Ziggy Marley admits people are only just realising he sang the Arthur theme song.
The 57-year-old musician, whose father is the late reggae icon Bob Marley, recorded the classic cartoon’s catchy theme Believe In Yourself back in 1996, and he’s only now starting to understand the “impact” of the tune.
Appearing on The Zach Sang Show, he said: “To tell you the truth, it’s just more recently that I’ve been understanding the impact, because people have been telling me, like what you’re telling me, when I travel.
“A lot of people didn’t know that I sing the song. A lot of people have realised it now. Recently, it’s becoming more in my consciousness.”
The iconic track was written by Judy Henderson and arranged by Jerry DeVilliers especially for Arthur, which focused on the titular anthropomorphic aardvark and his family and friends.
The show ran for 25 seasons from 1996 to 2022, and Ziggy’s involvement came after he had worked on other children’s TV projects like Sesame Street.
He recalled: “It’s a simple story because in those days, I was living in Jamaica.
“I live here in America now, but I was living in Jamaica and [Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers] were just getting started.
“We had done some stuff for Sesame Street and some other things before that also.”
Ziggy pondered that there was something about the musicians themselves, and their music, which just worked for kids.
He added: “It seemed like our music and who we are all just kind of lend themselves to the space of children, of entertainment.
“I think that the beat of the music, children are kind of drawn to the music.”
Meanwhile, he joked that he would have been stronger in negotiations if he’d known how long Arthur would be on air for, and its lasting impact.
Ziggy quipped: “If I would have known, I would have done a better contract.”
Believe In Yourself isn’t his only foray into kids entertainment, as he also released children’s book Pajammin last year, which was inspired by his late dad Bob, who died when Ziggy was just 12 years old.
Speaking to PEOPLE, Ziggy previously shared: “It’s the only book I’ve done that was influenced by him. The energy behind it is the same kind of energy my father had.”
And Ziggy actually loves reading books to his own children.
He added: “My wife and our younger kids still have books at bedtime. I have seven kids, so some are older, but my last four I had when I was a little bit older, so we used to read a lot of books together.
“Now my youngest is nine, and basically, he doesn’t want us to read to him anymore. He just wants to read to himself.
“But he still wants us to lie in bed with him while he’s reading!”
