Children preserving their dads' musical legacies

MANY of the world's recording and performing artiste fathers have had the pleasure of watching their children follow in their footsteps in the music industry.
American singers Nat King Cole, Marvin Gaye, Donny Hathaway and Nina Simone come easily to mind when one examines the slate of legendary entertainers in North America. Actor/rapper Will Smith, of more recent vintage, has gone a step further as his two children are making names for themselves in the performing arts.

Locally, Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer, Freddie McGregor and Jimmy Riley are among the many fathers whose children have chosen music as their career, thereby preserving their fathers' legacies.

Coffee more my thing, says Rohan Marley

After a Business Observer story reporting that Marley Coffee was worth US$235 million, prompted a co-host of a popular morning radio programme to ask what does coffee have to do with Rasta. Rohan Marley, one of the lead investors in the project, was quick to respond.

"That's because of a lack of knowledge. My father's first song was One Cup of Coffee," said the 40-year-old son of Bob Marley. He did not make mention of it, but in the same vein there is another song widely acclaimed as one of his father's first two recordings that could also provide an answer. That song is called Judge Not.

Historians say that the Ethiopian ancestors of today's Oromo people were the first to discover and recognise the energising effect of the coffee bean plant. Coffee beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees in over 70 countries, cultivated primarily in Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Africa.

Bob Marley still on top

He’s been dubbed the Master Blaster Jammer, the Black Moses, the Reggae King, modern day prophet and other fitting tributes.

These accolades only serve to confirm Robert Nesta Marley as undoubtably the most important figure in Jamaican and 20th century music. Unlike mere pop stars, he was also a religious figure and a major international record seller, a Rastaman whose Vibrations have shaken the world with tremors that will long outlive his short life.

May 11 this year marked the 30th annniversary of his death at just age 36 and WE Magazine today pays tribute to Marley with the excerpts from an article by Barbara Campbell featured in the 2010-2011 edition of the UK magazine Black Heritage Today.

The Business of Bob Marley: Billboard Cover story.

by Rob Kenner

In late 1979, a mustachioed "60 Minutes" correspondent named George Negus asked Bob Marley if he was a rich man.

"When you say 'rich,' what you mean?" the reggae superstar replied with a poker face.

Do you have a lot of possessions? Lots of money in the bank?

"Possessions make you rich?" Marley asked skeptically. "I don't have that type of richness. My richness is life, forever."

Though he would succumb to cancer two years later, Marley's words still ring true. The Rasta soul rebel's songs of freedom are more relevant than ever three decades after his death at age 36. "Bob Marley's in every new day," his widow, Rita Marley, says by telephone from her home in Ghana, where she's sponsoring the Africa Unite Youth Symposium at the Institute of African Studies to mark what would have been his 66th birthday on Feb. 6. "There's not one day that his music is not played all over the world."

YUSH TV Classic Video of the Day

Bob Marley - One Love

(Part 1) One Cup Of Coffee

"Stir It Up"

Bob Marley had always said he would return to farming one day, but his destiny was filled with the passion for music, and he never had the chance. With Marley Coffee, Bob’s son, Rohan and friend Shane Whittle fulfill this dream and offers his family’s treasures to the world.

Marley Coffee is an international gourmet coffee company with offices in Vancouver, Los Angeles and Jamaica. The Marley Coffee 52 Acre Private Estate sits atop the Blue Mountains in Chepstowe, Portland Jamaica, long revered as the region with the world’s most desirable coffee beans.

Rohan remembers his grandmother drying their wild coffee berries in the sun, hulling and roasting them for her own cup of coffee each morning. Marley Coffee is determined to deliver that same intoxicating aroma and rich, smooth flavor into every cup that bears the Marley name.

Marley Coffee is patiently awaiting their Jamaican Coffee Industry Board (CIB) license approvals to be able to share their private reserve beans with the world. Marley Coffee intends to adhere to the quality and control procedures that Jamaica’s CIB holds so proudly. “Blue Mountain coffee holds its own legacy and Marley Coffee is grateful to be a part of this legacy with Jamaica,” said Whittle.

Marley Coffee offers an assortment of shade-grown coffee blends from the finest coffee producing regions in the world, including Central and South America, Papua New Guinea, and Indonesia. They also offer an organic single origin java from Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia. Marley Coffee is determined to deliver intoxicating aroma and rich, smooth flavor into every cup that bears the Marley name. All of the coffees are certified organic by the USDA, and the Pacific Agricultural Certification Society of Canada (PACS), and comply by the company’s ITAL standards.

Kartel turns himself in, Mavado still wanted

POPULAR dancehall deejay Vybz Kartel, is now being questioned by detectives at the Constant Spring Police Station.

Kartel turned himself in to the cops in the presence of his attorney Valerie Nieta-Robertson, a short while ago.

He and his dancehall rival Mavado were last night named as persons of interest by the police who want to interrogate both men in relation to a series of crimes committed in the division recently.

Kartel, whose real name is Adijah Palmer and Mavado, who real name is David Brooks, both wield considerable influence in the neighbouring communities of 'Big Yard' and Cassava Piece which are situated on Mannings Hill Road in St Andrew.

Gangs from both communities were at loggerheads for months during which several murders and shootings were committed. However a truce between both artistes led to a lull in the violence earlier this year.

Mavado Still wanted

Marley Marketing Split?

THERE ARE conflicting views from relatives of Bob Marley on a recent decision by the family to use his image on a new line of products, including snowboards and beer.

The singer's wife, Rita, is defending the deal with Canadian company Hilco, which has been mandated to boost the Marley legend through a worldwide marketing blitz. But Ziggy Marley, the reggae singer's eldest son, says he is concerned about his father becoming a product.

"We have a brand that is a loaded brand, but there are areas where we could be doing better, so they (Hilco) have said, 'Come on guys, we are going to help you'," Rita Marley told The Gleaner recently.

The deal will see Hilco tracking illegal use of the Marley image and name. But the company's main thrust is overseeing the revival of daughter Cedella's Catch A Fire clothing line and launching a series of products, which include a Marley lager.

Speaking to The Gleaner from Los Angeles last week, Ziggy Marley said he was 'skeptical' about the Hilco arrangement.


"It's a family decision, but I'm not in total agreement with it. I want to make sure everything is in accordance with my father's message, so I'll be watching to see how things go," he said.

His mother sees nothing wrong with producing a Marley beer.

"I drink beer, Bob drink beer, his boys drink beer. He never drank alcohol but him love him Guinness and him roots," she said.

Crack down



Hilco's Toronto-based CEO Jamie Salter has been given the task to broker licensing deals and crack down on Marley bootlegs. She told Canada's CBC News recently that Marley products make US$1 billion annually.

Bob Marley was a Rastafarian and a steadfast opponent of the 'system'. Many of his songs had anti-establishment themes which made him an icon of the counterculture of his era.

Message musicians like Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen have turned a blind eye to commercialism. But others, including the Rolling Stones, have done megatours sponsored by corporate giants like Budweiser beer.

Significant growth

Marley's mystique has grown considerably since his death from cancer, at age 36, in 1981. Legend, a compilation of his best-known songs, has sold over 15 million copies worldwide and is one of the most enduring albums on Billboard magazine's catalogue chart.

The Marley family have endorsed or launched several ventures bearing the singer's name, including a theme park in Florida and a spa that opened in The Bahamas in 2007.

Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer