Damian Marley | |
|---|---|
 Marley performing in 2015 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Damian Robert Nesta Marley |
| Also known as | Jr. Gong |
| Born | 21 July 1978 Kingston, Jamaica |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) |
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| Years active | 1992–present |
| Labels | |
Damian Robert Nesta "Jr. Gong" Marley (born 21 July 1978) is a Jamaican DJ, singer, lyricist and rapper. He is the recipient of four Grammy Awards. [1]
Damian Marley is the second to youngest child of reggae musician Bob Marley. [2] He is the only child born to Marley and Cindy Breakspeare, a Jamaican jazz singer and crowned Miss World 1976. Like several of Bob Marley's children, Damian was born out of wedlock and outside of Bob's marriage to singer Rita Marley. [3] After seeing the movie Damien: Omen II , which is about the coming of the Antichrist, one of Bob's last requests in Germany was to have Damian's name changed. "Damien being a devil...It was inappropriate for him as a Rastafarian to have a child with that name," Bob said and Damian's name was later changed. [4]
Damian was two years old when his father died. His nickname "Junior Gong" is derived from his father's nickname of "Tuff Gong".
At the age of 13, [5] Marley formed a musical group by the name of the Shephards, which included the daughter of Freddie McGregor and son of Third World's Cat Coore. The group opened the 1992 Reggae Sunsplash festival. [6] The band fell apart in the early 1990s, and Damian started his solo career. [7]
With the backing of his father's label, Tuff Gong, he released his 1996 debut album Mr. Marley , which surprised many who were unaccustomed to hearing a Marley deejaying rather than singing. [8] Marley released his second studio album Halfway Tree . The name "Halfway Tree" comes from his mother Cindy Breakspeare being from the rich part of town, and his father Bob Marley coming from the poor part of town, thus him being "a tree halfway in between the 'rich' world and 'poor' world." [9] Additionally, Halfway Tree is a well-known landmark that marks the cultural center of Half-Way-Tree, the clock tower that stands where the historical eponymous cotton tree once stood is featured prominently behind Marley on the cover of the album. The album was released on 11 September 2001 and received the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album. It was co-produced by Damian Marley and his brother Stephen Marley, who had also produced Damian's debut album Mr. Marley.
Marley released his third studio album Welcome to Jamrock which was released on 12 September 2005 in the United States and 13 September 2005 in the United Kingdom. The album sold 86,000 copies in its first week of release, [10] and was eventually certified gold after selling 500,000 copies in the United States. [11]
Damian's half-brother, Stephen Marley, was a producer and co-writer of the hugely successful song of the same name. The lyrics to the single "Welcome to Jamrock", which was performed over a riddim produced by Sly and Robbie for Ini Kamoze some 20 years earlier, [12] centered around poverty, politics and crime in Jamaica. While the single was controversial at home over its perceived negative viewpoint of the island, [10] many praised the content of the song. Dr Clinton Hutton, professor at the University of the West Indies, said of the single: "'Jamrock' uses the icon of the inner city, of alienation, of despair, of prejudice, but of hope, of Jamaican identity, to remind us of the fire of frustration, the fire of creativity, the fire of warning to open up our eyes and look within to the life we are living. And still some of us don't want to hear and to look and say enough is enough." [13] The single reached number 13 on the UK Singles Chart [14] and number 55 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. [15] It was also number 100 on the Top 100 Songs of the Decade listing by Rolling Stone . [16]
Other notable singles from the album include "The Master Has Come Back", "Road to Zion" featuring Nas, and "Khaki Suit" featuring Bounty Killer and Eek-A-Mouse. [17]
At the 2006 Grammy Awards, he won Best Reggae Album and Best Urban/Alternative Performance for Welcome to Jamrock . He is the only Jamaican reggae artist in history to win two Grammy Awards on the same night. He is also the only reggae artist to win in the Best Urban/Alternative Performance category at the Grammy Awards. In 2008, he made an appearance on singer Mariah Carey's E=MC² album as a featured artist on the album track "Cruise Control". At the 2009 Grammy Awards news of a collaborative album between Marley and Nas was announced, when Nas told MTV reporters "Right now, I'll tell you first, I'm working on an album with Damian Marley. We tryin' to build some schools in Africa with this one, and trying to build empowerment. We're tryin' to show love and stuff with this album. So, the record's ... all about really the 'hood and Africa also as well." [18]
