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REGGAE MUSIC REVIEWS - LAS VEGAS
COVERING REGGAE FROM LAS VEGAS, TO JAMAICA TO THE WORLD
7/21/11 KY-MANI MARLEY & GRAMPS MORGAN, ARISE ROOTS, BODHI ROCK
AT THE ROXY THEATRE - HOLLYWOOD, CA.
THE ROXY THEATRE AND REGGAE MUSIC REVIEWS IS GIVING AWAY A PAIR OF FREE TICKETS!!!
KY-MANI MARLEY & GRAMPS MORGAN, ARISE ROOTS, BODHI ROCK
To enter the Giveaway for a pair of tickets to see Gramps Morgan and Ky-mani Marley live at the Roxy Theatre, send a email
with your full name plus your city and state to reggaemusicreviewsgiveaway@hotmail.com. The winner of the Giveaway will be notified by a reply to the winners email address. Please put Ky-mani and Gramps as
your subject for the email.
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KY-MANI MARLEY
Singer. Actor. Author. Humanitarian.
The Marley surname perpetuates Jamaican royalty, resonates world-wide recognition and represents the pioneer of a cultural, political and social revolution. Reggae icon and legend Bob Marley blessed the world with his timeless, brilliant and message filled sound which continues to inspire and influence audiences today. With such a living past, Bob Marley’s conviction and passion for music unintentionally was passed to the lives of his offspring and has allowed the Marley name to remain relevant amongst the hierarchy of the reggae sound.
Ky-Mani is a fitting name for a charismatic artist whose East African name means “adventurous traveler.” Born on February 26, 1976, Ky-Mani Marley is the son of Bob Marley and table tennis champion Anita Belnavis. Ky-mani is the second youngest of Bob’s eleven children. While bearing the Marley name, Ky-Mani’s childhood told a different story. Born in Falmouth, Trelawney, Jamaica and settling in Miami, Florida at the age of seven, he was raised in the inner-city in a two bedroom home along with eight family members.
Being exposed to an urban lifestyle, Ky-Mani adopted the attitude that all people are equal – no one is above or beneath him. This attitude has become the motto for the way he lives his life today. Humble. Soft spoken. Sincere. Loyal. Honest. Genuine. These are the makings of Ky-Mani Marley.
As a child he had no interest following in the footsteps of his world-famous father and was more inclined to play sports. However, the seed that was planted by Bob’s legacy sprouted in 1997 when Ky-Mani teamed up with hip hop artist Pras of The Fugees for a rendition of Eddy Grant’s “Electric Avenue.” This would be the defining moment in his journey which would lead him to pick up the torch his iconic father lit so many years ago.
Remaining true to his Jamaican culture, Ky-Mani’s fondness for all genres of music influences the work he creates. He is an artist with no limits. Incorporating world music, hip hop, blues, rock and a grass roots sound into his music, the end product is the pure representation of life for Ky-Mani. His sound is one that transcends cultural lines and prohibits him from being categorized as only a reggae artist. His raw, unadulterated, gruff sound captures the listener and reverberates the essence of Ky-Mani’s life story. Songs such as “Dear Dad,” “I Pray,” and “Ghetto Soldier” display the versatility and fiery-passion he exudes when sharing his voyage through song. Peace. One Love. Unity. Street Life. These are the makings of Ky-Mani’s music.
Ky-Mani has three studio albums to his credit: The Journey (Shang), in 1999, which received mass critical acclaim and peaked at #7 on the Billboard reggae album charts; 2001’s Many More Roads (Fractal Ent/Reggae Vibes) which was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album; and Radio (Vox), from 2007, which has more of a hip hop feel than his previous albums and reached #1 on the Billboard reggae album charts.
Ky-Mani has previously collaborated with R&B and reggae songstresses (Mya, Marcia Griffiths, Tessanne Chin), dancehall giants (Beenie Man, Buju Banton, Mr. Vegas, Alborosie) and hip hop talents (Young Buck, Afu-Ra, Ms. Dynamite).
In 2007, he was the opening act for Van Halen’s North American Tour. He’s also headlined clubs and performed on festivals around the world, from The Netherlands and Hungary to Brazil and Mexico to Cape Verde and Kenya. In recent years, Ky-Mani has headlined Reggae on the Rocks in Colorado, St. Kitts Music Festival, Festival International De Rhythmes Du Monde in Quebec, Rock al Parque in Colombia, and World Festival of Black Arts & Cultures in Senegal.
Ky-Mani’s autobiography, Dear Dad, was released on February 6, 2010, what would have been Bob Marley’s 65th birthday. Dear Dad, which is distributed in five languages, was written with the assistance Dr. Farrah Gray, the influential African-American empowerment guru.
Ky-Mani is in the midst of recording his upcoming album, Evolution of a Revolution at Tuff Gong Studios in Kingston, Jamaica. This marks the first time that he has worked at the world-renowned studios founded by his father in 1965. Known for his unique style of rock/soul/hip-hop infused reggae sound that transcends cultural lines, Evolution of a Revolution is expected to continue the musical exploration and features collaborations with artists from different musical genres.
In another first, Ky-Mani joined forces with Andrew Tosh for a very special collaboration. The offspring of Bob Marley and Peter Tosh are featured together on “Lessons In My Life,” the lead single off Andrew’s Grammy Award nominated acoustic tribute album to his father, Legacy. Ky-Mani is also featured on reggae singer Protoje’s single, “Rasta Love.” Produced by Donovan “Don Corleone” Bennett, “Rasta Love” is a powerful, conscious dancehall-meets-lover’s rock combination and will be included on Protoje’s upcoming album The 7 Year Itch.
