Ky-Mani Marley

About

Ky-Mani Ronald Marley (born 26 February 1976) is a Jamaican reggae musician. In 2001, he received a Grammy nomination for his album Many More Roads. He is the only child of the late reggae musician Bob Marley and Anita Belnavis, a Jamaican table tennis champion. He is one of Bob Marley’s 11 children.

Ky-Mani was born on 26 February 1976 out of wedlock outside of Bob’s marriage to singer Rita Marley in Falmouth, Jamaica, to Anita Belnavis and Bob Marley. When he was five years old, his father died of cancer. At the age of nine, Marley and his mother relocated to Miami, Florida. His taste in music was informed by the music he heard on American radio stations, especially hip-hop, rock, and pop. In his early youth, Marley was focused on sports. As an athlete, he competed in soccer and American football. With his mother’s direction, he received piano and guitar lessons and played trumpet in his high school band.

While a teenager, Marley started rapping and deejaying. His first single was “Unnecessary Badness”. He became inspired as a singer after being asked to sing a hook to a song during a recording session at a studio in Miami. Marley soon began…