On 17 May 2010, Marley released Distant Relatives , a collaborative album with Nas. The album title refers not only to the bond between the artists but the connection to their African ancestry, which inspired the album both musically and lyrically. [19] They have previously collaborated on "Road to Zion", on Marley's Welcome to Jamrock album. The album joins two different flavours of music with Marley's dub-rock aesthetic and Nas' flow. Damian and Stephen produced much of the album. The proceeds of this album will go to building schools in the Congo. [20]
The album debuted at number five on the US Billboard 200 chart with first-week sales of 57,000 copies. [21] It serves as Nas's tenth top-ten album and Marley's second top-ten album in the United States. [21] The album also entered at number four on Billboard 's Digital Albums, [22] and at number one on its R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, [23] Rap Albums, [24] and Reggae Albums charts. [25] Internationally, Distant Relatives attained some chart success. [26] [27] It entered at number 33 on the European Top 100 Albums chart. [28] In the United Kingdom, it debuted at number 30 on the UK Albums Chart and at number four on the R&B Albums Chart. [29] [30] In Canada, the album entered at number 9 on the Top 100 Albums chart. [31] In Germany, it debuted at number 38 on the Media Control Charts. [32]
The first single, "As We Enter", was released on iTunes on 23 February 2010. [33] It peaked at number 10 on the iTunes Hip Hop/Rap charts and number 41 on the iTunes Music charts. The single debuted at number 39 on the UK Singles Chart. [34] At a sold-out panel discussion on the African diaspora and its relation to music, sponsored by National Geographic, Damian and Stephen Marley and Nas were among the several hip-hop and reggae musicians voicing their solidarity. The discussion focused on the collaborations between artists of the two genres, and highlighted the Distant Relatives project. [35]
The existence of SuperHeavy was secret until May 2011. [36] Mick Jagger, English musician and the lead vocalist of rock band The Rolling Stones, announced its formation on 20 May 2011. [37] SuperHeavy was Dave Stewart's idea. [37] Inspired by the sounds washing into his home in Saint Ann's Bay, Jamaica, Stewart urged Jagger to fuse their sound with that of Indian orchestras. [38] Stewart and Jagger had mutual liking for Indian orchestrations; thus, A. R. Rahman was added to the supergroup, as well as British singer Joss Stone. [39] The name of the band is said to be inspired by Muhammad Ali. [40] The group began recording their self-titled debut album in early 2009 at a studio in Los Angeles. They recorded about 35 hours of music.[ citation needed ] The album was previewed at Jim Henson Studios, Los Angeles, on 30 June 2011. The band played eight of the recorded songs at the event. [41]
"Miracle Worker" was released on iTunes as the album's lead single on 7 July 2011. [42] It is a reggae song performed by Marley, Stone and Jagger. [43] [44] The single entered at number 195 on the UK Singles Chart. [45] The music video was released on YouTube on 12 August 2011. Directed by Stewart and filmed at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles, the video features all five members of the band. [46] "Satyameva Jayathe" (the national motto of India, which literally translates as "Truth Alone Triumphs") was released as the second single from the album on 9 August 2011, a week before India's Independence Day on 15 August. Composed by Rahman to have an Indian feel, Jagger sings in Sanskrit on the song, which also features Stewart, Stone and Marley. [47] [48] The song premiered exclusively on Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM on 9 August across twenty-two Indian cities, and Tata DoCoMo is set to simultaneously promote the song and the album on mass media. [49] "Beautiful People" reached number 64 on the Dutch Single Top 100 chart. [50]
Damian also worked with electronic artist Skrillex on a song called "Make It Bun Dem" in 2012. [51] This song also appears in the 2012 game Far Cry 3. Affairs of the Heart was a massive hit in Jamaica, topping the reggae charts. [52]
Damian Marley released his fourth studio album, Stony Hill, in July 2017. Its first single "Nail Pon Cross" was released in August 2016. The album won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards.
