Reggae’s most sought after superstar Damian ‘Jr. Gong’ Marley will bring the curtain down on the highly anticipated Groovin In The Park festival that takes place on Sunday, June 24 inside Roy Wilkins Park in New York. The tremendously popular decision to add Marley to the lineup was confirmed earlier.
The son of two celebrities- reggae icon Bob Marley and former Miss World 1976 Cindy Brakespeare – cemented his own place in the annals of music history when he became the first reggae artist to win a GRAMMY outside of the “reggae” category, taking home an award for ‘Best Urban/Alternative’ performance for his single, “Welcome To Jamrock.”
The acclaimed international reggae/dancehall superstar is a fixture on Billboard’s Reggae Digital Singles chart. ‘Welcome to Jamrock,’ from his Grammy winning album of the same name was certified gold in the United States. The single was listed as one of the ‘Top 100 Songs Of The Decade’ by Rolling Stone Magazine. Popular track from the disc include ‘Pimpa’s Paradise,’ ‘Confrontation’ and ‘Hey Girl.’
The success of ‘Road To Zion,’ the 2nd US single from the ‘Welcome to Jamrock’ album inspired his 2010 Distant Relatives project, a collaborative album with Nas. The album’s title reflected not only the bond between the artists, but the connection to their African ancestry.
He partnered with Skrillex on the groundbreaking track ‘Make It Bun Dem.’ The song sold over 350,000 downloads and enjoyed success in Austria, Belgium, Sweden and New Zealand. The song was one of four tracks with Marley that graced the Billboard chart in 2005 including ‘Road to Zion’, ‘Patience’ (with Nas) and ‘Welcome to Jamrock.’
Marley was in the news a few days ago when R&B icon Babyface declared in an interview that Marley was the reggae artist he would most like to collaborate with.
Other headliners booked for Groovin In The Park 2018 are Kenny ‘Babyface’ Edmonds, Busy Signal, Capleton, Romain Virgo, JC Lodge, Marcia Aitken and Pam Hall.
