From Deseret News archives:

Despite chaos, love is Marley's religion

Published: Friday, Oct. 27, 2006 12:00 a.m. MDT

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Ziggy Marley is all about unity. Ever since he was 10, when he first went into the studio to record some tracks with his father, the late Bob Marley, the youngster knew he wanted to bring the world together.

Now, some 30 years later, he is still spreading his message of love and has just released his second solo album, "Love Is My Religion."

"I wasn't thinking too much of making an album at the time this album started taking shape," Marley said by phone from Los Angeles. "I was just writing songs about love. And then I thought about the words and realized that love is my religion. And that's where the album's title came up."

Marley said that title is his answer to the turmoil in the global community, with unrest in the Middle East and nuclear testing in North Korea. "With the state of the world being as it is, with people fighting and citing religion as their cause, I thought about how negative religion is becoming. So my purpose of the album was trying to get back to religion that focuses on unity and love."

Throughout his career, Marley has always looked at the experiences his father went through to help with his own career. "My father always wanted to own his music, but it wasn't possible for him during his time. I knew that I wanted to own my music from the start, and I can say that I do own all my music. I'm not a slave to the recording industry. I have the freedom to make an album that I want to make and do it the way I want.

"It is artistically rewarding, and I am free to make music about love and unity."

That message, said Marley, is something he wants to spread to the children of the world. "I have found that children are the most open-minded of all my audiences. They are not set in their ways. They are open to ideas."

That's why Marley has appeared and done work on children's shows, such as "Sesame Street" and "Dora the Explorer." He recently set up URGE (Unlimited Resources Giving Enlightenment), a nonprofit organization that helps children's causes in his home country of Jamaica and other developing nations. "The organization is set up so we can have more resources for the children. I would have done all I could without the organization, but with it, we have more opportunities to help raise money.

"We aren't trying to bring big changes, but little ones. And little by little, the big changes can happen. Children are the world's future, and we need to take care of them like we would any precious resource."

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