Marley has described his music as "dancehall and reggae. I've noticed ... people trying to separate the two of them," he continues. "It's Jamaican culture in general. I don't try to classify or separate." [53] Distant Relatives fused hip hop and reggae musical elements, [54] Marley and Nas also incorporated samples from African music into the album. [55] The album's lyrical content heavily revolves around themes concerning Africa, from ancestry and poverty, [55] [56] with social commentary of the United States and Africa. [54] [57] The track "Count Your Blessings" reflects on the plight of Africa. [58]
| Year | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US R&B | US Rap | US Reg. | FRA [59] | SWI [60] | UK [61] | |||
| 1996 | Mr. Marley
| — | — | — | 2 | — | — | — | |
| 2001 | Halfway Tree
| — | — | — | 2 | — | — | — | |
| 2005 | Welcome to Jamrock
| 7 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 188 | — | 34 | |
| 2017 | Stony Hill
| 65 [64] | — | — | 1 [65] | 104 [66] | 26 | 94 | |
| Year | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US R&B | US Rap | US Reg. | FRA [59] | |||||||
| 2010 | Distant Relatives (with Nas)
| 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 27 |
| ||||
| 2011 | SuperHeavy (with SuperHeavy)
| 26 | — | — | — | — | |||||
| 2013 | Set Up Shop Vol. 1 [67] (with various artists)
| — | — | — | — | — | |||||
| 2014 | Set Up Shop Vol. 2 [68] (with various artists)
| — | — | — | — | — | |||||
| 2015 | Set Up Shop Vol. 3 [69] (with various artists)
| — | — | — | — | — | |||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart. | |||||||||||
| Year | Title | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US R&B | US Rap | FRA [59] | UK [14] | ||||||
| 2005 | "Welcome to Jamrock" | 55 | 18 | 12 | — | 13 |
| Welcome to Jamrock | ||
| "The Master Has Come Back" | — | — | — | — | 74 | |||||
| "Road to Zion" (featuring Nas) | — | 57 | — | — | — | |||||
| 2006 | "Beautiful" (featuring Bobby Brown) | — | — | — | — | 39 | ||||
| "All Night" (featuring Stephen Marley) | — | — | — | — | 79 | |||||
| 2007 | "Now That You Got It" (Gwen Stefani featuring Damian Marley) | — | — | — | — | 59 | The Sweet Escape | |||
| 2010 | "As We Enter" (Nas and Damian Marley) | 116 | 18 | 16 | — | 39 | Distant Relatives | |||
| 2011 | "Nah Mean" (Nas and Damian Marley) | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| 2011 | "Set Up Shop" | — | — | — | — | — | Set Up Shop Vol. 1 | |||
| 2012 | "Affairs of the Heart" | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| "Make It Bun Dem" (Skrillex and Damian Marley) | 106 | — | — | 87 | 58 [70] | Non-album single | ||||
| "Can't Keep Me Down" (Cypress Hill and Rusko featuring Damian Marley) | — | — | — | — | — | Cypress X Rusko | ||||
| 2013 | "Riot" (Sean Paul featuring Damian Marley) | — | — | — | — | — | Full Frequency | |||
| 2014 | "Hard Work" [74] | — | — | — | — | — | Set Up Shop Vol. 2 | |||
| 2016 | "Nail Pon Cross" | — | — | — | — | — | Stony Hill | |||
| 2017 | "Medication" (featuring Stephen Marley) | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| "So Am I" (Ty Dolla Sign featuring Damian Marley and Skrillex) | — | — | — | — | — | Beach House 3 | ||||
| 2018 | "Living It Up" | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| 2019 | "Love With A Quality" (Karol G featuring Damian Marley) | — | — | — | — | — | Ocean | |||
| 2021 | "What Do You Say" (Common and PJ featuring Damian Marley) | — | — | — | — | — | A Beautiful Revolution Part II | |||
| 2022 | "No Fear" [75] (Sean Paul featuring Damian Marley and Nicky Jam) | — | — | — | — | — | Scorcha | |||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart. | ||||||||||
| Year | Song | Peak chart positions | Album | Certifications | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | CAN [76] | ||||
| 2010 | "Liquor Store Blues" (Bruno Mars featuring Damian Marley) | 105 | 97 | Doo-Wops & Hooligans |
|
| 2017 | "Bam" (Jay-Z featuring Damian Marley) | 47 | — | 4:44 | |
Ini Kamoze is a Jamaican reggae artist who began his career in the early 1980s and rose to prominence in 1994 with the signature song "Here Comes the Hotstepper". The single topped the US Billboard Hot 100 as well as record charts in Denmark and New Zealand, reaching number four on the UK Singles Chart.
Stephen Robert Nesta Marley is a Jamaican-American musician. The son of Bob Marley, Marley is an eight-time Grammy Award winner, three times as a solo artist, twice as a producer of younger brother Damian Marley's Halfway Tree and Welcome to Jamrock albums, and a further three times as a member of his older brother Ziggy Marley's group Ziggy Marley & The Melody Makers.
Ky-Mani Marley is a Jamaican reggae musician. In 2001, he received a Grammy nomination for his album Many More Roads. He is the only child of reggae musician Bob Marley and Anita Belnavis, a Jamaican table tennis champion.
Julian Ricardo Marley is a British-Jamaican reggae musician, songwriter, producer and humanitarian. He is the son of reggae music icon Bob Marley, and Lucy Pounder. In 2024, he received a Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album for his collaboration album with Antaeus, Colors of Royal (2023).
SOJA is an American reggae band based in Arlington, Virginia. Formed in 1997, their music is currently produced under ATO Records. The eight-member band has released a number of singles, albums, and DVDs, including SOJA – Live in Hawaii. Their third full-length album Born in Babylon peaked at number 11 on the Top Heatseekers chart, while their 2012 album Strength to Survive topped the Billboard Reggae Album Chart. The band continues to tour and record new music.
