Jr Gong honoured by Grammy nomination
Despite walking away with the MOBO Award for Best Reggae act of 2017 on Wednesday, Damian ‘Jr Gong’ Marley admitted that he is among a group of strong contenders for the 2018 Grammy in the category of Best Reggae Album. “Some good albums are in the category this year. Chronixx put out a really nice album, which I listen to as a fan. I like that album a whole heap,” he told THE STAR. “Morgan Heritage, who are close family friends of mine, they have a good album out too, likewise J Boog. I am not so familiar with Common Kings, but everybody else I kinda know them music and we are all friends,” he added. Marley, who said that he drew on his parents’ story of moving from humble beginnings and working to ensure that their upcoming generations could have a better upbringing than what they had for his Stony Hill album, believes that all contenders have an equal chance of winning the Grammy.
“From you are nominated, you stand a strong chance. I have a one in five chance just like everybody else,” he said.
COLLABORATIVE WORKS
And speaking about his recent win at the MOBO Awards, Marley says “You work hard making music, so when it is acknowledged, you feel good, even though you don’t make the music with that in mind, but it always feel good to win an award.”
And, although it has been more than 10 years since his last solo album, he said the reason for the long gap was that he was involved in a number of collaborative works.
“I dropped other albums in between because I did an album with Nas. I did another album with Mick Jagger, but it has been 12 years since the last solo album which was (Welcome to) Jamrock,” he explained.
However, he said it won’t take that long before he releases another solo album.
And in addition to touring the US, Marley celebrated the fact that Stony Hill allowed him to tour Africa.
“We went to Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa and Mauritius island and it was cool and that is what we were proud of with that trip ... we were able to do more than one show in Africa,” he said.