Bob Marley’s son Ziggy Marley has recalled the last words his father spoke to him before his death at the age of 36.
Marley died after a battle with cancer in 1981. A new biopic about the musician’s life – One Love – will be released on February 14.
His son Ziggy was 12 years old at the time of his death.
‘(He said) ‘Take me on the way up. Don’t let me down on the way down,” Ziggy, 55, said People of his father’s last words to him.
‘A father-son relationship is very deep, and it is also a spiritual thing. We share some spiritual foundation: my father, myself, my brothers and sisters. So that word means exactly what I should be doing, I am doing. It just means I don’t actually have to think about it, because I did it anyway.’
Bob Marley’s son Ziggy Marley has shared memories of his late father and the last words his father spoke to him before his death at the age of 36
Marley died after a battle with cancer in 1981. A new biopic about the musician’s life – One Love – will be released on February 14; pictured 1979
As Ziggy grew into a successful musical artist and became a father himself, his father’s final words continued to guide him through his various chapters.
He also shut down the speculations. His father’s last words were “Money can’t buy life,” telling the publication “that’s not true.”
‘Everything we do is part of the whole. It’s like we’re part of him and he’s part of us. It’s one,” Ziggy said.
‘We speak with our love, and they are not words. We don’t have to talk much, we can just feel. My smile is a tribute to him. I laugh and it looks like his laugh. Pieces of him are a part of me.”
Ziggy said his most cherished memories of his father were of the times they played together, whether boxing or playing football.
And his music is repeated in their family.
“Dad was fun,” he said. ‘He does more than I could ever do. You know what I mean. He has done so much, it will remain forever… I miss everything, but especially the presence. Even when I don’t miss him, I listen to him. His songs are always playing. When I go to my mother’s house, the music is on. Bob is on. Music is always there.’
Ziggy believes his father would smile ‘proudly’ if he saw the new biopic.
The Could You Be Loved singer performs around 1970
“He would laugh, but such a proud smile,” he explained. ‘He always wanted to make a film. He was a creative person. He wanted to make a western. There are a lot of sides (to him) that people don’t really know about. They will see those sides (in One Love) and connect with those sides,” he said.
Ziggy followed in his father’s footsteps and became a musician himself.
The Grammy-winning artist said he has experienced “a little deja vu” when performing in the venues where his father once performed.
A new biopic about iconic reggae singer One Love is scheduled for release on February 14
Bob had eleven children with seven different partners.
Ziggy, an eight-time Grammy winner, is the son of Marley and his wife Rita Marley. His half-brother Damian Marley is also an acclaimed musician.
“Sometimes I play places where my dad might have played, Santa Barbara Bowl or something like that. And you have a little bit of a deja vu vibe and you’re imagining something like, ‘Oh yeah, this is where my dad played.’
“At that time you sometimes think about him or what it was like for him to be here, to have the experience that I have now. I wonder if the feeling is the same, or the same atmosphere or the same energy.’
The film, released on February 14, 2024, stars Kingsley Ben-Adir, 37, as the legendary musician and Lashana Lynch, 36, as his wife Rita.
Kingsley Ben-Adir stars as the legendary musician
Ziggy followed in his father’s footsteps and became a musician himself
Bob pioneered the reggae music genre by integrating elements of ska and rocksteady to create his own form of world music that he considered “for the people.”
During his illustrious career, Marley recorded 13 studio albums, starting with The Wailing Wailers (1965) and ending with Confrontation (1983), the only album released posthumously.
His many classic hits include Redemption Song, One Love, Could You Be Loved, Exodus, No Woman No Cry, Is This Love and Jamming.