Bob Marley Lost Negatives
November 27 2018
An extremely rare collection of previously unseen Bob Marley negatives are to be sold later this month with a guide price of £30,000.
The photographs were taken at an intimate performance by Bob Marley and The Wailers over 43 years ago in July 1975 at London’s Lyceum Theatre. The show was recorded live by Island Records founder Chris Blackwell and the resulting album went on to become one of Bob Marley’s most popular and was the source of his legendary song, ‘No Woman, No Cry’. Marley’s interaction with the crowd during the performance of ‘No Woman, No Cry’ resulted in what is now considered to be the definitive version of the song. The venue allowed for only 2,100 spectators but among them was a young photographer, David Crowe.
The young photographer was part of the original Sex Pistols entourage; he and band members (John Lydon, Sid Vicious, Jah Wobble and Keith Levine) all attended the Bob Marley concert with David Crowe and were with him when the photographs were taken. Crowe later chose to pursue another career and his previous photography work was largely forgotten until a cache of negatives were unearthed during a house move in recent years.
In one of the most widely-discussed live shows of its era, Bob Marley delivered a seminal set-list in a performance the BBC said: “captures almost exactly the point where both roots reggae and Rastafarianism finally entered popular culture.”
Rolling Stone magazine wrote: “Bob Marley’s two concerts at the Lyceum Theatre in London in July 1975 were more than just musically transcendent shows: they were the triumphant peak of Marley’s first proper tour as a solo artist and would elevate him from cult act to international icon – in part thanks to Live!, a concert document from the shows that gave him his first international Top 40 hit, “No Woman, No Cry.”
According to auctioneer Paul Fairweather “The images are from one of the most iconic musical performances ever captured and offer a glimpse into a rare moment of musical history. The quality of the images is phenomenal.”
The collection of 72 Bob Marley negatives with full copyright are to go on sale on 27th November 2018 through Omega Auctions, Merseyside.
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