BOB Marley has been called many things: legend, reggae king, extraordinary. Now psychic.

According to his former road manager and confidante, Alan ‘Skill’ Cole, Marley had the gift of seeing into the future since childhood.

MARLEY… died May 1981 at age 36 Bottom: Alan “Skill” Cole

He said Marley once told him, that “When I was a little boy growing up in St Ann people would check mi to tell dem what’s happening and to read dem hand.”

But, Cole added, “When he (Bob) came to Trench Town the Rastaman dem tell him to leggo dem tings deh.”

The former Jamaica footballer delivered the annual Marley Lecture last Thursday at the University of the West Indies’ (Mona) Undercroft.

It was presented by the Institute of Caribbean Studies and the Reggae Studies Unit at UWI, in association with the Bob Marley Foundation.

Cole, who first met Marley in the late 1960s, was a key member of his inner circle. That, he says, makes him an authority on matters Marley.

“When I talk about Bob Marley, is not what people tell me. Is what Bob Marley tell me about himself,” he told the large audience.

Bob and Alan

Cole described Marley as the consummate professional who was passionate about his music.

“The man (Bob) would work in the studio for several hours. ‘Any man sleep too much going to miss out,’ he would say. Bob take his music very seriously, he was a professional, a perfectionist in all his doings,” Cole said.

Held under the theme, ‘Bob Marley: The Man That I Know’, the Marley Lecture closed the International Reggae Conference, which is a part of Reggae Month activities.

Cole’s Marley biography is scheduled for release this year. Marley died in May 1981 at age 36.