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• Mr. Marley's official site
• "Ziggy Marley For Kids"
• Little Kids Rock

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Singer-songwriter explains why he owns and manages his own art. (1:53)
 

Full interview. (12:38)
 

Tavis: Pleased to welcome Ziggy Marley to this program. The four-time Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, and producer is out soon with his first-ever reggae project aimed specifically at kids. The new CD is called "Family Time." It is indeed a family affair, as both his mother and daughter appear on the CD, as do a couple of other artists - people named Paul Simon, (laughs) Willie Nelson. That's the best you could do? (Laughter) Here now, some of the video from the title track, "Family Time."

[Clip]

Tavis: Ziggy, nice to see you.

Ziggy Marley: Yes, Tavis.

Tavis: You been all right, man?

Marley: Yeah, yeah, good, good.

Tavis: How your mama doing?

Marley: Mama fine - everyone's fine.

Tavis: She's on the CD.

Marley: Yeah, yeah.

Tavis: So you got your mother, you got your sister, your daughter. How old's the baby?

Marley: She's three.

Tavis: She's three, and she's singing on the record?

Marley: Yeah, man, she's very musical, very artistic.

Tavis: Come on, Ziggy. (Laughter) You got the baby singing at three, Ziggy?

Marley: Straight - there's no overdub, no cuts. She's an artist, yeah.

Tavis: What do you make of the fact that with every generation of this Marley family it just keeps coming?

Marley: I don't know. I think I could say it's in the blood, but I really don't know. I really don't know what it is. But something is there, yeah, yeah.

Tavis: So she's three, singing on the project. When did you first hear her spitting out notes?

Marley: Well, when she was born I was doing the record before this, which was "Love is my Religion." So she was always in the studio with me, and she loves to dance and she's very independent-minded and she has good rhythm, she keeps notes, she has good - she keep her notes (unintelligible). And she start - she just sing. Every time I was writing the songs, she picks up very quickly on the words and just sing along with me.

Tavis: So on this particular project, take me inside the studio and tell me how you got her on the record (laughter) to do her part. How did Daddy coach and train his baby to do the project?

Marley: Well, she started at home, as I said, so she was there when I was writing all these songs. She was a big inspiration for the record. A lot of the songs that I wrote for the record was written from experiences with her or conversations with her.

So she came in the studio - she loves coming to the studio - and I said, "You're going to sing on this song for me, right?" And she was, like, "No, no, I don't -" she kind of shy. I said, "No, come on, man." And that wasn't even her best performance. I've heard her do much better than that. But she kind of reluctantly, "Okay, I'll do it for you." (Laughter)

Tavis: Tell me the - I know these songs, you mentioned, were inspired by her, but why a concept album aimed at young people? Why an album aimed at family?

Marley: Well, I think the reason why I chose to do this was because of the idea that our music that we do, there's a reason for it, and the reason is to inspire and to get people aware, conscious. And what I understood from doing this is that the kids have open minds, and the cliché is the children are the future. It's true. If we can reach the children, then we have a better future than if I'm just trying to reach people at my age who kind of have the mind set already in stone.

Kids are easily inspired and are easily molded, so if we can get positive messages to them from the youngest age, then we are investing in the future.

Tavis: Is it the lyric, is it the collaboration, what is it about the project that makes it something that appeals specifically to young people? Does that make sense?

Marley: Yeah, yeah. What it is is that it's the first record that I have ever done that my mind-set was - the whole thing writing was kids, that was in my mind - children.

Tavis: Right, the whole time, yeah.

Marley: So usually when I write songs I'm not thinking about anything in particular like the audience, what particular audience. But this time I was thinking children, that's the audience, and that's what was in my mind. So that's what makes this record different.

Tavis: There are a couple of songs on here that may best illustrate that. If I give you the song title and ask you to tell me about the record, it may make the point better and more clear about how and why it is, in fact, an album for children. Track number eight is called "ABC." Tell me about "ABC."

Marley: Yeah, "ABC." Well, we all grew up with ABCs.

Tavis: Yeah, exactly. (Laughter)

Marley: So I kind of thought, let me do an ABC but let me put - instead of A is for apple, let me do A is for Africa. Africa is where the human race comes from, so let's start teaching the children the first A really is Africa - that's the first A. And then I went - so I just kind of made it up and tried to put words like unity - tried to give different concepts of the alphabet that would kind of explain these ideas that I have, or ideas that I think would be important to kids to learn and to be a part of their whole growing up - unity and variety and love and stuff like that. The last letter is Z, which is for Ziggy. (Laughter)

Tavis: I wasn't about to go there. Teach the children about Ziggy. That Ziggy makes records, and you should buy Ziggy's records. Which takes me to track number five, which is a song called "Ziggy Says." Tell me about "Ziggy Says."

