Bob Marley preached inner peace and serenity to the masses, but was so racked by angst over his race that he used shoe polish to blacken his hair, according to a new book.

Such insecurities, during Marley's teenage years in Kingston, Jamaica, contrast strongly with the reggae superstar's image around the world. He advocated spirituality and spread messages of peace in hits such as 'One Love' and 'No Woman No Cry'.

During the early 1960s, Marley was torn between the influence of local Rastafarians and his own heritage. The son of a white father and black mother, he was essentially forced to choose between the two.

Marley's widow, Rita, is quoted in the book – entitled I&I: The Natural Mystics: Marley, Tosh and Wailer – as saying that her husband was so racially sensitised and aware of bullying for having a fairer complexion that he asked her to "rub shoe polish in his hair to make it more black; make it more African".

The author, Colin Grant, has interviewed members of Marley's inner circle for the book, released in January. These include Marley's late mother Cedella Booker.

Grant explained: "When Marley moved to Trench Town in Kingston aged 13 he was thought of as a white man and would have got a lot of grief for that. His father was a so-called white man, and it was unusual... to marry a black lady. But he did."