Damian Marley

Damian Robert Nesta Marley was born July 21, 1978, in Kingston, Jamaica, the youngest child of Bob Marley and Cindy Breakspear, a nurse crowned Miss World in 1976. He grew up around the family's Tuff Gong studio and began performing publicly as a young teenager. His nickname "Jr. Gong" references his father's own nickname "Tuff Gong."

Damian signed to Tuff Gong and released his debut album, Mr. Marley, in 1996 at age 18, deejaying in dancehall style rather than singing conventional roots reggae like his father. His 2001 sophomore album Halfway Tree, produced by brother Stephen, won the Grammy for Best Reggae Album. The breakthrough came in 2005 with Welcome to Jamrock; its title track, confronting Jamaica's social and political violence, became a rare reggae crossover hit on hip-hop and pop radio, going gold and winning two Grammy Awards in 2006.

Beyond Jamrock, his catalog includes Distant Relatives (2010), a full collaborative album with Nas that debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200, and Stony Hill (2017), which won his fourth Grammy for Best Reggae Album. He is CEO of Ghetto Youths International, the family label. In 2024–2026 he reunited with brothers Ziggy, Stephen, Julian, and Ky-Mani for the Marley Brothers: The Legacy Tour.

Damian Marley is widely credited with pushing reggae into 21st-century hip-hop and global pop spaces without diluting its social commentary. He is regarded as having built the most commercially crossover-successful solo career of Bob Marley's children, and remains an active recording and touring artist as of 2026.