Ziggy Marley & Melody Makers
b. 1968, Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies. Stephen Marley, one of Bob Marley's four children with his wife Rita Marley, started his career as one of the Melody Makers with siblings Sharon, Cedella and Stevie, whose appearance at their father's funeral in 1981 was their first introduction to the rest of the world. The following year What A Plot, released on Rita's label, was a big hit, and Ziggy's lead vocals sounded so uncannily like his late father's as to be almost frightening. The Melody Makers were allowed the time and space to mature and practise before committing themselves needlessly to vinyl—unlike so many of their Jamaican counterparts where recording activities were an economic necessity—and by the late '80s they were a headline act—especially in the USA. Their PLAY THE GAME RIGHT debut, the only album to be credited simply to the Melody Makers, included one notable excerpt from their father's songbook, Children Playing In The Street, which he had originally written for them. Despite their tender years, the record stands up to repeated listening and suggests that Marley's maturity and wisdom may well be hereditary. The album to confirm this was CONSCIOUS PARTY. Produced by Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth from Talking Heads, and featuring an inspired selection of backing musicians, the set boasted high-calibre material like Tomorrow People and We Propose, which would not have disgraced any Wailers album. ONE BRIGHT DAY is a similarly delightful collection, comprising slick dance reggae with articulate rebuttals of the South African apartheid system. 
The Melody Makers have resisted the obvious temptation to re-record too many of their father's songs, and instead forged a career in their own right. Stephen Davis recounts in his excellent book—Bob Marley— Conquering Lion Of Reggae—just how popular they are in America by detailing a short exchange between two youngsters after seeing Bob Marley on video. One's question: ‘Who's that?’, being met by the cursory response: ‘Ziggy Marley's father’. In his own lifetime Bob and the Wailers never really cracked the American market in the way that the Melody Makers have done. It must be pointed out that they are also very popular in Jamaica too—and not just because of Ziggy's lineage, though his ability to sing over his father's songs as ‘specials’ for some of Kingston's top sound systems, adapting the lyrics to espouse the prowess of a particular system, has made him widely popular. Irie FM have been known to play their favourite Ziggy songs such as Garden three times in a row when the vibes are right. Ziggy & The Melody Makers have transcended the ‘famous parent’ tag to become stars in their own right, following on from their fathers' tradition without ever leaning too heavily on it. As Bob once remarked: ‘All a my family are music’.