BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – FANS of the Marley family would be happy to know that another member of that clan is making waves in the USA.
JUST as how the globally-famous Reggae superstar, the legendary Robert ‘Bob Marley’ Nesta, had inspired his sons to continue the musical tradition his family is best known for, the third generation of this family is also living up to that.
According to The Industry Cosign, the eldest son of Stephen Marley and grandson of Bob Marley, Jo Mersa is set to release his debut EP Comfortable on June 10, 2014 on the Marley family’s imprint Ghetto Youths International (GYI).
He is currently on the road performing the entire Comfortable EP as the opening act on his father’s ‘Revelation Part II: The Fruit of Life Tour’. The two-month tour spans over 30 cities in the United States and concludes in New Orleans, LA on Saturday (May 24).
The online entity noted that Jo Mersa’s ‘Comfortable’ spans Pop, Hip Hop, EDM and Dancehall influences while showcasing his deft vocals, clever songwriting and flourishing production skills.
“Each of the EP’s riddims (except for “Bogus” which was produced by his uncle Damian Marley) was created by Jo, working alongside his father’s keyboard player Llamar ‘Riff Raff’ Brown, with Stephen Marley handling the final productions,” the online media house said.
It noted that many of the EP’s songs focus on the young Marley’s personal experience with women and their complex relationships. And on the sleek electro-dancehall hybrid title track, which is also accompanied with a video, he cleverly rhymes about a budding relationship contrasted by his sweetly sung hook.
EP, an extended play, is a musical recording that contains more music than a single, but is usually too short to qualify as a full studio album. The term EP originally referred to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play (SP) records.
In highlighting some aspects of his past, The Industry Cosign stateed that Joseph ‘Jo Mersa’ Marley grew up surrounded by music. And by the time he was four years old he was appearing onstage alongside his father, his uncle Ziggy and aunts Cedella and Sharon (a.k.a. Ziggy Marley and The Melody Makers) and their children as part of the group’s rousing concert finales with him often taking the microphone and chanting the lyrics to the Melody Makers’ biggest songs.
Born in Kingston, Jamaica on March 12, 1991, Jo moved to Miami at age 11 where he keenly observed his father and his uncle Damian as they created music in Stephen’s Lion’s Den studio.
Back then, school was the priority for Jo; travelling with Ziggy and the Melody Makers was reserved for school breaks and summer vacations, yet those experiences provided first hand opportunities for him to expand his musical aspirations beyond the performance stage.
He started making beats when he was about 11 and then began focusing on his songwriting and vocal delivery.
As his career progresses, he looks forward to making his mark as an individual artiste while continuing the Marley musical legacy.
“My father calls my grandfather a magician because he was the only man who could bring peace to his country (during Jamaica’s deadly political skirmishes of the 1970s) and that’s a lot of power, influence, it’s magic, but I don’t let it get to my head,” Jo declared. “He made a big step for Jamaican music and it is time for me to add my works to it, to build on it. I am just getting started; I am just getting Comfortable.”
Speaking with Aspen Daily News Online, Jo said: “I didn't literally grow up on tour. There was a point in my life when my dad said appearance at school was important. At that time I wouldn't be on tour, I would be at home crying and wishing I was. I would be anxiously awaiting what tour I would go on next,” the young Marley explained.
Jokingly, Jo Mersa told the online media entity that his style of music is “younger” when compared with his father’s, but admitted that he gained a substantial amount of knowledge from him.
“My father is like a historian of music, so I grew up listening to a lot of people. I grew up listening to Louis Armstrong, Aretha Franklin. I grew up listening to Ray Charles, Nina Simone. Then it went into Snoop Dogg and Biggie Smalls; it's a huge catalogue,” Marley told Aspen online news.
