Ziggy Marley was born as David Nesta Marley on October 17, 1968, in Kingston, Jamaica. The oldest son of reggae great Bob Marley, Ziggy Marley has continued the family’s involvement in the music scene, making a name for himself as one of the genre’s leading artists in the process. He spent some of his early years growing up in Trench Town, one of Kingston’s poorest neighborhoods as his father tried to make a success of his band, the Wailers (later Bob Marley and the Wailers). A singer in her own right, his mother joined the group in the mid-1970s.

Also in his youth, Marley spent some time in Wilmington, Delaware, where his younger brother Stephen was born in 1972. He already had an older sister, Cedella, and an older half-sister, Sharon, from his mother’s previous relationship. The four siblings recorded their first song together, “Children Playing in the Streets,” in 1979. Written by their father, the single addressed the horrible poverty that many children in Jamaica were living in. Royalties from the song were donated to the United Nations Children’s Fund.

Ziggy Marley made a name for himself as one of the genre’s leading artists. Ziggy and his siblings formed the band Melody Makers in 1981 after their father’s death. Their 1988 album, Conscious Party, won a Grammy and helped the group break through to mainstream audiences. After a few more successful albums with the band, Marley began a solo career in 2006.

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