"Survival", Bob Marley's ninth album for Island Records, was released in the summer of 1979. It included "Zimbabwe", a stirring anthem for the soon-to-be liberated Rhodesia, together with "So Much Trouble In The World", "Ambush In The Night" and "Africa Unite"; as the sleeve design, comprising the flags of the independent nations, indicated, "Survival" was an album of pan-African solidarity.

At the start of the following year - a new decade - Bob Marley & The Wailers flew to Gabon where they were to make their African debut. It was not an auspicious occasion, however, when the band discovered they were playing in front of the country's young elite. The group, neverthless, was to make a quick return to Africa, this time at the official invitation of the government of liberated Zimbabwe to play at the country's Independence Ceremony in April, 1980. It was the greatest honour ever afforded the band, and one which underlined The Wailers' importance in the Third World.

The band's next album, "Uprising", was released in May 1980. It was an instant hit, with the single "Could You Be Loved" a massive worldwide seller. "Uprising" also featured "Coming In From the Cold", "Work" and the extraordinary closing track, "Redemption Song".

The Wailers embarked on a major European tour, breaking festival records throughout the continent. The schedule included a 100,000-capacity crowd in Milan, the biggest show in the band's history. Bob Marley & The Wailers, quite simply, were the most important band on the road that year and the new "Uprising" album hit every chart in Europe. It was a period of maximum optimism and plans were being made for an American tour, in company with Stevie Wonder, that winter.

At the end of the European tour Marley and the band went to America. Bob played two shows at Madison Square Garden but, immediately afterwards, was taken seriously ill.

Three years earlier, in London, Bob hurt a toe while playing football. The wound had become cancerous and was belatedly treated in Miami, yet it continued to fester. By 1980 the cancer, in its most virulent form, had begun to spread through Marley's body.

He fought the disease for eight months, taking treatment at the clinic of Dr. Joseph Issels in Bavaria. Issel's treatment was controversial and non-toxic and, for a time anyway, Bob's condition seemed to stabilise. Eventually, however, the battle proved too much. At the start of May Bob Marley left Germany for his Jamaican home, a journey he did not complete. He died in a Miami hospital on Monday May 11, 1981.

The previous month, Marley had been awarded Jamaica's Order Of Merit, the nation's third highest honour, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the country's culture.

On Thursday May 21, 1981, the Hon. Robert Nesta Marley O.M. was given and official funeral by the people of Jamaica. Following the service - attended by both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition - Marley's body was taken to his birthplace at Nine Mile, on the north of the island, where it now rests in a mausoleum. Bob Marley was 36-years-old. His legend, however, has conquered the years.