No woman, no cry

Rita Marley sits in a hotel room in Covent Garden next to a faded black and white photograph of her wedding day. In the picture, her features are all but lost in the broadest of smiles. Next to her stands a handsome, skinny young man with neat, cropped hair.

It is 11 February, 1966, and 19-year-old Rita has just married 21-year-old Robert Nesta Marley years before he was to grow dreadlocks and become one of the most iconic figures of the last century.

It is now almost four decades since that day and more than 20 years since Bob Marley died of cancer, but his widow, Rita, is intent on keeping his legacy alive. In London to talk about her autobiography, she says that writing the book has been a cathartic process.

"There were many things I had to get off my chest," she explains. "Being able to express myself gave me a sense of relief."

The book has also given her a chance to tell her side of the story. This is a woman, after all, whose many detractors have accused her of milking her late husband's legacy. Her mother-in-law, Cedella Booker, once described her thus: "So she black, and so is her heart black."

Bob Marley's former embittered manager, Don Taylor, accused Rita in his autobiography of setting up off-shore accounts to siphon off her late husband's £30 million estate.

Rita Marley shrugs at such accusations-"The Don Taylor story was all fiction," she says in her broad Jamaican accent. "He tried to sell me as a young, black, stupid woman. Why would I listen to that? Anything I don't like, I don't read."

She has now been reconciled with Cedella Booker, but ever since Bob Marley died in 1981, Rita has been either fighting for control of his estate or fighting to clear her name.

The problem was a simple one: even as he was dying, Bob Marley refused to write a will. Rita explains that as a Rastafarian he didn't believe in making one. "Our faith doesn't allow us to believe in death, so why make provisions for when you're gone? We never thought he was going to die. I was encouraged to ask him to write a will, but I could never have asked him to go against his beliefs.

" Bob asked his lawyer what would happen if he didn't make a will and she said: 'Your wife and children will be okay.'" She bursts out laughing and shakes her head. "Which was good enough for him."

Rita was also accused of forging Bob Marley's signature to enable lawyers to divert some £9million of the estate's assets. She protested that she was simply given the wrong advice, that she wasn't trying to deceive anyone. Eventually, after lengthy legal battles which cost more than £5million, the estate was finally handed over to the Marley family.

Rita shudders at the mention of these events. "I suffered years of criticism. But there was a point in my life where I had to stand up and say: 'I don't care what anybody says about me. I have to stand up for my family, for the four children I had with Bob and the eight he had with other women.' "

Bob was the first reggae artist to gain international success and a devout Rastafarian with strong political views. For some, the son of a black working-class Jamaican and a white middle-class English Naval officer was a prophet, a spiritual leader, the ultimate emblem of black pride.

Rita explains how, shortly after his death, she had to borrow money to buy back Bob's name and his likeness from the estate. "There was a time when Bob's mother, Cedella, was writing to everyone. Dear Michael Jackson, Could you please lend us some money?"

She laughs. "I felt so useless. Eventually, Chris [Blackwell, owner of Island Records, Marley's label] secured a bank loan for us. And then we went to the High Court here in London and won; the judge ruled that the beneficiaries should own Bob's name and likeness."

Rita Marley may have been criticised for fighting for control of her late husband's estate and she may even have been accused of being a crook, but the fact is that she stood by her man from the day they were married to the day he died.

As she struggled to leave behind her ghetto roots - she was born and raised in Trench Town - she stood by him as he had affairs, and children, with other women. Much of her book documents Bob Marley's legendary womanising; Rita claims to have kept calm at nearly all times.

Mention the endless line of women queuing up to sleep with her husband and she howls with laughter. "It was no secret! It's not unusual, you know. We weren't the first couple it happened to and I'm sure we won't be the last. It was my first marriage and I grew with it. We were friends and lovers; we put love first."

Bob Marley may have provided for Rita and their children - including the illegitimate daughter she had before they met, and Ziggy and Rohan, now married to R&B artist Lauryn Hill - but he was no saint. If the record company asked him to pretend he wasn't married so as not to disappoint the fans, he happily referred to Rita as his sister.

It wasn't unusual for Rita to be pregnant and for another woman to be carrying his child at the same time.

"Bob wanted me to have a baby each year, but he also wanted me to continue being a backing singer in his band and to go on the road with him.

"So what that he had children with other women? He was always truthful, he always told me when another child was on the way. He would even bring the babies to me when they were born, and sometimes I would even bring them up myself."

Her eyes fill with tears. "Bob was very sexy. Very charming. I always used to tell him after a show: 'Bob, the people love you so much. You gonna be a great man.' He'd laugh it off. He didn't care about being a superstar, he wasn't motivated by money.

"People only saw Bob Marley the artist. They never realised how much he was also a family man. He always called from the road to see if the children were doing their homework. Sometimes he'd be on the phone four, five times a day. So I was proud having all these children around. They were, after all, part of Bob."

Rita's devotion to her husband was such that she appeared on stage with him days after being shot in the head and left for dead. In late 1976, Bob Marley agreed to do a peace concert in Kingston, Jamaica. Just days before the concert, Rita left the studio, got into her car and was shot in the head by a group of youths. Bob Marley got away with a bullet in the elbow.

"I really thought I was dead," says Rita. "Then I heard Bob shouting my name. We were both rushed to hospital but Bob still refused to cancel the concert. I had to sneak out and appear on stage in my hospital gown. Bob was fearless. He stood on stage with the mentality: let them kill me now."

Of course, Bob Marley wasn't killed by misguided youths but by cancer. A melanoma on his big toe spread to the rest of his body and he died in a Miami hospital on 11 May 1981. He had been advised to have his toe amputated but had refused to believe in the disease - even though he was told that the fact he was halfwhite made him susceptible to skin cancer.

"Bob was so fit and health-conscious. He was always playing football and eating good food."

Rita believes that her husband's talent was god-given. "Bob didn't go to high school, he had no formal training in music. He was completely self-taught. He was a great man."

She is hoping that a film will be made of her husband's life. She says that Lauryn Hill is being screen tested to play her. "She's just fabulous. And it's good to keep it in the family."

She was hoping Ziggy Marley would play his father, but the young musician flatly refused; after all, he has spent most of his life trying not to live in his father's shadow.

"You know, Ziggy smells just like Bob," she says finally. "Every time I hug him, it's like Bob is still alive." She looks at the faded wedding photograph. "I don't know what I'd do without my children. They keep Bob's memory alive. They remind me each day what a great, great man he was."