutique that sold one-of-a kind Italian shoes and clothing. I left that in May 1981, after Bob Marley's death. I sold pound-cloth for Carmen Brown of Karmen's Corner. "There I was with my scale underneath my arm, and my cushions at my side. I really never wanted to make sandals. I also made skull caps and crochet bags."
Start she did and never looked back. Bridget even found the time and finances to attend school in Milan. "I went to school out of curiosity. I wondered if I was doing something wrong. Little did I know that I was in fact doing something right. My customers are happy, the sandals are fitting right, and I, too, am satisfied. I admire what I am doing."
No idle boast. Bridget Sandals were on the runway at New York Fashionweek, and Caribbean Fashionweek. Bridget Sandals are in Barbados, St Kitts, Antigua, Lincoln Avenue, South Beach (Miami), in the Village (New York) and at Controversy -- Battersea London.
Come next season, there's the possibility of a shipment to Japan, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, and Dallas.
"You have to be skilfull to survive. It has been a 20-year fight for survival. It's a struggle to maintain quality, confidence, style, craftsmanship. Finally, you have to have integrity in business."
As the chat comes to an end and Bridget does that Bridget walk towards her taxi, and there's a feeling that the very best is still to come from this beautiful sister.
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