Biography
Jamaican Vincent "Tata" Ford remains inextricably tied to Bob Marley through his credited role as writer or co-writer on four Marley compositions. These include the landmark "No Woman, No Cry," featured on the 1974 release Natty Dread, along with "Positive Vibration," "Roots Rock Reggae," and "Crazy Baldhead," all appearing on the 1976 album Rastaman Vibration. Born along Spanish Town Road, Ford relocated to Kingston's Trench Town toward the end of the 1950s. He encountered Marley soon after the latter arrived in Trench Town from his birthplace in St. Ann. Having lost both legs to diabetes and become wheelchair-bound, Ford served as an informal guide to the teenage Marley, supplying meals and making his semi-public kitchen at No. 3 First Street—known locally as the Casbah—available as overnight lodging and a nonstop rehearsal venue for the earliest incarnation of the Wailers. Debate persists over the extent of Ford's actual involvement in shaping any of the material, with one longstanding explanation holding that Marley added Ford's name to the credits simply to provide financial support for a longtime benefactor. Ford himself remained reticent about the matter, offering no direct account of any part he may have taken in Marley's songwriting. The question led to litigation in the 1980s pitting Marley's former publisher Danny Sims against widow Rita Marley, with Sims contending that Marley had appended Ford's name solely to circumvent existing contractual duties. In 1987 the jury rejected that claim, leaving the disputed works under the control of the Marley estate. Regardless of how the songs took shape, Ford unquestionably exerted a formative influence on the emerging singer and songwriter. He passed away on December 28, 2008, in St. Andrew at the age of 68.