Pictures: meet the Marleys | Graphic: the Marley family tree

Bob Marley's closest living British relative wore an expression of mild disdain as she heard her cousin's music for the first time. “It's all right,” she said as she listened to the world's most famous reggae singer giving a languid rendition of Keep on Moving. “I wouldn't leave the room for it.”

Carole Tovey, who was born Carole Marley, was ignorant of her link to musical history until this week, when The Times visited her at her cottage in Ilfracombe, North Devon. She is strikingly unlike her musical relative, with whom she shares a great-grandfather. Her hair does not hang in dreadlocks, she has listened to reggae only once in her life, and she is white.

It is well documented that Bob Marley was the son of Norval Marley, a white Jamaican of British descent, and Cedella Booker, a black woman, but no one had successfully traced his closest British-born relatives. The connection was finally made last week by a researcher at the Hay Festival, where the musician's record producer and mentor, Chris Blackwell, is giving a talk on Friday.

Historians appear to have neglected the Ilfracombe branch of the family because in the 1871 census the grandfather concerned was on a separate page from his older siblings.

Mrs Tovey, 66, never suspected that she had a connection to the man who turned reggae from a Caribbean speciality into a worldwide phenomenon. “It has always been a joke in the family. People would always say: 'Are you any relation to Bob Marley?' and I would say: 'Yes, he's my cousin'. We would laugh about it. Now it turns out it is the gospel truth.”

Visitors to her home would see the joke. Behind the front door, which is shielded by net curtains, is a cosy house with a three-piece suite, deep-pile carpet and flock wallpaper. The town where she has lived for 60 years is a genteel tourist resort where

coach parties of pensioners sip tea in hotel dining rooms. Bob Marley, one suspects, would not have felt at home.

“When I first heard, I thought, 'Bloody hell, they're not going to ask me for money, are they?'. I told my daughter. She said, 'What have you been drinking?'.”

Peter Roberts, her son from her first marriage, interjected: “Or what have you been smoking?” Mrs Tovey frowned disapprovingly. She is fond of a cigarette but, unlike Bob Marley, has never had a passion for cannabis.

“I've never heard his music before today. I used to like people like Neil Sedaka and the Everly Brothers. No reggae. No heavy metal.”

She has never been to Jamaica or wished to do so. “We've not been anywhere other than Ilfracombe for years. We're just country bumpkins.”

Her brother, Geoffrey Marley, who also lives in Ilfracombe, is equally unimpressed by the connection. The next generation, however, is much more excited.

Neale Marley, Geoffrey's son, told The Times from his home in Texas that his late grandmother, Brenda, was aware of a connection with the Jamaican branch of the family, but no one took her seriously. “She used to say that she thought my dad was related to Bob Marley because they had the same nose. We would say: 'Yeah, all right, grandma'. We just thought, you know, it was the ramblings of a crazy lady. We had no idea she was right.”

Wendy Wells, Mrs Tovey's daughter, also assumed that her grandmother was being fanciful. “We just told her to have another sherry. The story was that some uncles or brothers went to Jamaica, but we weren't sure.”

The full story is that Albert Thomas Marley, her great-great uncle, went to Jamaica in the late 19th century to make a living in the mahogany trade. He settled and married Ellen Bloomfield, with whom he had a son, Norval, who grew up to be a soldier in the British Army. At the age of about 60, Norval had an affair with Cedella Booker, a 17-year-old girl of African descent, that resulted in the birth of Robert Nesta Marley — Bob Marley.

The singer released Catch a Fire, his first album to be sold outside Jamaica, in 1973 to instant acclaim. Two years later he had his first hit single in the UK Top 40 with No Woman, No Cry. He entered the American Top Ten the next year. He died at the height of his fame at the age of 36, but his music continues to thrive. Legend, a posthumous compilation of his greatest hits, is one of the bestselling albums to be released.

Mrs Wells, 41, who runs a seaside hotel in Ilfracombe, declared herself a Bob Marley fan but says that patrons of the Grosvenor Hotel might be less enthusiastic. Nightly entertainment includes a disco, but most requests are for Glenn Miller or Vera Lynn.

Does she see a family resemblance between the Marleys of Jamaica and Ilfracombe? “No! Crumbs, no. But it is fascinating. I wouldn't mind going to Jamaica to see.”

Peter Roberts, her brother, is also delighted with the connection. It is impossible to buy a Bob Marley album in Ilfracombe, but he did the next best thing: he visited his mother wearing a novelty woolly hat with dreadlocks sewn into the inside.

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