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Stephen Robert Nesta Marley was born on April 20, 1972, in Wilmington, Delaware, to a family of famous musicians, Bob and Rita Marley.
The boy was the second child in the family, and from a very early age, he loved music. He has always liked the motives of reggae as a genre, and watching his father work on his music made him try himself in the music business.
Thanks to the band Ziggy Marley and Melody Makers, which in addition to Stephen included his older brother Ziggy, also 2 of his sisters - Cedella and Sharon already at the age of 7 the guy performed on stage. One of the first songs that bring the band its popularity was "Children Playing on the Streets", which was written for them by Bob Marley. A simple song with non-children's lyrics almost immediately became a hit and provided young performers with the first portion of recognition. Realizing that they have great potential, Rita and Bob Marley became even more active in helping with the songwriting.
Of course, much of their early popularity was with Bob Marley and the Wailers. One of the first such concerts was the One Love Peace Concert in 1979. Unfortunately, in just two years, the legendary reggae artist Bob Marley will die of illness. Of course, this was a big blow to the whole family. Despite this, each of them knew that Marley believed in the success of his children and wanted their lives to be much better. This gave strength to continue to develop the group under the leadership of Ziggy.
In 1985, Ziggy Marley and Melody Makers released their full-length debut album under the name “Play the Game Right”. The album contained ten songs and was a huge success, which is why it was even nominated for a Grammy. One of the main producers was their mother, Rita. A year after the release of the first album, the second album, "Hey World!" was released. Critics noted the good lyrics but somewhat unfinished music, which prevented the album from receiving high awards.
Their third album, "Conscious Party", was released in 1988 and showed what this band is really capable of. A song like "Tomorrow People" became a real hit both in America and far beyond. Ziggy Marley and Melody Makers received their first Grammy Award in the Best Reggae Album category, thanks to this album. In total, during the band's entire existence, they will receive 3 Grammy Awards and many other prestigious music awards. The other two albums besides "Conscious Party" that won these awards were "One Bright Day" and "Fallen Is Babylon". The band lasted from 1979 to 2002, and during its existence, it has managed to gain immense popularity. After the band's break-up, each of the members began to do their own thing, although almost all of them remained in music.
Stephen has been very interested in producing since the mid-1990s. He understood that many of the old songs might not be suitable for the new young audience, so one of his first productions was a remix album of his father's songs. Stephen decided to make full use of the arsenal of modern music genres such as Hip-Hop, Rock, R&B, and others. To help with the updated performance, he invited artists such as Busta Rhymes, The Roots, Lauryn Hill, Guru, Chuck D, and others.
It is also worth noting that Stephen also produced his brothers' albums, namely Damian and Julian Marley. Two of the albums he produced for Damian won a Grammy, namely "Halfway Tree", which was released in 2001 and was the artist's second album, and "Welcome to Jamrock", which was the third and most popular album of the artist to date. Among the famous artists with whom Stephen worked, we can also mention Eve, Fugges, Capleton, Krayzie Bone, Mr Cheeks, and others.
Stephen's career as a producer lasted for more than ten years until he decided to try himself as a solo artist. Of course, having extensive experience in production, he efficiently managed to do this task himself for his first album. Work on the album took a long time, but in 2007 "Mind Control" was released to the general public. Even though this was only Stephen's first attempt to show himself as a solo artist, fans of the genre and music critics were delighted with such an exciting combination of traditional and completely new elements of reggae. In 2008, Mind Control won a Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album, making it his first solo career.
After such a wild success, Stephen decided to go the non-traditional way, and instead of creating a brand new album, he decided to record an acoustic version of "Mind Control". Such a seemingly strange experiment turned out to be highly successful and brought the performer a second Grammy Award as a solo artist.
When creating the next album, the artist realized that he needed to surpass the previous success and demonstrate his ability to create songs that will not be limited to one genre but remain based on reggae. Work on this album lasted for almost three years, until in 2011, "Revelation Pt. 1: The Root of Life" was released. The album quickly took the lead in most reggae rankings and even entered the Billboard 200 in the top 100. Revelation Pt. 1: The Root of Life contained 14 songs, 7 of which were in collaboration with other artists. Among them, you can see Ziggy Marley, Damian Marley, Capleton, Buju Banton, Melanie Fiona, etc. The situation was repeated almost mirrored with the previous album, and Stephen received his third solo Grammy in the Best Reggae Album category.
Almost immediately after the release of the third album, Stephen began work on the ideological sequel of Revelation Pt. 1: The Root of Life, the fourth album Revelation Pt. 2: The Fruit of Life, which was released in 2016. Although he did not gain the popularity that three previous albums gained, the songs were liked by most fans of reggae music. As of 2021, this album is the last, as Stephen focused more on production.
According to the good old tradition, the love for music is passed on in this family. Because of this, Stephen Marley's eldest son, Jo Mersa Marley, also went into music and even managed to release the EP "Comfortable" and the album "Eternal". Stephen himself appeared on several talk shows and even in the Luke Cage series, where he performed the song "Chase Dem". He currently lives in Miami and even has his own recording studio at home, where he spends much of his time.