by Howard Campbell
LOS ANGELES – For decades, Roger Steffens has acted as host and tour guide to celebrities and reggae royalty who visit the world-famous archives in his Los Angeles home. After years of speculation, he has sold the largest collection of Jamaican music memorabilia.
In an interview with South Florida Caribbean News, Steffens confirmed the sale to Josef Bogdanovich, the American businessman whose Downsound Entertainment owns the annual Reggae Sumfest show.
Steffens, 82, did not disclose the sale price, but said it is enough to guarantee him comfort for the rest of his life. The archives, he added, would gradually be relocated to Montego Bay, home of Reggae Sumfest.
The collection includes numerous items related to Bob Marley and The Wailers, such as photos, artwork, festival posters, rare vinyl records, and interviews with reggae icons. It is stored in seven rooms of his residence, and although he values the pieces, he acknowledges that it was time to let them go.
“It’s become a joyful burden over the years. As the various deals presented themselves and died over the past 30 years or so, I felt more and more of a burden to make this thing really happen and have it go to Jamaica, instead of selling it for the sake of selling it,” he disclosed.
Steffens estimates over 80 books have been published by authors who utilized his archives for research. The shrine to roots-reggae has been visited by A-listers, Leonardo DiCaprio, Stevie Wonder, Keith Richards, and Carlos Santana. Plus, a host of reggae artists including Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer, who with Marley were the most famous members of The Wailers.
Steffens was born in Brooklyn, New York. He served in the Vietnam War for the US Army. After the war, he moved to California. In 1973, he learned about Jamaican pop culture when he read about Bob Marley in Rolling Stone magazine.
Roger Steffens: An Authority on Bob Marley and The Wailers
Over the years, he became an authority on Marley and The Wailers, writing a series of well-received books on them including So Much Things to Say: The Oral History of Bob Marley, released in 2017. In 1979, two years before Marley’s death, Steffens interviewed the singer for his Reggae Beat radio show during his tour of California.
He will not totally sever ties with the archives. When it opens in Montego Bay, he will serve as curator emeritus, a role he is looking forward to.
“That means I may be traveling to Jamaica quite often. What a terrible thing that is,” Steffens joked.