Ky-Mani has starred in several films, including: Shottas with Paul Campbell, Spragga Benz and Wyclef Jean in 2002 (about organized crime in Kingston and Miami); One Love with singer Cherine Anderson in 2003 (a love story about a Rasta musician who meets a gospel singer when they both enter a music contest in Kingston); and as singer John the Baptist in 2004’s Haven, starring Bill Paxton and Orlando Bloom (a love story-cum-underworld revenge drama set on a exotic island). Ky-Mani is now ready to take on his next acting challenges.
His television credits include: Living the Life of Marley on BET J; NBC/Telemundo’s The Shuffle; FOX Business’s Happy Hour with Cody Willard and Rebecca Gomez; plus Music Choice, MTV Jams and VH1 Soul, to name a few.
With a new energy and revitalized spirit, the future is promising for Ky-Mani. In 2009, he started the charitable Love Over All Foundation which caters to empowering and educating the youth. LOAF also focuses on restoring values, rebuilding schools and supplying the basic necessities for the classrooms as well as the community in his hometown of Falmouth, Jamaica.
Staying true to his humanitarian vision, Ky-Mani was recently the featured talent at special fundraising events at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum in New York, the 1st Annual Beat Breast Cancer Music Festival in Trinidad and Tobago which was televised throughout the English speaking Caribbean, and is a regular supporter of the United Nation’s human rights efforts. Ky-Mani along with Julian Lennon were jointly named Philanthropist of the Year by Prince Albert II of the Monaco Foundation, Better World Awards.
Ky-Mani is starting a clothing line called Konfrontation.
www.kymani-marley.com
www.myspace.com/kymanimarley
www.facebook.com/kymanimarley
http://twitter.com/MaestroMarley
www.loveoverall.org
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GRAMPS MORGAN
Roy Morgan, a member of the internationally renowned reggae group, Morgan Heritage, was born in Brooklyn, New York and raised in Springfield, Massachusetts with his parents and 29 other siblings. Gramps is one of the legendary Denroy Morgan’s seventeen sons and was affectionately given the name “Grampa” on the day of his birth by an aunt who noticed his uncanny resemblance to his grandfather. The name, “Gramps”, would follow him throughout childhood into adulthood and is also used as his stage name. He became a member of the family band Morgan Heritage, at the tender age of nine. Morgan Heritage has recorded over twenty albums spanning many hits including the all time favorites “Down By The River”, “Don’t Haffi Dread” and “I’m Coming Home”, to mention but a few. They have sold millions of records and continue to gain fans all over the world. Denroy Morgan had prophesied that one day, each of the group members would trod on their own journey to achieve solo stardom. After more than a decade of touring and performing with Morgan Heritage, Gramps is now reveling in the success of his long foreseen solo career.
An experienced vocalist, keyboard player and performer, Gramps released his first official single as a solo artist, “Wash The Tears”, under his own Dada Son Entertainment label. Following the success of “Wash the Tears”, Gramps debuted his first solo album, Two Sides of My Heart - Vol. 1 in 2009. Gramps set out on tour with several major musical artists to introduce himself as a solo artist and meet his fans. He performed on the highly successful Evolver tour with John Legend and India Arie and also performed during India Arie’s Soulbird tour. He continued to tour with Tarrus Riley, his brother Peetah Morgan and was the opening act for his longtime friend, Buju Banton on the Rasta Got Soul tour.
Written, composed and produced by Gramps, “Wash The Tears” entered Italy’s Top 20 Singles Chart at number eight. The album spawned multiple hit singles, which earned Gramps three awards for Best New Entertainer, Best Song (“Wash The Tears”) and Best Crossover Song (“Therapy” featuring India Arie) at the 2010 International Reggae and World Music Awards. He also earned a nomination for Reggae Artist of the Year at the 2010 Soul Train Music Awards and went on to win Album of the Year at the 6th Annual Excellence in Music and Entertainment Awards. Gramps’ work and collaboration with reggae superstar Buju Banton on his album Before the Dawn would set the wheels in motion for his greatest accomplishment to date; At the 2011 Grammy Awards, Before the Dawn won the award for Best Reggae Album, which lists Gramps as co-producer, lead vocalist and writer for the track “Try Life”.
Gramps is currently recording his second studio album, which is presently untitled and scheduled to be released sometime in 2011. He plans to release Two Sides of My Heart - Volume 2 in 2012, which will be an R&B and country inspired album. To further showcase his musical versatility, Gramps is also working on a techno/dance infused album. In addition to the recordings, Gramps is also scheduled to embark on a US summer tour in 2011 and has plans to follow it up with a European tour alongside his brother, Peetah Morgan. Regarding his upcoming projects, Gramps says, “We don’t want to be predictable in the music; we want to keep it interesting and we want to keep it fun as well.”
Passionate about helping others in need, Gramps established the charity Music Orchestrating Miracles (MOM), to help bring relief to the needy in various parts of the world. In Africa, MOM works in conjunction with various medical organizations to provide mosquito nets, Malaria medication, HIV test kits and water purification tablets amongst other resources in remote areas. The organization was also part of various benefit concerts aimed at collecting funds and resources for the people of Haiti and most recently Japan. MOM has been operating since early 2010 and continues to make strides in helping to alienate human suffering due to poverty, diseases and natural catastrophes.
Now that he is settling into the success and solo stardom of which his father dreamed, Gramps says, “I just want to give people new music and let people know that everything is going to be alright. I want to reason with my fans and get personal with them because everyone has problems. My music is about healing, heart to heart. This has always been my father’s plan; we are all on an individual journey to express ourselves musically”.
www.grampsmorgan.com
www.facebook.com/grampsmorgan
http://twitter.com/grampsmorgan
www.myspace.com/grampsmorgan
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