Arts & Entertainment
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
organization that benefits
efforts in Jamaica, Ethiopia
and
other
developing
nations. The charity’s mis-
sions range from building
new schools to operating
health clinics to supporting
charities like Mary’s Child,
a center for abused and neg-
lected girls.
The title of his latest
“My father’s music
gives hope to
people”
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
Ziggy Marley
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?
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
Bob Marley and his son, Ziggy
See ZIGGY on page 13
April 25, 2012 The Portland Skanner Page 9