Opinion
Ziggy Marley: The ‘Marley’ Interview
C ELEBRITY
I NTERVIEW
by Kam
Williams
D
avid Nesta “Ziggy”
Marley was born in
Trenchtown,
Jamaica on Oct. 17, 1968 to
Bob and Rita Marley. A
five-time Grammy-winning
musician, actor, artist,
activist and humanitarian,
Ziggy has enjoyed a promi-
nent presence on the public
stage for over a quarter-cen-
tury.
At the age of 10, Ziggy
first sat in on recording ses-
sions with his father’s
band, the legendary
Bob Marley and the
Wailers. Later, he
joined with his sisters
Sharon and Cedella
and brother Stephen to
form Ziggy Marley &
The Melody Makers,
which enabled him to craft
his own soulful sound
blending blues, R&B, hip-
hop and roots reggae. The
Melody Makers earned their
first Grammy (Best Reggae
Recording) for their third
album Conscious Party
(1988), produced by Talking
Heads Chris Frantz and Tina
Weymouth, which included
the hit songs “Tomorrow
People” and “Tumbling
Down.”
Subsequent
albums
included the Grammy-win-
ning One Bright Day
(1989), Jamekya (1991),
Joy and Blues (1993), Free
Like We Want 2 B (1995),
Grammy-winning Fallen is
Babylon (1997), Spirit of
Music (1999) and Ziggy
Marley & The Melody
Makers Live, Vol. 1 (2000),
featuring some of their
biggest hits, as well as a
cover of Bob Marley’s
“Could You Be Loved.”
While selling millions of
records and selling out
numerous concerts, Ziggy
Marley and The Melody
Makers never lost sight of
their foundations in faith,
fellowship and family.
Involved with a breadth of
charities, Marley leads his
own, URGE (Unlimited
Resources Giving Enlight-
enment), a non-profit organ-
ization that benefits efforts
in Jamaica, Ethiopia and
other developing nations.
The charity’s missions
range from building new
schools to operating health
clinics to supporting chari-
ties like Mary’s Child, a
center for abused and neg-
lected girls.
The title of his latest
album, Wild and Free, is a
little ironic, given his time-
consuming commitments to
family, philanthropy, song-
writing, producing, studio
work and touring. Ziggy
also continues to head Tuff
Gong Worldwide in honor
of his father’s own music
label Tuff Gong Records,
working on the re-launch of
the official Bob Marley
website and an exhibit at
the Grammy Museum in
L.A.
Ziggy divides his residen-
cy among Florida, Jamaica
and California, and has his
own website at: www.zig-
gymarley.com. Here, he
talks about Marley, a new
documentary about his
father.
Kam Williams: Hi Ziggy,
thanks for the interview.
Ziggy Marley: Thank
you, Kam.
KW: Do you remember
Ras Karbi, who played with
your dad in Jamaica before
embarking on a solo career?
‘I’m into anything
that really helps
children’
ZM: Jah, mon.
KW: Well, during my
brief career as a musician
back in the Seventies, I got
to play on an album with
Ras after he moved to the
States.
ZM: Nice, nice.
KW: I loved the movie
Marley. It taught me so
much I never knew about
your father. Why did you
decide to make it?
ZM: It came from a per-
sonal need for me, as Bob’s
eldest son, to be a part of a
film about my father. There
have been a lot of other
projects presuming to tell
his story, but I thought it
was time for one coming
from his family, not from
some third party claiming to
be the authority on Bob
Marley or reggae. The only
thing that would be me
more authentic than this
would be Bob himself.
KW: It’s definitely a very
rich and spiritual film which
humanized him in ways I
never expected.
ZM: Jah, mon, we want
people to feel that human
connection, that emotional
connection, that real con-
nection, and Kevin [director
Kevin Macdonald] did a
great job of achieving that.
KW: Wesley Derbyshire
asks: How do you think
your father’s music has
made a lasting effect on the
world?
ZM: My father’s music
gives hope to people and
also inspires them to break
the bonds of injustice and to
be positive in life. I’ve seen
that everywhere I go, espe-
cially in poor countries and
poor neighborhoods. Even
in speaking to actual free-
dom fighters from South
Africa to Ethiopia, they
always told me how influen-
tial the music was in their
Ziggy Marley
struggles.
KW: Attorney Bernadette
Beekman asks: What is the
most significant life lesson
you learned from your
father?
ZM: Everything I’ve
taken away from my father
has been significant. So, I
can’t say that any one lesson
is the most significant. By
being around him, I
learned that there is a
purpose in life, and
that if we are inspired
to help people, we
should do it. And that
there is a spiritual side
to life as well as to
music, and that we are
here for a bigger purpose
than just ourselves. Those
are some very significant
ideas of my father’s that I
have carried with me all my
life and still cherish to this
day.
KW: Harriet Pakula
Teweles asks: What was it
like growing up as the son
of such a famous icon?
ZM: I’d divide it into two
periods. Bob wasn’t as big
an icon as he later became
after he died. When he was
alive, he just acted like what
he was, a musician that peo-
ple loved. He never behaved
in any superficial or iconic
way. He was just being him-
self. There wasn’t anything
special or different about
our lives. In Jamaica, every-
body’s the same. The sec-
ond period began after he
passed away, when his icon-
ic stature grew and every-
where we went people
would show us a lot of love
as Bob Marley’s kids. That
was very positive for us.
KW: Marcia Evans asks:
How long did you live in
Trenchtown?
ZM: I was born in
Trenchtown and spent my
early years there as a tod-
dler. When my dad made
more money, we moved out
of the ghetto to a better
neighborhood with better
schools. Eventually, he pur-
chased the home on Hope
Road from [Island Records
producer] Chris Blackwell,
which also became his
headquarters.
KW: Film student Jamaal
Green says: First and fore-
most, I would like to say
love and respect to you and
your family for providing
the world with generations
of great music and good
vibes. With the debut of the
documentary Marley, is
there a possibility of some-
day making a dramatic film
about the life of the “Honor
Rebel” Bob Marley? If so I
would love to apply for the
job.
ZM: [LOL] Jamaal, you
just might be able to direct
it. It’s going to take a few
years to get there, so you
might be perfect, if you’re
available at that time. But
it’s not something that we’re
focusing on right now.
When we are ready, it will
have to be a magnificent
piece of work.
KW: Editor/legist Patricia
Turnier asks: Who would
you like to portray your
father, if you make a movie
about him?
ZM: That’s an issue. We
don’t know.
KW: How about you?
ZM: I wouldn’t play him,
but we haven’t looked that
deeply into it yet.
KW: Patricia, who is
Haitian-Canadian, was also
wondering whether the
movie Marley will be avail-
able subtitled in French, her
native
language.
ZM: I hope that the distrib-
utors will make the movie
available in whatever subti-
See ZIGGY on page
Bob Marley and his son Ziggy
April 25, 2012 The Seattle Skanner Page 5