Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley is the son of the Late great Bob Marley, and brother to Ziggy, Stephen, and Julian Marley. Like his father and brothers before him he has followed the path of Rastafari and Reggae music for his life. His first album though, Mr Marley(1996), was not a huge success infact he didn't really get much recognition at all until Halfway Tree(2001), when he won a grammy for best Reggae album. This was a huge success but even then he refused to be satisfied saying it will be a true success when Reggae wins a Grammy for Album of the Year. Now although it seems he might reach that goal. With the release of his new hard hitting album Welcome to Jamrock, Reggae has what seems to be more than a chance. Within the first week of this albums release(9/12/05UK, 9/13/05US)it sold over 86,000 copies, and has continued to sell well to this date. This albums title track Welcome to Jamrock is the wave that set all of this albums success into motion. The lyrics in the song spoke of the political violence and killings that have been going on in Jamaica, and the opression of people who live according to Rastafari. Along with the lyrics, which where all written by Jr. Gong himself, the sound/beat to the song was produced by his brother Stephan at Tuff/Gong records. The album has recieved many great praises from the press also, The New York Times declared the title track single from the album, "Welcome to Jamrock" is "an early contender for song of the decade." and the LA times said "The first two albums by Bob Marley's youngest son, Damian, made him a reggae star. His genre-bending third release takes things a step further....He's made one of the year's best albums, a stirring homage to reggae's past that's deeply, dazzlingly lodged in the present." Even with all this success though I doubt the young Marley will be satisfied yet until Rastafari is brought to eveyone's attention. You can find out more about Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley on his home page www.damianmarlymusic.com.
