[tps_header]Bob Marley’s Legacy Part 3[/tps_header]
Under the Bob Marley Jamaica group of companies, there are business interests in fashion; Tuff Gong’s Fashion Company, “Catch The Fire Clothing,” a designer clothes label, was co-founded by Cedella Marley and Rohan Marley, the brains behind the business idea, along with business partner Stefano Aldighieri, the former creative director of 7 for All Mankind and design director for Levi Strauss & Company has studio facilities inMiami,Florida, with additional offices for customer services and distribution base in Secaucus, New Jersey. Corporate links have been established with major retailers in North America, with chin stores such as Bloomingdales, with clothes available for sale at their New York and Los Angeles Stores. Clothes lines are also available at two other fashion chains, Atrium (NewYork) and Harry Lehr (New York) and independent retailers across America.
Another business is the Tuff Gong book store in Kingston. There is also an online store, on a web site called www.bobmarley.com. The web site provides the same services as the book store. On several occasions individual family members or groups of family members have established not-for-profit companies and organisations to meet various human needs in Jamaica and across the globe. Ziggy Marley and The Melody Makers created the U.R.G.E (Unlimited Resources Giving Enlightenment).
International offices are based in America at Bob Marley Music Inc. RE: U.R.G.E, at 632 Broadway Suite 910, New York, NY10012.The organization’s main agenda is to give financial assistance to orphanages in Jamaica and Africa, to assist different ethnic groups such as Kehilat Israel’s “Feed the Hungry” task force (a Jewish organization that provides food each month to families who live in the Turning Point Transitional Shelter in Santa Monica, CA) and to provide funds for the victims of natural disasters.URGE teamed up with kids from a middle school in Stamford, CT, to match the funds they raised for those affected by the tsunami that took place in Asia. U.R.G.E also raises funds for health issues such as AIDS/HIV, helping abandoned children with the illness.
Matthew 25:40 is one such organization based in Jamaica, which also provides financial assistance to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in America. On the education front they have provided equipment and clothing for needy children in developing countries around the world through a joint effort with Nike Corporation.The Rita Marley Foundation, another non-profit organisation founded by Rita with the main purpose of carrying on the vision of her late husband to eradicate poverty and hunger specifically in communities in less developed countries across the globe through the creation of economic investment and development funds for improvements in education and health.
The family has gone into the tourism business with the current construction and development of a resort and spa named after Bob Marley. The whole construction project was supervised by Rita Marley to make sure that everything was in keeping with the vision of the family. The resort and spa is located in the Bahamas and opened it’s doors in 2006.
The Marley family is the first family in music in Jamaica, considering their cultural and economic impact on the Jamaican economy, in the wider Caribbean and worldwide. The famous American financier David Pullman, founder of the Pullman Fund, stated that he believed the Marley estate to be worth approximately $100 million. Since 2000, Forbes magazine has been publishing a list of the top 10 posthumous earners who were recording artists, actors and authors.
In that list, Bob Marley has made on average $10 million per year from America record sales and merchandising. No other Caribbean artist has such a diverse portfolio of business interests that still has tremendous potential and earnings.
Marley is an international cultural icon. His legacy will live on for generations to come through his family, who are all passionate about maintaining his message of liberty and equality for all mankind and determined to keep his dreams, philosophies and legacy alive. Long live the rich music of Robert Nesta Marley, better known as Bob Marley, truly the King of Reggae.
Kevin Tomlin, a trained teacher and artists has approximately 34 years of teaching experience between Jamaica, England and the USA, including 15 years with the “Arts in Education” programme, teaching music history in the area of “Music of Black Origin” and “Visual Arts” in South Florida, USA. During this period Kevin was involved in the creation of special training programmes.