Esther Anderson Bob Marley the early years in Muswell Hill

So says Jamaican photographer, actor, and filmmaker Esther Anderson, who is showing 20 rare, early images of the star at Muswell Hill Gallery this month.

Through The Lens of Esther Anderson: Bob Marley: The Early Years captures intimate moments with the singer in the early 70s before he became Reggae's first superstar.

Esther Anderson is a photographer and filmmaker who shot early rare images of Bob Marley before he was famous (Image: Supplied)

The 80-year-old says of her image of Marley topless on Hellfire Beach, Jamaica: “I wanted to photograph him in the light of Jamaica, showing the colour of our skin the way it should be shown."

Anderson was heavily involved in the early years of Island Records and first heard Marley sing at Compass Point Studios, Bahamas in 1972.

"I loved their songs. I loved their lyrics. Songs like Concrete Jungle, Slave Driver and 400 Years," she recalls.

"It was revolutionary. I identified with them and it appealed to my deepest sense of artistic expression."

So began a six-year personal and artistic collaboration with Esther a driving force behind Bob Marley and The Wailer's promotion of their first albums for Island Records - indeed the photos in the exhibition were part of the collection used to promote Catch A Fire and Burnin'.

"I had just finished making a film with Sidney Poitier playing the role of an African Princess living in a London Embassy working to build her country. I felt I could do the same with The Wailers and Jamaica. Then Chris Blackwell (of Island Records) asked me to help The Wailers and Bob begged me too. He told me they were like a family, and they needed my help. I decided to pause my film career to help my country."

Bob Marley and The Wailers in their early days (Image: Esther Anderson)

Anderson invested her own time and money managing the band and documenting them in the studio, on the road, and inside 56 Hope Road where she was living with Bob. She recalls the "message of freedom" in their lyrics, and the importance of their Rastafarian beliefs.

"Bob and the Wailers were hard-working, though they had been waiting for ten years in Jamaica without getting through, and the “Catch a Fire” album had not sold. To me, the Wailers had to visually represent what they said they stood for.

"I helped them to break free from the social constraints imposed on Rastafarian artists, to grow their locks, to take pride in who they were, and I did my best to communicate it to the world. When I took the picture of Bob smoking his herbs, and that image was spread around the world, the effect was a revolution. It broke all the moulds. The songs we wrote together translated what was happening in Jamaica at the time, the prejudice that the Rastafarian communities, suffered."

She recalls how the lyrics to Get Up Stand Up, Stand Up on a plane after the couple visited Haiti.

"Since then Get Up Stand Up has become an anthem for freedom for all nations of the world. Bob Marley and The Wailers have further spread the message of peace, love and unity that our brothers and sisters had fought for centuries before us."

Taken in 1973 six years before Marley found international fame, Anderson's black-and-white photographs portray a vulnerability and ordinariness to the star in his crocheted Rasta cap of yellow, red and green, or standing on a beach lost in thought. 

Anderson grew up in St Mary's Jamaica" with her mother, brother and sister.

In 1960 she was invited to take part in the Miss Jamaica beauty contest and used her prize money to travel to England where in 1960s London she worked as a model, DJ, dancer and choreographer for TV pop show Ready Steady Go! appearing with The Rolling Stones, The Animals, The Walker Brothers, Sonny and Cher, and Donovan.

Esther and Bob in Trinidad (Image: Supplied)

"I arrived at Heathrow, accompanied by my girlfriends as chaperones, dressed in the latest fashion, carrying an easel and oil paints determined to become a successful artist," she recalls.

"England was grey in the early 60’s and racism against “coloured” people was rampant, but we changed all that. We became very popular among the emerging creative people in London, becoming friends with Indica gallerist, John Dunbar, actors like Terence Stamp, Michael Caine and Peter O’Toole. I think we became a breath of fresh air and brought the Caribbean warmth to London, turning it into a more dynamic and imaginative place."

Esther's photographs were used to promote Bob Marley and the Wailers' Catch a Fire and Burnin' albums (Image: Esther Anderson)

As a DJ at the Crazy Elephant club in Mayfair, and the girlfriend of Chris Blackwell, she helped to sell records by Jamaican artists driving around in a Mini Cooper, promoting and managing the likes of Millie Small and  Jimmy Cliff.

"We were young rebels. We brought Jamaican music to this country, and we changed the music scene with our independent label. We were helping our Jamaican artists get through the door. Jamaican artists brought something new, potent, and with the most extraordinary talent."

Esther has worked as a model, actor, dancer and choreographer as well as music promoter and manager (Image: Supplied)

She also acted in TV shows including Dixon of Dock Green and The Avengers and in films with the likes of Marlon Brando - who gave her her first camera.

Anderson learned photography from Francine Winham.

"It was at her studio that  I learnt how to develop film," she said. "London was buzzing with creativity. I worked as a photojournalist for the newspaper Seven Days. I also learnt photography from my friend Robert Freeman, who was the photographer for The Beatles, and got to know about the power of the image at a time when London was setting the pace for new liberated forms of communication."

In later years she has made films and written about the music and dance of Jamaica.

Bob and Esther together, she made a documentary about those early days when the music star was recording his early albums (Image: Supplied)

They include the documentary Bob Marley: The Making Of A Legend, which uses footage Anderson shot in the early 1970s that was lost for more than 30 years.

It shows the Wailers' first rehearsal, and the launch of their international career with Get Up, Stand Up, and I Shot the Sheriff and was chosen to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Marley's death at film festivals around the world.

Reflecting on her image of Marley smoking she says: "That photograph was the first time anyone had been portrayed in that way, as he said he was 'partaking of the sacred sacrament for his meditation'.

"The image became for Island Records a powerful marketing tool, but for the people an emblem of amnesty and freedom.

"Long live the Power of the image, that’s what the photographs have for me."

Through The Lens of Esther Anderson: Bob Marley: The Early Years Exhibition” runs Thursday 30th May - Wednesday 19th June.