Rita Marley to Receive Consulate General’s Lifetime Achievement Award

Alferita ‘Rita’ Marley, OD, OJ, LITT, will receive the Jamaica Consulate General’s Lifetime Achievement Award on Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022. Consul General Oliver Mair will present the prestigious honor at the premier performance of the National Dance Theatre Company at the South Miami Dade Cultural Arts Center in Cutler Bay, Florida.

Consul General Mair stated that while Rita Marley is known as wife of legend, Robert Nester “Bob” Marley, she has also contributed successfully to reggae music as an artiste in her own right. He noted that she has also been instrumental in the management of the Marley legacy which has continued to impact the music industry internationally.

Synonymous with reggae music and Jamaica’s rich culture Rita Marley, as she is affectionately known, is part of the foundation of that talented musical Marley family. While her early career was with the Wailers, Rita then became a vocalist with the world famed trio, the I Three harmony group also featuring Marcia Griffiths and Judy Mowatt, backing her husband Bob Marley and the Wailers.

Following her husband’s death, in 1981, Rita Marley continued her music career as a soloist recording rootsy conscious hits including One Draw; Who Feels Its Knows it; Harambe; I’m Still Waiting among others. She did a final album Rita Marley Sings Bob Marley… and Friends.

In later life, Rita Marley converted the former residence located on Hope Road in Kingston to the Bob Marley Museum. She is also founder and Chairperson of the Robert Marley Foundation, Bob Marley Trust, and the Bob Marley Group of Companies. She also created the Rita Marley Foundation working to alleviate poverty and hunger in developing countries, targeting elderly and youth. She has also adopted 35 children in Ethiopia and has supported some 200 children in Kokkonuru Methodist School in Ghana.

Rita Marley is recipient of Jamaican Government National Honour, Order of Jamaica (OJ) and the Marcus Garvey Lifetime Award, and the Iconic Award by the Jamaica Reggae Industry Association. She is also recipient an Honorary Doctor of Letters degree by the University of the West Indies (LITT).

Marley’s honor will form part of the program featuring an outstanding repertoire by the internationally acclaimed dance group NDTC, at the South Miami Dade Cultural Arts Center.

A second show will also be staged on Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022, at 7:00 p.m. at the Miramar Cultural Performing Arts Center in Miramar. Under the patronage of Consul General Oliver Mair , the sold-out performances are presented by the Louise Bennett-Coverley Heritage Council (LBCHC), as Miss Lou was a founding patron of the Company. According to President Colin Smith, a cultural artist himself, the LBCHC (Florida) Inc., was launched to preserve the legacy of Jamaica’s cultural icon, Louise Bennett-Coverley, affectionately known as ‘Miss Lou’, and to share Jamaica’s rich folkloric culture through education and entertainment ‘edutainment’.