Bob Marley’s One Love Concert Was Historic—But Didn’t Cement Peace
Explainer
Tyler Piccotti
The new movie ‘Bob Marley: One Love’ examines the events leading up to the reggae singer’s famous 1978 One Love Concert in Jamaica. Here’s what really happened.
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Biography
It was meant to be the handshake felt across Jamaica, as Bob Marley stood on a concert stage with both Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley and his political rival, Edward Seaga, in the early morning hours of April 23, 1978.

Marley—giving his first performance in Jamaica since a failed assassination attempt on his life and that of his wife, Rita, in December 1976—addressed the crowd during his performance of “Jamming” at the historic One Love Peace Concert at Kingston’s National Stadium. “I just want to shake hands and show the people that we’re gonna make it right, we’re gonna unite, we’re gonna make it right, we’ve got to unite,” Marley said, taking aim at the political violence that had gripped his home country.

Marley’s belief that his music could be a unifying force for good is at the heart of , the new biopic about the reggae icon in theaters today. Starring British actor Kingsley Ben-Adir as Marley and Lashana Lynch as Rita, the movie focuses on the later stage of the singer’s life and the events leading up to his memorable appearance at the One Love festival.

Drawing more than 30,000 people and featuring some of the most popular reggae artists of the time, organizers hoped the event, with Marley as the headliner, would ease tensions among supporters of the ruling People’s National Party and the Jamaica Labour Party. But while the “Third World Woodstock” offered a brief moment of hope and marked a personal triumph for Marley, the peace he envisioned for Jamaica was still far away.

Jamaica was rife with political violence

By the mid-1970s, Jamaica was gripped with gang activity and street violence due to the divisions between the PNP and JLP.

Michael Manley, the figurehead of the PNP, was elected prime minister in 1972. He had gained popularity following the “Rodney Riots” four years earlier, in which Kingstonians acted out after the JLP-led government banned Walter Rodney, a popular Guyanese lecturer and socialist figure, from returning to the country. The Black Power and Rastafarian movements had also begun to take hold during the late ’60s, and Manley won the support of many youthful Jamaicans disillusioned by joblessness and poverty as he promised to “make better come” to the country.

But around the time Manley’s government fully committed itself to democratic socialism in 1974, Edward Seaga, who helped redevelop the Tivoli Gardens area of Kingston into a thriving community, had emerged as a rival representing the more conservative, free market–oriented JLP. Divisions between the parties fermented, and street gangs in support of both sides began committing acts of violence in the poorer communities of Kingston and other cities. According to scholar Brian Meeks, indiscriminate shootings and the burning of whole city blocks were among the worst atrocities.

By the time of the country’s December 1976 elections, more than 160 serious crimes were being committed per week. As a result, Manley declared a state of emergency, stoking even more anger within the JLP who felt it was done for political reasons, not public safety. The government tried to bring the two sides together just before the election but unknowingly put the country’s biggest celebrity at risk.

Marley was nearly assassinated in 1976

Bob Marley and his band, the Wailers, were globally known by this time, having toured Britain and the United States and even performing as an opening act for Bruce Springsteen. This was largely thanks to Chris Blackwell (portrayed in the movie by James Norton), who founded the Island Records label and helped Marley and other reggae artists achieve mainstream popularity.

With his influence within Jamaica well-established, Marley became the target of what appeared to be a politically-motivated attempt on his life in 1976. The singer and his band were preparing for a performance at Smile Jamaica, a free concert organized by the PNP-led government in an effort to diffuse tensions. On December 3, gunmen attacked Bob, wife Rita, and the band at the singer’s home. Bob was struck in the sternum and bicep and Rita in the head. Miraculously, neither suffered significant injuries, and Bob performed at Smile Jamaica two days later.

According to Meeks, it’s extremely likely the JLP targeted the reggae star ahead of the election occurring only days later. “Marley was invited to present a concert by the minister of culture at the time, so it was seen as a PNP concert even though it was a government concert,” Meeks told Jacobin magazine. “Marley was shot shortly before the concert, and it’s now pretty much certain that he was shot by a JLP gunman who wanted to stop him from bringing his significant presence to bear on an event that would redound to the interests of the PNP.”

