Bob Marley’s son Ziggy Marley has recalled the final words his father spoke to him before his death at age 36.
Marley passed following a battle with cancer in 1981. A new biopic about the life of the musician – One Love – is set to be released on February 14.
His son Ziggy was 12-years-old at the time of his death.
‘[He said] “On your way up, take me up. On your way down, don’t let me down,”‘ Ziggy, 55, told People of his father’s last words to him.
‘A father-son relationship is very deep, and it’s a spiritual thing also. We share a certain spiritual foundation—my father, myself, my brothers and my sisters. So that word means exactly what I’m supposed to be doing, I’m doing. It just mean that I don’t have to think about it, really, because I was doing it anyway.’
Bob Marley’s son Ziggy Marley has shared memories of his late father and the last words his father spoke to him prior to his death at age 36
Marley passed following a battle with cancer in 1981. A new biopic about the life of the musician – One Love – is set to be released on February 14; pictured 1979
As Ziggy grew into a successful musical artist and father himself, his dad’s final words to him have continued to guide him throughout his various chapters.
He also shut down speculation his father’s last words were ‘Money can’t buy life’, telling the publication ‘that’s not true.’
‘Everything we do is a part of the whole. It’s like we’re a part of him, and he’s a part of us. It’s one,’ Ziggy said.
‘We speak with our love, and it’s not words. We don’t have to talk much—we can just feel. My smile is honoring him. I laugh and it looks like his laugh. Pieces of him are a part of me.’
Ziggy said his most cherished memories of his father involved the moments they played around with each other, whether they were boxing or playing football.
And his music is on repeat in their family.
‘Daddy was fun,’ he said. ‘Him do more than me could ever do. You know what I’m saying. He did so much, it’s going to be lasting forever… I miss everything, but mainly the presence. Even when I don’t miss him, I listen to him. His songs are always playing. When I go to my mother’s house, music is on. Bob is on. Music is always around.’
Ziggy believes his father would let out a ‘proud’ laugh if he were able to see the new biopic.
The Could You Be Loved singer performing circa 1970
‘He would laugh, but one of those proud laughs,’ he explained. ‘He always wanted to make a movie. He was a creative person. He wanted to make a Western. There’s a lot of sides [to him] that people don’t really know. They will see those sides [in One Love] and they will connect with those sides,’ he said.
Ziggy has followed in his father’s footsteps and become a musician himself.
The Grammy winning artist said he has experienced ‘a little deja vu’ whenever he is playing in the venues his father once performed at.
A new biopic about the iconic reggae singer, One Love, is set for release on February 14
Bob had 11 children with seven different partners.
An eight time Grammy winner, Ziggy is the son of Marley and his wife Rita Marley. His half-brother Damian Marley is also an acclaimed musician.
‘Sometimes I play some places where my father might have played, too, Santa Barbara Bowl or something like that. And you have a little deja vu type of vibe and you imagine something like, ‘Oh yeah, this is where my father played.’
‘In those times, sometimes you think of him or what it was like for him to be here, to have the experience that I’m having now. I wonder if the feel is the same, or the same vibe or the same energy.’
The film – released on February 14, 2024 – stars Kingsley Ben-Adir, 37, as the legendary musician and Lashana Lynch, 36, as his wife Rita.
Kingsley Ben-Adir stars as the legendary musician
Ziggy has followed in his father’s footsteps and become a musician himself
Bob pioneered the reggae music genre by incorporating elements of ska and rocksteady to create his own form of world music that he considered to be ‘for the people.’
During his illustrious career, Marley recorded 13 studio albums, beginning with The Wailing Wailers (1965), and ending with Confrontation (1983), which was the only album to be released posthumously.
Among his many scores of classic hits are Redemption Song, One Love, Could You Be Loved, Exodus, No Woman No Cry, Is This Love, and Jamming.
