It took 45 years, but with the release of Ziggy Marley‘s new album “Brightside,” the oldest son of the late reggae star Bob Marley has written a song for his father.
“Many mourn for Bob,” Marley sings, using the title phrase of the lovely song. “When it’s time to have some fun, you find the tears run on down through your face.”
Marley, who headlines Reggae Night XXIV with Burning Spear, one of his father’s longtime friends, and his daughter Zuri Marley, says the song emerged from reflections on the lives of his father and himself.
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Reggae singer-songwriter Ziggy Marley headlines Reggae Night XXIV at the Hollywood Bowl on Sunday, June 21, 2026, with reggae star Burning Spear and Marley’s daughter Zuri Marley. In addition, he released “Brightside,” a new solo album, recently which includes the single, “Many Mourn for Bob,” Ziggy Marley’s first-ever song written for his late father the reggae legend Bob Marley. (Photo by Zach Weinger / Tuff Gong Worldwide)
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Reggae singer-songwriter Ziggy Marley headlines Reggae Night XXIV at the Hollywood Bowl on Sunday, June 21, 2026, with reggae star Burning Spear and Marley’s daughter Zuri Marley. In addition, he released “Brightside,” a new solo album, recently which includes the single, “Many Mourn for Bob,” Ziggy Marley’s first-ever song written for his late father the reggae legend Bob Marley. (Photo by Zach Weinger / Tuff Gong Worldwide)
“It was going back to memories,” Marley, 57, says on a recent Zoom chat. “And then also taking a deeper look into myself as a human being, and also into him.
“What we go through as human beings, and just feeling a little empathy,” he says. “Fame, and what he went through as a person, as a human being.
“I felt that this was a part of his own voice in those words, you know? Part of him was represented in my own words. It’s not just me. I feel like some of it was coming from him also.”
The opening words of “Many Mourn for Bob” are his own from a 1977 interview the singer gave, talking about his Rastafarian faith after an assassination attempt a year earlier.
“He said two things,” Ziggy Marley says of the clips he incorporated as the introduction to the song. “He said if they kill him today, many more Rasta will rise up.
“And the guy said to him, ‘Why do they want to kill you, Bob?’” he continues. “And he said, ‘Because them don’t know.’ And then the song kind of starts.”
Later, Marley sings of the death of his father from the perspective of his children.
“May 11th came, and the children said, ‘Where will we turn?” he sings, noting the date when cancer took Bob Marley’s life, Ziggy himself a 12-year-old boy on that day in 1981.
“I’m conscious of it,” Marley says of the anniversary of his father’s death. “Because I remember that day, you know. That day is never going to leave my consciousness. So I remember that day.”
His commemoration of it varies from year to year, though his father is never far from his mind.
“It depends, it depends, it depends,” Marley says when asked what he does on May 11 each year. “Sometimes it is a quick thought of what it was. But I think every day there’s a connection. There’s never not a connection.
“So I don’t know, sometimes you have memories. You just go back to your memories. That’s it.”
In an interview edited for length and clarity, Marley discussed why it took six years to release a new solo album, how the Bob Marley biopic influenced what he wants to do next, and why he views Burning Spear, who plays with him at the Hollywood Bowl, as another father figure.
Q: What inspired you to make a new album after six years?
A: It’s been a long time since I’ve done it, and during the time, you know, I spent two years on the Bob Marley movie. And that was a good experience creatively. Being around that was a good experience. So I don’t know, coming out of that gave me some ideas about music, and drama in music, and just visualizing music in a way.
I think that was part of the spark. Like, “I feel creative, let me go do something.” But while I was there, I was writing songs. I’ve been writing songs all the time.
Then I started building a studio, my own studio, so I wouldn’t have to go anywhere else. That was also something new. That was another spark again, and the music was just flowing really nicely. My intention, it was very clear. I just felt like it was a perfect time in there.
Q: In addition to “Many Mourn for Bob,” you’ve also released “Racism is a Killa” as a single. Tell me about that one.
A: Well, it was all the things. That’s the idea I’ve been working on for many, many, many years. Like it’s been in my subconscious, and I’ve seen it. I’ve seen it in history, it’s in the news, it’s the present day. So it’s a truth.
And it’s the way I want to say the truth, like, “Yo!” But then we put it in a way that it’s not just about an individual or a type of people. It’s a virus. It’s a disease. That is the way I wanted to relate to it, that it is really a sickness.
Q: Let’s talk about your studio, Rebel Lion, which was just finished recently. Is it at your home or is it a standalone studio?
A: I’ve always had a little area [at his Los Angeles home] where that is a nice space. I still work from home sometimes. That’s where I did most of my vocals. I wanted to be alone. I didn’t want to be in a studio and have people watching me work. I wanted to be alone. I went back home to get that original feeling that I had when I was writing the songs.
The studio, it’s a nice space because usually when I have my home studio, sometimes I still would have to go to a bigger studio to do things. I’ve always wanted my own space like this, and also to rehearse. I usually have to rent a rehearsal space. Now I have my own space just like I saw my father had his own space. It’s the same thing in a way.
Q: I wanted to ask about Burning Spear [the stage name of Winston Rodney] at the Bowl. He’s 81, the age your father would have been today. What’s it like to play shows with him?
A: We did a tour with him last year, right before I came into the studio. And we’re going to meet again. But Burning Spear is like one of my fathers, you know? Like I have fathers. My father is my No. 1, but then there’s other fathers too that I look upon as fathers. And Burning Spear is one of those men. He knows us from when we were little boys, little kids.
He was around my father, a good friend. My father gave him – the story he told me, he saw my father in the country one day and told him he wanted to make music. And Bob said, “All right, go to this address and go to this guy and tell him I sent you.” And he told me that’s how he got his first song. [He laughs]
Q: That’s great. It must feel good to still have people like him around.
A: Oh, yeah, man. It’s very cool, a very cool thing. We are so thankful.
Q: And your daughter Zuri will be at the Bowl with you, too?
A: Zuri’s an artist. She’s not just a musician; she’s an artist. She does acting; she does DJing. She loves music, and it’s going to be fun. She’ll DJ for it.
Q: Now that the studio is finished and the album is out, what are you looking to do next creatively?
A: I want the visual stuff. I’m in L.A. here. This is Hollywood. I was like, “I need some visual stuff.” It really sparked my interest, because I like movies and I watch movies, but also I like doing things differently and trying things. So, yeah, my own visual perspective in film and short films, that’s where I want to go next.
Q: Your U.R.G.E. Foundation [Unlimited Resources Giving Enlightenment] is 20 next year. Tell me what kinds of thing you’re involved with there.
A: The latest thing we did was help out with some home building in Jamaica, which had a bad hurricane. But generally, what we do is we kind of adopt schools. A school like a kindergarten and early childhood development schools, and help out teachers salaries or lunch or whatever. So we focus on education with children mainly.
But food programs, too. We’ll partner with other organizations a lot. In L.A., we’ll partner with HOLA [Heart of Los Angeles] We’ll be with a foundation named Food for the Poor in Jamaica and another called BossMom, and we’ll just try to help each other out and do good in the community.