Understandably, Marley fled the country right after the concert and went into self-imposed exile in London and the Bahamas. He didn’t return until two unexpected sources proposed the One Love Peace Concert two years later.

Two gang leaders helped organize One Love

While in exile, Marley and the Wailers recorded their in London and released it in 1977. With its popular songs like “Jamming,” “Three Little Birds,” and the title track, Exodus was an immediate hit and has since received widespread acclaim. Rolling Stone ranks the project No. 48 on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

A year later in 1978, gang leaders Claudius Massop, who supported the JLP, and Aston “Bucky” Marshall, backing the PNP, had called an uneasy truce and declared they would begin a peace movement in an effort to raise money to improve conditions in Kingston’s inner-city neighborhoods. The headlining event would be the One Love Peace Concert featuring a homecoming performance from Marley, whose immense popularity following Exodus made him crucial to the cause.

Exhausted by the violence that had gripped their cities in recent years, Jamaicans embraced the music festival on April 22, 1978. Marley received a hero’s welcome. “I was 10. It was a big crowd at the airport,” recalled Bob’s son Ziggy Marley, “and it was so crowded and hectic, they had to pull me through the car window to get me into the car. It was a very exciting time. It was like… like Jamaica was about to change.”

Nearly 35,000 people attended the concert— including Manley, who had been reelected in 1976, and Seaga. Security measures were strict, with The Guardian later reporting that even the sale of oranges was banned inside the stadium for fear the fruit could be used as a weapon. The audience was seated in three sections titled Togetherness, Love, and Peace.

Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley, left, and Jamaica Labor Party leader Edward Seaga, third from left, joined Bob Marley on the stage at the 1978 One Love Peace Concert.

The concert started around 5 p.m. and went into the next morning, with Marley and the Wailers finally taking the stage shortly after midnight. There, the reggae star invited Manley and Seaga to the stage during the set for their impromptu show of unity. Marley called the two adversaries by name during his performance, and the three eventually locked hands above the singer’s head.

At least for one night, peace seemed like a real possibility—though that was far from reality.

The violence persisted after the concert

As Marley faced his own bout with cancer—the singer was diagnosed with acral lentiginous melanoma on his right big toe in 1977—tensions in Jamaica continued and even intensified ahead of the next election, pitting Manley against Seaga again, in 1980.

According to a 1980 report from The Washington Post, more than 450 people died that year because of political violence that erupted from February through late October before polls finally opened. The estimate later climbed to as many as 800.

Even the organizers of the One Love concert were unable to escape the cycle. In February 1979, Massop was reportedly shot 40 times in a confrontation with police and died along with two other men. According to the Jamaica Observer, police reported Massop had shot at them first, but eyewitness accounts contradicted this account. A warrant was eventually issued for the arrest of the four officers, but they were acquitted of murder charges in December 1982. Less than a year after Massop’s death, Marshall was killed in March 1980 inside a New York City nightclub.

Marley died not long after the 1980 election

Bob Marley performs in June 1980 in London. The singer died the following year of complications from cancer.

Seaga ultimately won the 1980 election, and control of the Jamaican House of Representatives completely shifted to the JLP. The Harvard University–educated PM allied himself with U.S. President Ronald Reagan and remained in power through 1989 as he tried to bolster Jamaica’s economy.

Unfortunately, Marley didn’t live long enough to see any significant progress in his home country. He died at age 36 on May 11, 1981, by which time cancer had spread throughout his body.

Although the singer wasn’t able to see his vision for a unified Jamaica truly realized, his 1978 performance is now seen as an important first step for the country to heal. “Calm wasn’t instantly achieved, but [the show] broke what was a deadlock where there was no hope of anything being achieved,” Blackwell told Andscape in 2017. “[That concert] did change things. After that, it quieted down. It didn’t quiet down to nothing, by any means, [but] that concert was the thing that caused people to change.”

Watch Bob Marley: One Love in Theaters Now

The One Love concert and its importance are prominently featured in Bob Marley: One Love. Kingsley Ben-Adir stars as Bob, with Lashana Lynch as Rita Marley and James Norton as Chris Blackwell.