Sharon Marley Says Rita Marley Should Become National Hero If Bob Is To Become One

December 21, 2021

The daughter of Rita Marley and legendary reggae singer Bob Marley on Saturday was interviewed on the Onstage program by Winford Williams, and not surprisingly she was asked by the host to give her opinion on Bob Marley becoming a National Hero.

This is coming just a week after Floyd Morris issued a notice in the Upper House of the Jamaican Parliament that he will be moving towards a motion to have the reggae legend among other iconic Jamaicans such as Jimmy Cliff, Louise Bennett Coverly, and Usain Bolt be honoured as National heroes by the next Independence day in 2022.

In response to the question posed to her by Winford Williams, Sharon Marley saw no reason for her father not to be made a national hero however in a twist, the former Melody maker singer says she thinks her mother should also be appointed a National hero, based on her contributions made towards Jamaica and the African diaspora.

She also mentioned that in Ethiopia the King and Queen were crowned at the same time, and as such she thinks that the two should be bestowed with the honour at the same time. Sharon Marley spoke to the fact that it was always a dream of Bob Marley for them to have a place in Africa, which she explained to Winford Williams that her mother ensured it happened, taking on their father’s vision as her mission in addition to raising her siblings and herself.

Alpharita Constania Anderson whose more commonly known as ‘Rita Marley’ was born on July 25, 1946, in Cuba to parents Cynthia Jarett and Leroy Anderson, Rita was later adopted by her Aunt Viola, and living in Trench Town Jamaica where she met the Reggae legend when they were just teenagers.

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Rita Marley in her career has released several albums such as “Who Feels it Knows it”, “We Must Carry On” that she got a Grammy nomination for and “Harambe” however her best work was the 1982 single “One Draw” which sold over 2 million copies globally which also helped make the song become the first Reggae single to reach number one on the Billboard charts.

The honourable Order Of Distinction was bestowed upon her in the year 1996 and 2011 she was given a Marcus Garvey lifetime Award and not only has she gotten her recognition in Jamaica but also in Africa as well, in 2004 she won the personality of the year award in Ghana.

In the Onstage interview, the official business that Sharon Marley was on was the promotion of her first solo recording music video for a track entitled “Just one more morning” which is a cover rendition of her mother’s 1998 version. The track was done in celebration of her mother’s 75th birthday.

The track was produced by Soul Rebel who is also her nephew, from the label Tek Time Music, and the song makes it the first time in 20 years that Sharon has done any recording. She is well known for her contributions to the Melody Makers group that used to sing alongside her sister Cedella and brothers Ziggy and Stephen Marley.

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Watch the full interview below.