Ziggy Marley I Remember…

Jamaican musician Ziggy Marley, 50, is a seventime Grammy winner, humanitarian and the son of reggae icon, Bob Marley. He looks back on his turbulent childhood in Jamaica, growing up in Rastafari culture and parenthood

- Eva Mackevic

…GROWING UP IN TRENCH TOWN, JAMAICA, which was then called “The Ghetto” because it was a very poor area. Some of my earliest memories are playing football with the neighbourhood kids. In those days, we didn’t have internet or video games, so we’d just go outside, play games and pick mangoes and bananas. When my parents started earning more money from music, we moved to a slightly better community.

…MY MOTHER HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE GLUE THAT HELD EVERYTHING TOGETHER. Without her, things would fall apart. She’s a very strong woman and the things I saw her do as a child impressed me and set an example for me. Jamaica was going through a rough time in the 1970s; there were riots in the streets, people blocking the roads, burning tyres and cars—there was political tension and it was a very volatile situation. Once, mum picked us up from school but we couldn’t get home because these guys were blocking the road with old cars. She stopped in front of them, got out of the car and started arguing with them. I was watching them from the car, frightened, as I could see there was a lot of tension. But, somehow, she talked them down, they broke up the barrier, let us through and we got home safely. She’s a brave woman and that moment inspired me to be as strong as she is.

…SPENDING TIME WITH MY FATHER. He’d do fun activities with us like racing, and he’d always get to the finish line first, he’d never let us win! He was so competitive. He also used to take us to Saint Ann, which is the countryside of Jamaica, where he was born. He’d wake us up in the middle of the night and drive us there—I really enjoyed those rides.