Halfway Tree is the second album by Jamaican reggae artist Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley. The name "Halfway Tree" comes from his mother, Cindy Breakspeare, being from the rich part of town, and his father, Bob Marley, coming from the poor part of town, thus him being "a tree halfway in between the 'rich' world and 'poor' world." Additionally, Halfway Tree is a well-known landmark that marks the cultural center of Half-Way-Tree, the clock tower that stands where the historical eponymous cotton tree once stood is featured prominently behind Marley on the cover of the album. The album was released on September 11, 2001, and received the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album. It was co-produced by Damian Marley and his brother Stephen Marley. There is a hidden track on the end of "Stand a Chance" at – 5:08. It is called "And You Be Loved".
"Welcome to Jamrock" is a song by Jamaican reggae artist Damian Marley. It was released in March 2005 as the lead single from his album of the same name. The song was listed at number 270 on Pitchfork Media's "Top 500 songs of the 2000s". The song is featured in FIFA 06, Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition Remix, FIFA 23 and The Sims 2: Bon Voyage where it is recorded in the game's fictional Simlish language.
Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers were a Jamaican-American reggae family group whose line-up consisted of the children of musicians, Bob Marley and Rita Marley, which includes lead singer Ziggy Marley with Sharon Marley, Cedella Marley, and Stephen Marley. Formed in 1979 in Brooklyn, New York, Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers members began their musical endeavours in their pre-teens under the name the Melody Makers.
"One Love" is a ska song written by Bob Marley and recorded by his group the Wailers from their 1965 debut studio album The Wailing Wailers. It was rerecorded as part of the 1970 medley "All in One", which contained reggae reworkings of their early ska songs. This was released as a single and is also included on the compilation African Herbsman under the name "All in One".
"Liquor Store Blues" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bruno Mars from his debut studio album Doo-Wops & Hooligans (2010), featuring Jamaican artist Damian Marley. It was released as the first promotional single from the record, on September 21, 2010, by Elektra Records. "Liquor Store Blues" is a reggae track with dub influences written by Mars, Phillip Lawrence, Ari Levine, Dwayne Chin-Quee, Mitchum Chin, Marley and Thomas Pentz. It was produced by the former three, under their alias, the Smeezingtons and Chin-Quee. Lyrically, the song addresses a way of avoiding problems by drinking hoping everything will be fine.
Nadine Sutherland is a Jamaican reggae singer whose early career was nurtured by Bob Marley. She went on to become a successful dancehall artist in the 1990s.
SuperHeavy was a one-off supergroup project consisting of Mick Jagger, Joss Stone, Dave Stewart, A. R. Rahman, and Damian Marley. Stone and Stewart have collaborated in the past with Jagger. Jagger said of the band, "We wanted a convergence of different musical styles... We were always overlapping styles, but they were nevertheless separate". Jagger wanted SuperHeavy to showcase different musical styles, with music ranging from reggae to ballads to Indian music.
"Miracle Worker" is the debut single by rock supergroup SuperHeavy from their self-titled debut studio album. It is a reggae/pop song performed by Damian Marley, Joss Stone, and Mick Jagger. It was released on 7 July 2011 as a digital download in the United Kingdom. The song peaked to number 136 on the UK Singles Chart but it was a big hit in Japan peaking at number 9. In Italy it was certified gold for downloads exceeding 15,000 units.
"Make It Bun Dem" is a song by Skrillex and Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley. The single was released on May 1, 2012, by a request of Ubisoft Entertainment SA.
Fly Rasta is the fifth solo studio album by Jamaican reggae artist Ziggy Marley, released on April 15, 2014, on Ziggy's own label, Tuff Gong Worldwide. The album marked Ziggy's return after the Grammy-winning album Ziggy Marley in Concert.
Distant Relatives is a collaborative studio album by American rapper Nas and Jamaican reggae vocalist Damian Marley. It was released on May 18, 2010, by Universal Republic, Def Jam Recordings and Columbia Records.
Welcome to Jamrock is the third studio album by Jamaican reggae/dancehall artist Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley. The album was released on September 12, 2005, in the United Kingdom, and one day later in the United States.
Skip Marley Minto is a Jamaican singer. He is the son of Cedella Marley and David Minto, and grandson of Bob Marley and Rita Marley. He has received two Grammy Award nominations and an MTV Video Music Award nomination.
Shiah Coore is a Jamaican musical artist and producer born in Kingston, Jamaica on 20 August 1979.
Stony Hill is an album by Jamaican reggae artist Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley. The album was released on July 21, 2017 and went on to win the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album.
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