Olawale Junaid

Reggae concert to mark Bob Marley's 80th birthday

A special concert celebrating Birmingham's reggae history is to take place on what would have been Bob Marley's 80th birthday. The Reggae Origins concert will see Basil Gabbidon and musicians from Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (BCMG) join forces on Thursday evening at the city's Town Hall. Legendary reggae singer Marley died of cancer at the age of 36 on 11 May 1981. Gabbidon, founding member of the Handsworth-born reggae band Steel Pulse, said the musician would "probably be as surprised as we are" that the genre was growing and still going strong. "It's amazing how it's just spread across the world," he said of the reggae scene. "When you hear Bob Marley's music, it's always been there." The classical and reggae fusion concert will see strings and a full band performing brand new arrangements of songs from the Birmingham Reggae scene, alongside some of Bob Marley's biggest hits.