Jo Mersa Marley performs onstage during the Caribbean Village Festival at Miramar Regional Park Amphitheater on June 23, 2019, in Miramar, Florida. Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nHis grandfather was a pioneer in the reggae movement and known for songs including \u201cEverything\u2019s Gonna Be Alright,\u201d \u201cGet Up, Stand Up,\u201d \u201cIs This Love,\u201d \u201cI Shot the Sheriff,\u201d \u201cNo Woman, No Cry\u201d and more.<\/p>\n
Bob Marley\u00a0died in 1981\u00a0of melanoma at only 36. He had 11 children with seven different women.<\/p>\n
Stephen Marley additionally has a daughter, Mystic Marley,\u00a0who is also a musician. Stephen\u2019s siblings include musician Ziggy Marley and entrepreneur Rohan Marley.<\/p>\n
Jo Mersa spent his early years in Jamaica before he moved to Florida in high school. He studied studio engineering at Miami Dade College, according to a 2014 Jamaica Observer story.<\/p>\n
He released an EP, \u201cComfortable,\u201d in 2014 that\u00a0included the title track.<\/p>\n
In a 2021 interview\u00a0with the Jamaica Gleaner,\u00a0timed to his second EP \u201cEternal\u201d \u2014 which featured Melii, Black-Am-I, Busy Signal and Kabaka Pyramid \u2014 Jo Mersa opened up about his songwriting prowess.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn all honesty, it depends on the vibe because sometimes you will have a tune or idea, like a whole tune is in your head but no beat, and other times, you have a beat and no tune,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s for me, of course. I can\u2019t speak for everyone. Some songs I am able to finish in a night, and some take longer.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the 2014 Jamaica Observer story, he suggested that following in his father\u2019s footsteps was challenging.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father has created a legacy by putting out songs with meaning,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s something I have to live up to.\u201d<\/p>\n
He did claim in another interview, though, that there was \u201cno pressure\u201d to live up to his last name.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s things that you have to overcome and things you just have to do and that\u2019s how it is. We have to go through life you know? There\u2019s no pressure for me,\u201d he\u00a0told the entertainment site the Pier\u00a0that same year. \u201cI give thanks for being a Marley. I\u2019m very appreciative and thankful that I am born where I am born and put where God has decided. I\u2019m very thankful about it and proud.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nHe\u00a0also opened up\u00a0about his grandfather\u2019s legacy in 2021, saying that his family often looked back on it year after year on the anniversary of his death.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe always hear those reflections, speaking about those things, about the role that he played not only as family member and father, but also in the world and the impact he had on the Reggae community and the Reggae culture, the roots, bringing forward the message of Rastafari and love, over all love,\u201d he told Reggaeville.<\/p>\n
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![\"Bob](\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/image-294.png\" "\\"Bob")