Natty rides again!

Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer

Another photo book on the rise of Bob Marley and reggae in the 1970s will be released in a matter of weeks. Bob Marley and The Golden Age of Reggae, by acclaimed photographer Kim Gottlieb-Walker, is due to hit shelves September 10. The book is to be distributed by British company Titan Press.

Gottlieb-Walker took countless shots of Marley and other rising reggae acts like Burning Spear and Culture while she was in Jamaica in 1975 and 1976.

Most of the book's more than 200 photos are of Marley, who was on the verge of an international breakthrough when Gottlieb-Walker first met him in Kingston in 1975. That year, British superstar Eric Clapton's cover of his song, I Shot The Sheriff, went number one in the United States.

In 1974, Marley's Natty Dread album struck a chord in Europe. It was the Rastafarian singer-songwriter's first solo set for Island Records after Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer left the Wailers in 1973. Marley and Burning Spear were riding high with strong albums in 1976 when Gottlieb-Walker visited Jamaica a second time. Rastaman Vibration was the studio follow-up to Natty Dread while Spear established himself with Man In The Hills.

Gottlieb-Walker is an internationally respected photographer. During the 1960s, she covered the Civil Rights movement and shot many counter-culture figures including guitarist Jimi Hendrix and painter Andy Warhol. She later moved into film, working on horror flicks like Christine.

Gottlieb-Walker was also production photographer for the hit television shows Cheers and Family Ties.

Golden Age is the latest pictorial on Marley and roots reggae. In 2003, Marley's friend, Lee Jaffe, released One Love: Life With Bob Marley and The Wailers, which looked at his rise from obscurity to stardom. This was followed a year later by Kate Simon's Rebel Music: Bob Marley and Roots Reggae. Simon's tome revisits Marley-the-star-in-waiting and life on the road with he and the Wailers.

Photographer David Burnett's Soul Rebel: An Intimate Portrait of Bob Marley was released two years ago. His photos are from a 1976 Time magazine assignment.

'Bob Marley and The Golden Age of Reggae', by acclaimed photographer Kim Gottlieb-Walker, is due to hit shelves September 10.