Whether you're Ravi Coltrane, Sean Lennon, Natalie Cole or Jakob Dylan, it's no easy task to follow in the footsteps of your legendary parent by entering into the same profession as a way to uncover your own individuality without the ghost of resemblance haunting you along the way. It's certainly no different for the five musician sons of reggae trailblazer Bob Marley.
But rather than dismiss or overlook the astounding career of their influential father, Ziggy, Stephen, Julian, Damian and Ky-Mani Marley will celebrate his contribution to the life of music and the progression of their respective careers with their recent announcement of the Bob Marley: Roots, Rock, Reggae Festival. The five brothers will play tunes from their successful solo albums, along with famed tunes from their father's collection of classics in a national summer tour beginning this month.
"For the past year, we've been talking about it; there is something special about playing with family that you don't have when you play with anyone else. It's a special thing that goes on when all of the brothers play together," said Ziggy. "We are very versatile and each of us has a different angle within our music. Damian does a lot of dance hall vibe, I kind of experiment a lot, I'm a wild person out there and Julian is the same way. But really, it's whatever we feel like, music is all about the feelings."
The coast-to-coast tour will not only feature the Marley brothers but reggae giants Toots and the Maytals, hip-hop artist Common and the San Diego band Slightly Stoopid among others.
"When we are on stage playing, we are with each other 100 percent, but if we are playing soccer or dominoes or video games then we can get very competitive with each other," said Ziggy.
The festival that celebrates the life and legacy of the Marley family music began earlier this month with its first date in Virginia. The tour marks the first time members of the Marley family have performed together in a national tour under their father's name.
"Our ambition is to spread the music all over the Earth to everyone, the message of one love and unity," said Julian. "It's the universal message, because our father's music is humanitarian music. Anywhere you go in the world it's the same, the oneness, the same justice and equality for all."
Some contend the word "reggae" was coined from the 1968 single, "Do the Reggay (sic)," by Toots and the Maytals while others believe the term was derived from the word "Regga," the name of a Bantu-speaking tribe on Lake Tanganyika in central Africa while others claim it came by way of the corruption of a "streggae," which is Kingston street slang for prostitute.
Bob Marley claimed the word was Spanish in origin and meant "the king's music." However, veteran Jamaican studio musicians argue the name came from a description of the music's actual beat itself.
"The world needs the truth and music is a very important part of society. If you can watch the direction of your society, it correlates with the direction of the music," said Ziggy. "In the 1960s, what type of music did you have? You had very conscious, very militant, protest kind of music. In the 1970s it began to change, so did society. Music is very important, the more the music changes, the more society changes. Music influences the youth, the younger generation, especially. I think music today reflects materialism, sexuality, a lot of selfishness, ego. I don't think it reflects social concern, I don't think it reflects spiritual concern. Today's society is like that now - materialistic, egotistical, all about looks and sexuality."
The boys' father, Robert Nesta Marley, was born Feb. 6, 1945, in St. Anns, Jamaica, West Indies. Marley began his career as a member of the Wailers - originally comprising six artists: Marley, Bunny Livingston, Peter Tosh, Junior Braithwaite, Beverley Kelso and Cherry Smith - formed in 1963. The band's first record, "Simmer Down" under the name Bob Marley and the Wailers, was released just before Christmas in 1963.
"My father loved music, all different types of music," said Ziggy. "He doesn't care about whatever music it is but more about what's coming out of that person's mouth that is really the most important thing. Some of the artists today he wouldn't like because they aren't really saying anything that would catch his ear - the consciousness, the music and words that have meaning, not just about frivolous things."
In February of 1966, Marley married Rita Anderson who was part of the musical group the Soulettes and who later became a solo vocalist in her own right. He left Jamaica the next day to join his mother in the U.S., specifically Wilmington, Del. He later returned to Jamaica in October that same year. During this time, the Wailers became a vocal trio.
"Realistically speaking, we will always be known as Bob's sons. There is no escaping that, but we just play music," said Ziggy. "We don't sit there thinking we need to get away from our father."
Marley's exposure to American recording groups came first in the slums of Trenchtown. Among their American contemporaries, Marley, Livingston and Tosh were inspired by music from artists like Ray Charles and Sam Cooke, along with the impeccable harmonies of The Impressions, led by Curtis Mayfield and Jerry Butler.
"As a family, we want to be remembered for music that uplifts and does more than entertain, music that is really like medicine and serves a higher purpose as our father and many other artists of that caliber have done," said Ziggy.
