Now that the name "Marley" is more a marketing phrase than a surname, it's hard to imagine the man was never just a "legend." But, I'll admit to being old enough to remember when Bob Marley was alive.

I bought my first Marley record at 10. "Rastaman Vibration" was then hailed as his major breakthrough in America. That didn't happen. The same was said when "Exodus" followed, although no one had any illusions that 1979's stunningly revolutionary "Survival" would gain Bob commercial success in America. In the end, it was his last record, "Uprising," that would do it, thanks to the infectious "Could You Be Loved," which rocked urban American radio as no reggae had done before.

I bring this all up, of course, because yesterday marked the 27th anniversary of Marley's death in Miami.

I distinctly remember the news that Marley had collapsed while jogging in Central Park. The photos of him in his Essex House hotel room were all over the New York papers. Marley continued on to Pittsburgh to play what would be his last gig ever, but everyone suddenly knew something was up.

Sadly, Marley got more mainstream press attention than ever at this point in his life. And all for the wrong reasons. The great hope of Jamaican music and of black liberation movements worldwide -- who adored Marley for his vocal support (that same year, 1980, Marley traveled to Zimbabwe to play that country's independence celebrations) -- were losing their loudest populist voice.

In the nearly three decades that have followed Marley's death, the world has tabbed numerous people as his "successor" in reggae music. Would it be Peter Tosh? Maybe Dennis Brown. In the '90s there was hope for Garnet Silk and, later, Luciano (the only surviving member of this list). But, what we've really come to learn, is that Marley was a bridge (between rastas, African freedom fighters, disco fans, punk rockers and even hippies) and his influence will likely never be repeated.

I thought about Bob briefly yesterday, as I've done on every May 11 for considerably more than half my life. Bob wasn't the god he was touted to be, he was just a human -- flawed and beautiful like the rest of us. And that makes his achievements -- musical and otherwise -- that much more amazing.