Which Jamaican singer is known as the 'King of Reggae'?

The Jamaican singer known as the “King of Reggae” is Bob Marley.

Robert Nesta Marley became reggae’s most internationally recognized performer through his work as a singer, songwriter, guitarist, and leader of Bob Marley and the Wailers. His music combined Jamaican rhythms with themes of love, spirituality, resistance, unity, and social justice, giving reggae a global cultural reach.

Marley began performing with Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer in the early 1960s. The Wailers first recorded in Jamaica’s ska and rocksteady eras before developing into a major reggae group. Their signing with Island Records and albums such as Catch a Fire, Burnin’, and Exodus introduced their music to a much larger international audience.

The title is an honorific, not an official royal position or a claim that Marley invented reggae. Artists such as Jimmy Cliff, Peter Tosh, Lee “Scratch” Perry, and Toots Hibbert were also crucial to Jamaican music. Marley is called its king because of his extraordinary influence, visibility, and enduring legacy.