The 52nd annual staging of the Grammy Awards was yet another milestone for reggae family, the Marleys, as brothers Stephen and Ziggy strolled away with the coveted gramaphones in the Best Reggae Album and Best Musical Album for Children categories, respectively.


grammy-awards

Stephen, the younger of the two, was crowned winner for the acoustic version of his album Mind Control. He won ahead of another sibling, Julian, who was also a nominee in that category with his album Awake. The ‘Gargamel’, Buju Banton, was also in that pool of hopefuls with his Rasta Got Soul. Also nominated in the Best Reggae Album category were Sean Paul’s Imperial Blaze and Gregory Isaacs’ Brand New Me.

non-acoustic version

Yesterday’s award was the second solo Grammy for Stephen who also won the prize in 2008 for the non-acoustic version of the said album, Mind Control. The artiste’s Grammy tally now stands at seven having won awards before as part of Ziggy Marley and The Melody Makers in 1988, 1989 and 1997. He also earned awards for his production work on both of his brother, Damian ‘Junior Gong’ Marley’s albums, Half-Way Tree in 2001 and Welcome to Jamrock in 2006.

Ziggy, who is no stranger to the golden gramaphones, climbed over some five other nominees to grip the award with his Family Time album. In a brief comment to this newspaper, the singer said: “I feel very blessed to have travelled on this journey with my family and friends and feel honoured to have the Grammy Academy recognise Family Time.”

In 2007, Ziggy’s album Love Is My Religion won a Grammy for Best Reggae Album at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards.

In earlier years, Junior Gong walked a similar path having won Grammy awards in 2001 and 2006 for his Half-Way Tree and Welcome to Jamrock albums, respectively.