'Live Forever' brings back memories - Cole remembers final Marley performance

Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer

Shortly before taking the stage at the Stanley Theatre in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on September 23, 1980, Bob Marley turned to his manager Alan 'Skill' Cole, and made one request.

"He asked mi to stay close to him in case him fall," Cole told The Sunday Gleaner.

Marley performed that evening without incident but it was to be his last show.

Last week, Marley's company, Tuff Gong International, announced it would release the Stanley Theatre show on compact disc. Titled Bob Marley and The Wailers Live Forever, the double CD will be released in September to coincide with the historic event's 30th anniversary.

For Cole, Marley's confidante, the gig revives bittersweet memories.

"It wasn't his best show but for me it will always be something special," said Cole, a former football star who had known Marley since the early 1970s.

One week before the Stanley Theatre show, Marley collapsed while jogging with Cole in New York's Central Park. Though he recovered enough to play football, the following day Marley and Cole headed to a hospital where scans showed that a massive tumour on his brain had caused a seizure.

Cole says Marley was stunned by the prognosis.

"They didn't give him much time to live and he was very perturbed," Cole recalled.

"He didn't eat for a couple of days and lost weight."

After suffering immense pain in the big toe of his right foot in 1977, Marley had sought medical attention and was diagnosed with melanoma cancer. He underwent surgery to remove part of the toe at Cedars of Lebanon hospital in Miami and doctors expected him to make a full recovery.

The cancer returned with a vengeance but Marley and his handlers were desperate to beat it. Initially, Cole said advisers pointed to Mexico where actor Steve McQueen had gone for radical treatment to fight abdominal cancer.

At the time, Marley was one of the biggest names in popular music. He had just completed a successful European tour to support his Uprising album and begun a similar trek of the United States where he was keen to make a breakthrough.

'Soldier on'

While in New York, Marley had opened for The Commodores at Madison Square Garden and, from all reports, stole the show from the hot rhythm and blues group.

Cole said following a meeting with Marley and co-manager Danny Sims, it was decided the tour should continue with the date in 'Philly'. They would make a decision on his future after the show.

The band was told of their leader's medical condition and agreed to soldier on.

Cole remembers the lineup for the Stanley Theatre show as: Aston 'Family Man' Barrett on bass, Carlton Barrett (drums), Al Anderson (guitar), Junior Marvin (guitar), Alvin 'Seeco' Patterson (percussion) and Tyrone Downie on keyboards. The I-Threes, Marley's harmony trio of his wife Rita, Marcia Griffiths and Judy Mowatt, completed the roster.

They performed newer songs like Natural Mystic, Jammin', Could You Be Loved, Coming In From The Cold and Redemption Song. There was space for the old favourites Burning and Looting and No Woman, No Cry which are all on the live disc.

Immediately after the show, Marley again consulted with Cole and Sims and a decision was taken to cancel the rest of the tour which amounted to nearly 20 shows. Exhaustion was the reason given for the sudden cancellation.

In November, the ailing Marley and his team flew to Bavaria, Germany, where the star was put under the care of Dr Josef Issels, a physician who specialised in radical cancer treatment. There were also rumours that Issels had strong ties to Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.

Bob Marley died on May 11, 1981, at Cedars of Lebanon hospital in Miami, the facility he had been operated on four years earlier. He was 36 years old.