Marley: Well, again, it goes back to my childhood with Simon Says, right? Simon says whatever, do this. So "Ziggy Says" is a little bit more conscious than Simon. Ziggy says, "Make the sign of peace." Ziggy says, "Smile." Simple stuff like that, which is kind of taking it another step in teaching kids, not just silly Simon Says. Something more constructive and positive.

Tavis: One more. Track number 13 is written by a woman named Jamie Lee Curtis. I love Jamie; she's been on this program before. And the song is called, "Is There Really a Human Race?" Tell me about this track written by Jamie.

Marley: It's not a song, it's a book. She write kids' book, and I met Jamie many years ago. I was on a set doing a movie - they wanted me to do music for the movie. So she and I first spoke about doing a kids' record, and then when I was doing this I was saying, "Yo, I have to call Jamie, see if she's still interested in doing this."

And she was. She's so cool. So she write these books and they're very similar to my idea where she's telling the kids important concepts and ideas. "Is There Really a Human Race?" is a story about what is really this human race that we try to divide each other in races and stuff like that? So I was really happy that she did this.

Tavis: Is there something beyond having a three-year-old - what I'm getting at, is there something happening to children in Jamaica or something you see happening to children around the world that made this project a timely project for you?

Marley: Yeah. Watching a lot of the children's programming or listening to a lot of children's music, I think there's a void of what I'm doing. There's a little there, but there's not enough, and so I want to fill that void with more things for kids that is not always goofy or silly. Reality - a little reality, a little consciousness, a little life lesson.

And what I believe is that the kids of today are much more aware and much more ready to absorb more concepts than we were when we were kids. These kids of today are much more - I don't know, they're quicker, they're brighter, they're seeing more, they're exposed to more. So I think we should be able to lift the bar a little bit.

Tavis: I don't know why I keep thinking this, but I keep seeing Ziggy on PBS. (Laughter) On daytime programming for the kids. You heard it here first, watch. Somebody at PBS is going to say, "Yeah, that's not a bad idea, Tavis," and go give Ziggy a TV show talking to kids on PBS. Move out the way, Barney - here comes Ziggy.

How are you enjoying the solo thing? Those of us who love your music, we loved Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers, and now Ziggy's done two or three solo projects. How are you finding the solo stuff? You like it?

Marley: Yeah, man, I've grown into liking it. What it has done for me is it has made me become a better man just generally, because I left the fold, I left the pride, the family pride, and I went out on my own. So I grew as a man, and it has made me stronger and it has taught me a lot of things that I probably would not have learned if I was within the confine of the community.

When you're on your own, it's a whole different thing out there. So I'm happy. I'm happy about it, and everything I've learned I've brought back into the family and said, "Hey, this is what I've learned, check this out. I've been out there. You guys, you're still within the fold, but I've been out there and these are the things I'm learning on my own that would probably benefit the family."

Tavis: What's amazing about that story, for those who know the back story to your career, which I find fascinating, is that when you were doing the Melody Makers thing you were urged, and quite frankly they tried to push you earlier than you decided to go solo. The record company and the powers that be wanted to push you out earlier and you wouldn't go because family was so important to you.

This concept about this album, "Family Time," isn't just Ziggy with some cute concept. Ziggy really is into family, and you didn't go earlier because you didn't want to leave your family.

Marley: Yeah, I'm a part of the community. I'm really not a soloist.

Tavis: Yeah, yeah. You're not a solo kind of guy, yeah.

Marley: I'm not like me, me, me. This is not about me, me, me, but I think in my life I believe that everything happens for a reason, and I think this is for a reason. And even though I'm solo I still don't leave my family. It's still not about me; it's still about the family, so we keep that intact all the time.

Tavis: This record, released on your father's record label?

Marley: Yeah.

Tavis: The label he started.

Marley: The label he started.

Tavis: Exactly.

Marley: But I am kind of fulfilling it, completing the dream, because he wasn't able to do it. It's independent, we're free and our own masters. It's the ultimate dream for artists, to own their own creation.

Tavis: So what did the baby think when she heard herself on this?

Marley: (Laughs) She love it. (Makes noise) (Laughter) She love it, man, she love it. She's shy, though; she don't want to do it. But I wanted her to do it because she's really - she have something.

Tavis: Yeah. Well, one day - you know how life works. She's shy now, she doesn't want to do it, but you finally get her on the stage, she'll be trying to steal the show. (Laughter) Daddy'll be trying to get the mic back and she won't relinquish it. You know that day is coming, don't you?

Marley: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. True, true, true. (Laughter)

Tavis: One day she'll just take over the doggone thing. Anyway, Ziggy Marley has a new project out; it's called "Family Time." His sister, his mama, his baby, Jamie Lee Curtis, Paul Simon, Willie Nelson - his extended family on this project, and you might want to add it to your collection. Ziggy, good to see you.

Marley: Yeah, man, thanks.

Tavis: Tell your mother I said hello.

Marley: Yeah, man, (unintelligible) love, love.

Tavis: Love you back.