Bob Marley’s mother wrote 2 bios of him

Cedella Booker, 81, the mother of Jamaican music legend Bob Marley who wrote two biographies of her famous son and recorded two albums, “Awake Zion!” and “Smilin’ Island of Song,” died in her sleep April 8 at her Miami home, apparently of natural causes, a family spokesman said.

Booker, a Jamaica native, was 18 when she married Norval Marley, a British man 32 years her senior. Their son brought Jamaican reggae music to global prominence, becoming its international image. Bob Marley died in Miami of a brain tumor in 1981 at age 36.

Booker’s survivors include several grandchildren, among them Ziggy Marley, who won four Grammys with the Melody Makers, a band that included his brother Stephen and sisters Sharon and Cedella.