And so we celebrate today what would have been the 62nd birthday of Robert Nesta Marley, reggae singer-songwriter extraordinaire, international star, uniter of black and white, and prophet.

Marley (February 6, 1945 – May 11, 1981) is best known for popularizing reggae outside of his native Jamaica with songs like “No Woman, No Cry,� “Three Little Birds,� “Exodus,� “One Love,� and “I Shot the Sheriff,� which most people will swear was written by Eric Clapton. (Who did have a big hit with it.)

My introduction to reggae and Marley came during the summer of 1973 when the soundtrack from “The Harder They Come� by reggae pioneer Jimmy Cliff was played through the house system at the Keystone Berkeley, a music club in Berkeley, California, between the sets of a Jerry Garcia Band show.

I had cut my musical teeth on Motown and adored soul and R&B, but this was something else: I was knocked over by the swinging backbeat, Cliff’s mellifluous vocal stylings and the hypnotic minor chords that ran through most every song.

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