How I Became Friends With Bob Marley
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my friend, Bob Marley
Dennis Morris – best known for his images of Bob Marley, Lee “Scratch” Perry and the Sex Pistols – is noted as one of the great photographers to come out of London. He told us about when, aged 16, he went on tour with The Wailers as their official photographer. Taken from roughcast volume 2, the ‘DIY’ edition – click here to buy it.
By Dennis Morris
I was a choir boy in the church when I was a child. Saint Mark’s Church in Dalston, [in the London borough of] Hackney. There was a photography club there set up by a man called Donald Paterson. He owned a company that manufactured photographic equipment. He actually invented the self-loading spiral and made a fortune from that. He wanted to put something back into society, so he created a photographic club for the choir boys. So, from the age of nine, I learned the basics of photography. I became completely obsessed.
Mr Paterson saw my enthusiasm and took me to galleries and museums and all kinds of stuff. Every week, after Sunday service, I would get changed and jump on a bus to Speaker’s Corner [in Hyde Park, London]. In the 1970s it was where every amateur photographer would go. It was a great place to take pictures.
“For some reason Bob really took to me; he told me about the tour and asked me if I wanted to come along. I said yeah.”
One particular Sunday [aged 11] I was there and there was a demonstration, I didn’t really know what was going on. It got bigger and bigger, and more violent. I had a couple of rolls of film on me and I used them up. Mr Paterson always used to say, “If you think you’ve got anything, take it to the press.” One of the places he showed me was Fleet Street, so I ran there from Hyde Park and went into one of the photo agencies.
I told them I was at this demonstration, they already knew about it. It turned out that I was the first person on the scene. They developed the film. I didn’t realise but I happened to have a picture of one of the leaders of the PLO [Palestine Liberation Organization] movement. They recognised that. The photo was sold to the Daily Mirror, I was paid £16. I thought, ‘Wow, £16 for one photo. You better start taking this shit seriously, Dennis.’
When I first met Bob Marley, I was 16 years old. As well as photography, I was very much into music. In particular, reggae but also a bit of rock. I used to read a lot of the English music papers, like Melody Maker and stuff like that. I’d read that in the West Indian community Bob was a new voice in reggae. Everyone was raving about him. I’d also read that he was coming to London on his first tour, The Catch a Fire Tour [1973].
I don’t know what it was but I said to myself that I really wanted to meet him. So I got the date of his first show, which was at The Speakeasy Club. I bumped off school and got to the club at 10 o’clock in the morning. I didn’t know anything about what time bands do sound checks or any shit like that so I was there from 10 o’clock. I waited and waited and they turned up around three in the afternoon.
As they walked to the door I approached them and said, “Can I take your picture?’ Bob said, “Yeahman, come in.” I followed him. He was asking me what it was like being a Black kid in England and I asked him about Jamaica. For some reason Bob really took to me; he told me about the tour and asked me if I wanted to come along. I said yeah.
The next day I packed my bag as if I was doing sports and went to the hotel to meet the band. In those days they had a Transit van. I got in the back, Bob was in the front. He turned to me and said, “Are you ready, Dennis?” I said, “Yeahman.” And the adventure began.
I know what Mr Paterson wanted to achieve, he wanted to put something back. And Bob always used to say to me, “Remember, Dennis, that you have to leave a good trail.” And what he meant by that was, you know, if you are a pioneer in something as a Black person, you have to leave a good trail for the next Black person who comes along after you. Y’understand? If you leave a bad trail, that person won’t get their break. I’ve always tried to do the best work possible so that the next Black kid that walks into a picture editor’s office can think, ‘Well, Dennis did well, I’ll give this a try.’
roughcast in print, volume 3 – the ‘IRL’ edition – is at the printers now and will be released in one week.
Highlights Include: The lost art of letter writing, skinhead fashion, the diary of a social media detox, alternative queer expression, The Giro Playboy, art by Spelling Mistakes Cost Lives and Pattern Up, Manc squats, The Prince Andrew Arrest Counter, dispatches from the mosh pit, much more... //
Contributing Artists and Writers: Josh Eustace, Nick Fore, Martin Guttridge-Hewitt, Darren Cullen aka Spelling Mistakes Cost Lives, Diyora Shadijanova, El Long, Erin Rimmer, Hulmeloonies (aka Anni Kay), Jack Ramage, Jorge Jobim, Josh Eustace, Julien Substance-b, Louis Friedman (aka Friedz), Michael Smith, Ossi Piispanen, Pattern Up, Simon Doherty, and Zbigniew Kotkiewicz
…wrote an article about us, read it here.
…invited us on their podcast, listen to it here.
What are we reading this week? FINE, we’ll tell you…
A British Nurse Was Found Guilty of Killing Seven Babies. Did She Do It?
Colleagues reportedly called Lucy Letby an “angel of death,” and the prime minister condemned her. But in the rush to judgment, serious questions about the evidence against her were ignored.
By Rachel Aviv in the New Yorker (we can’t link to this one for legal reasons but it’s easy to find)
Fit At 20: The Streets’ A Grand Don’t Come For Free Revisited
As Mike Skinner’s bestselling hip hop concept album celebrates its twentieth birthday, Fergal Kinney looks at how the Birmingham rapper plotted a commercial crossover moment that changed British music enduringly.
By Fergal Kinney in The Quietus
Why have a quarter of The Great Escape's line up pulled out?
At least 126 acts have withdrawn from the Brighton festival in protest at the inclusion of Barclays as a sponsor because of the bank's alleged links with atrocities in Gaza.
By Ben Smoke in Huck
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