Three weeks ago, Ziggy Marley was monitoring Hurricane Melissa like so many around the world — by way of news reports and the Weather Channel. Working on a new album in Los Angeles, where he lives, Marley could only observe from afar as the storm began plowing through his home country. “I was just watching on the news and, every now and again, checking in with some of my boys in Jamaica, just hearing what’s going on,” he says. “There was the anticipation of what was going to happen, because we never know how terrible it could have been.”
And when the worst was over and Melissa had moved on, Marley — the son of reggae icon Bob and a longtime artist in his own right — had to learn more about the aftermath from a distance, especially since he wasn’t able to reach family and friends by phone or online during that first day of the storm. “I’ve seen pictures of the mass area, in the countryside, and it’s just destruction,” he says. “I’ve been through a couple of hurricanes, but this one was, this one was really, really terrible.”
As soon as the devastation became clear, Marley and his siblings began marshaling their collective resources to help Jamaica. Cedella and Rohan started coordinating food deliveries from Florida, partnering with Michael Capponi and his GEM (Global Empowerment Mission) organization. “It’s a painful situation,” says Rohan. “We as a family live all over the world, so we are just using our resources to gather supplies.” That’s the most important thing now.” Brothers Stephen, Damien, and Julian are working with their Ghetto Youths Foundation to help schools and hospitals.
Ziggy Marley’s focus, he says, will be on repairing or fully reconstructing damaged homes by way of his URGE (Unlimited Resources Giving Enlightenment) Foundation, he and his wife Orly’s non-profit organization devoted to health, education, and environmental programs in Jamaica, Africa, and elsewhere around the world. (URGE will be also working in tandem with Michelle Gordon of the BossMom Network.) The eastern portion of the country — which includes Kingston, home of the Bob Marley Museum — was largely spared, but other parts, like Saint Ann Parish, where Bob was born, were slammed and have suffered crop damage and housing and food issues. “It’s all about rebuilding,” Marley says. “We want to rebuild and make sure kids have school, make sure people have shelter.”
As far as how many homes URGE will have to help restructure, Marley smiles: “Plenty!” Ironically, some of those buildings were ones URGE constructed to begin with. “We got messages from some of the folks we already built homes for a few years ago, that it’s all gone now,” he says, “so them seeking help again.“ Marley will also be working with Food for the Poor, which will distribute water, food, first-aid supplies, even fishing gear for local farmers, in some of the country’s hardest-hit communities.
For years, Marley has been allotting a portion of his concert ticket sales for charity issues. But in the wake of Melissa, he’s devised a new twist on that plan: asking the music community to donate whatever they can, whether it’s a lump donation, $2 a ticket from a show or tour, or anything in between. “It’s been working out well for us and it’s part of who we are,” he says. “It’s the right thing to do, to ask people who pay for a ticket to see us that they’re also helping other people. But after the hurricane happened, the idea came up again: Why don’t we have some artists we know do the same thing we’ve been doing? Just make it be a part of the concert-going experience. You buy a ticket and some of that ticket money is going to help a good cause.”
Marley says he already has a donation commitment from Kenny Chesney, whom he came to know after Chesney’s home on the U.S. Virgin Island of St. John was wrecked by Hurricane Irma in 2017. Others who have pledged portions of show sales include Blues Traveler and Slightly Stoopid and several 2026 festivals (Cali Vibes, Point Break, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and the Lancaster Roots & Blues Festival). Marley says he has also reached out to Rihanna, Jack Johnson, Ben Harper, and others to see if they’re amenable to the idea as well.
In conversation, Marley remains upbeat about the prospects of Jamaica recovery in spite of how daunting the rescue and repair efforts sound. “I talk to some people down there and it’s a bad situation, yeah,” he says. “Not to diminish the destruction, because we have a lot of suffering going on, but mental attitude is what helps us get through a lot of the stuff we’ve been through throughout the years. The enlightenment for us is that material things can be gone within a day. It’s our mental strength and the love we have that remain with us. That is our Jamaican way.
“The people I talk to say, ‘We all right, man — we’ll get through it,’” Marley adds. “Jamaican people are resilient. They say to me, ‘We just need some help, and we’ll work together and get through it.’ We are not moaning and crying. We’re not whiners.”
