United States President Barack Obama made a late night unscheduled stop at the famous Bob Marley Museum at Hope Road in St Andrew, shortly after arriving on the island. The museum is located at Bob Marley’s former home.
President Obama told his tour guide that he still had all the reggae legend’s albums.
The attraction features a life-size 3D hologram of Marley from the One Love Peace Concert in 1978, his Grammy Lifetime Achievement award, his personal recording studio, his bedroom, clothing and a collection of gold and platinum records, according to the website.
President Obama was shown around by tour guide Natasha Clark. A report from a New York Times photographer Stephen Crowley said Obama could be heard telling the guide “I still have all the albums.” The Washington Post later reported that as Obama toured, strains of One Love, a Marley great, with its chorus of “let’s get together and feel all right,” echoed out the windows and into the night.
There were also several tweets from members of the overseas media with Bloomberg reporter Justin Sink tweeting “Obama is visiting the Bob Marley Museum in Kingston. No print reporters allowed to join him in the museum because of space constraints.”
Obama, a long-time Marley fan, told MTV in 2012 that “I remember in college listening, and not agreeing with his whole philosophy necessarily, but raising my awareness how people outside of our country were thinking about the struggle for jobs and dignity and freedom,” he said.
He has also been photographed at the White House with Rita and Ziggy Marley, wife and son of the late King of Reggae.
Bob Marley, who died of cancer in 1986, became a superstar in the 1970s. His album, Exodus was named Album of the Century in 2000 by the Time Magazine, while his song One Love was voted song of the millennium by the BBC.