Death and Legacy

While flying home from Germany to Jamaica, accepting that he was going to die, Marley's vital functions worsened. After landing in Miami, he was taken to hospital for immediate medical attention. He died at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Miami (now University of Miami Hospital) on the morning of 11 May 1981, at the age of 36. The spread of melanoma to his lungs and brain caused his death. His final words to his son Ziggy were "Money can't buy life".[32] Marley received a state funeral in Jamaica on 21 May 1981, which combined elements of Ethiopian Orthodoxy and Rastafari tradition.[33] He was buried in a chapel near his birthplace with his red Gibson Les Paul (some accounts say it was a Fender Stratocaster ).[34] A month before his death, on 01981-04-20 April 20, 1981, he had also been awarded the Jamaican Order of Merit.[35] Several months after his death, Jamaica issued a series of postage stamps honouring Bob Marley.[36]

In 1994, Marley was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,[37] and in 1999 Time magazine chose Bob Marley & The Wailers' Exodus as the greatest album of the 20th century.[38] In 2001, he was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and a feature-length documentary about his life, Rebel Music, won various awards at the Grammys. With contributions from Rita, The Wailers, and Marley's lovers and children, it also tells much of the story in his own words.[39] A statue was inaugurated, next to the national stadium on Arthur Wint Drive in Kingston to commemorate him. In 2006, the State of New York renamed a portion of Church Avenue from Remsen Avenue to East 98th Street in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn "Bob Marley Boulevard"