Trenchtown was a housing element erected subsequent to a 1951 hurricane that annihilated the region's squatter camps, which had gradually developed around West Kingston. Displaced rural folk and city dwellers became scavengers since the camp was built around Kingston's former refuse dump. In 1957, Bob and his mother, Cedella, moved from the countryside of Nine Miles to Kingston, Jamaica's capital, in search of work and an urban lifestyle. Employment was scare, and poverty and violence plagued the city.
Trenchtown did, however, maintain government yards for the down-and-out - one- or two-story concrete units - constructed around a central courtyard with communal cooking facilities but lacking any form of sewage system.
For many natives, the music of Jamaica lifted the spirits of those who witnessed the impacts of slavery and colonialism along with political corruption and civil disorder throughout the country's tumultuous history, but it gave the poor class a voice and celebrated the joys of life and the notion of spreading "One Love" all over the world.
Marley survived an assassination attempt in December 1976 and left Jamaica in early 1977 for 18 months. Marley learned he had cancer when he stubbed his foot in a soccer game and doctors operated on him to remove the cancerous cells in his right toe. Over the years, Marley continued to record albums at the rate of one each year until his death on May 11, 1981, in Miami, Fla., when the cancer spread to his brain. At this time, the umbrella label of the family-founded Tuff Gong Records, Island Records, estimated Marley's worldwide sales to be $190 million.
Both Marley and his sons were and are practicing Rastafarians, which is a religion that blends the simplest forms of Judaism and Christianity. Among their beliefs, Rastafarians accept the herb known as "ganja" or marijuana as an aid to meditation and is smoked as a religious rite. The religion also shuns the consumption of alcohol, tobacco and all meat as well as many types of fish and seasonings like salt. In short, anything that was not "ital," is forbidden, which is a Rasta term meaning pure, natural or clean. The religion also discourages the combing or cutting of the hair, hence the growth of dreadlocks.
"Our father's music is a Rasta music and so our music is a continuation like a relay race because it's one message which is universal," said Julian.
In 1994, Marley was inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame and five years later his celebrated song, "Get Up, Stand Up," was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In the U.S., Marley and the Wailers have nine RIAA gold-certified albums and one double-platinum album, along with the 10-times platinum certified hits collection, "Legend."
Marley's eldest son, Ziggy, 35, a native of Kingston, has been singing and performing since the age of 10 and collaborated with three siblings - brother Stephen and sisters Cedella and Sharon - to become the group the Melody Makers. The Melody Makers have earned three Grammies, sold millions of albums and played numerous sold-out concerts. Ziggy recently broke out on a solo career and recorded "Dragonfly" in 2003.
"We check out people like Norah Jones and Outkast - anything that is original or unique. That's what I like to look for even within this time and I check for that," said Ziggy. "I think it's a good time for independence from the record labels. I think the Internet has been a good thing for musicians because right now the music business isn't doing a lot for musicians. So touring and being in connection with your fans over the Internet, that's really where it lies for us. The record company is secondary right now in the music, it's the people and taking it straight to the people."
Julian was born in London in 1975 and recorded his first song at the age of 5. Julian, a self-taught musician, plays the bass, drums and keyboards. In 1989, he finished work on his first album, "Uprising," which is also the name of his band. Although he spends time in Miami and London, Julian moved to Jamaica in 1992.
"Growing up we listened to dance hall, hip-hop, jazz; we listened and still listen to a lot of different music that can give you inspiration," said Julian. "There are a lot of groups that influenced us, legends Stevie Wonder, Nat King Cole, a lot of different stuff. Music is a love and there are no boundaries. No matter what song it is, if it is good there is always a consciousness."
Damian was born in 1978 to Jamaica's former Miss World Cindy Breakspeare and is the youngest of Marley's children. Marley was known to cheat on his wife, Rita, and fathered children with several different women. He grew up in the nurturing musical environment of his father's Hope Road home in Kingston. He formed his first band at the age of 13 called the Shepherds. Damian's 1996 debut album, "Mr. Marley," highlights the production work of his brother Stephen who established the Ghetto Youth International production label with Ziggy, and was recorded at the renovated Marley Music Studio at 56 Hope Road.
Ky-Mani, also born in Jamaica, was the only child of Jamaican table tennis champion Anita Belnavis and Marley. He spent numerous summers with his father and Rita as a child. He moved to Miami at the age of 9 and grew to love sports. He eventually fell into music after his mother encouraged him to take piano lessons.
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