Its 2:30pm on a weekday in Miami, Florida and Cedella Marley is in a great mood.
In just a few months, the Olympics kit she partnered with Puma to design for the Jamaican Olympic team, will be worn by several athletes taking part in track and field, and for Cedella, it’s a huge accomplishment.
“It looks beautiful and it fits wonderfully,” she states. “We showed it a couple of months ago in New York for editors and I am flying to London in June to show it over there. I can say it’s one of my proudest moments,” adds the 44 year-old entrepreneur, who although had creative control for the designs, had to adhere to strict guidelines decided by the Olympic Committee.
“I would have loved to have gone a little crazier, but they have very strict rules and you really have to go by them,” she continues. “I wanted different cuts in the garment, which wasn’t allowed, but I am just glad I had the opportunity to do it.”
In a career that has taken her from the stage as singer for The Melody Makers to the runway as a fashion designer, Della, as she’s affectionately known, is finally stepping out of the shadows of her famous father.
The eldest daughter of reggae icon Robert Nesta Marley, Cedella was born with a platinum spoon in her mouth and is under no pressure to do anything at all. Yet she has worked hard to become quite accomplished in her own right.
She’s the CEO of Tuff Gong International, the record label founded by her father, director of The Bob Marley Foundation, a wife and mother to 3 young boys (aged 17, 15 and 8) and a proud owner and designer of two clothing labels.
“I still have so much to do,” she admits. “The last couple of years have been very hectic and now everything is getting into a zen like type of vibe, so I will be more able to really do my creative stuff.”
Getting to know her doesn’t require much prying. She’s genial, refreshingly candid and completely carefree. Still, there are times that she will admit the frustrations and daily nuances of running several businesses can drive her insane.
“Some days you don’t have a worry in the world and you don’t have any bootleggers popping up or somebody threatening to sue you,” she shares. “Those are the good days. Most days, you do have the drama and have to deal with a lot of crap, but I do it smilingly.”
Cedella is also a published author of several children’s books (One Love, The Boy from Nine Miles and Three Little Birds), which are based on her father’s songs and delicately balances the management of the Marley family’s numerous businesses with running the casual wear collection Catch A Fire, named after her father’s first album for Island Records. There’s also the swimwear collection High Tide, which she recently launched, and the family’s social networking/charity website 1Love.org that she oversees.
“I don’t think I can ever reach a plateau where I’m like this is it, I don’t have that type of personality. I’m always trying to do something else. I am supposed to be doing something with Caribbean Fashion week in London soon and we are going to keep building High Tide. It’s been getting great response, and the one thing I love about the swimwear collection is that it is $28 for a two piece so it is very affordable.”
As director of the Bob Marley Foundation, Cedella supervises a range of programs that provide resources to various institutions, including Kingston’s Bustamante Children’s Hospital and Victoria Jubilee Hospital, where she and some of her siblings were born.
“We are rebuilding the ward where we were born and naming it the Marley ward,” she chimes in. “I try to do great things for different people and help people who are in need. I am passionate about that.”
Cedella’s main focus is preserving the brand and image rights of her famous father’s legacy, a legacy that was almost lost in the early 90s in a bitter court battle when Jamaica’s Supreme Court approved a sale of the assets of the Marley estate.
“Everyone, even our own lawyers were encouraging us not to fight it,” recalls Cedella. “But I got on the phone and started to call people to lend us some money. I called everybody from Michael Jackson to Steve Wonder and the last person I could think of going to, although he was in the bidding, was Chris Blackwell (Island Records President). I said to him, could you not bid and just lend us the money. He did and that was how we can sit here and watch daddy’s legacy continue to grow, because we had to fight for it. This isn’t something that was handed to us. It was something we had to fight for and preserve.”
The Tuff Gong group of companies includes a recording studio in Kingston, Jamaica, which is utilized by the island’s top reggae artists and producers. Tuff Gong also houses a (vinyl) record and CD manufacturing plant, an analog and digital mastering room, a worldwide distribution network, a wholesale and retail record outlet, even a book division.
“We have been diligent about protecting his legacy over the years,” adds Cedella who along with her brother Ziggy, can be seen sharing memories of their father in Marley, a new documentary about Bob Marley.
“We have never done a documentary on dad and I just think now is as good a time as anytime,” she explains. “It has always been told by somebody else and what we wanted from this one was for it to be different,” says Cedella, who was only 13 when her iconic father died of cancer in 1981.
“I was being nosey,” she sadly recalls on hearing the news of Bob’s death. “Ziggy and I had seen dad the day before, and we really thought he was going to pull through. The phone rang at my grandmother’s house and my uncle picked up, but I picked it up too. That was how I heard. I dropped the phone and just ran out and screaming.”
Directed by Kevin Macdonald, Marley offers an impassioned biography of the musician who rose from very-poor roots in Jamaica to be one of the most well-respected musicians of all time, and features rare footage and revelatory interviews with the people that knew him best.
“I have spoken to Rohan and Ziggy who have seen the film,” shares Cedella. “We have all said that we have learned something about dad that we didn’t know. For us, that is rewarding. You start off laughing and you end up crying at the end and you are crying because it tugs at your heart.”
There are also a number of other unexpected – and otherwise unavailable revelations in Marley. These include interviews with Bob’s white cousin Peter, Bob’s half-sister, Constance and Dudley Sibley, the recording artist and studio janitor in Studio One who lived with Bob. Surprising truths about Bob’s life and relationships are also revealed and in one scene, Cedella appears close to tears as she recalls the pain and heartache her father’s infidelities caused her mother Rita.
“When you are a child and you see any parent whether it is your mother or father going through an emotional time it’s going to hurt you. It did hurt, but it is okay now and I have been able to overcome it.”
Marley is currently playing in theaters
