Bob Marley's Grandson Dead at 31

Jo Mersa Marley was a reggae artist in his own right
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 28, 2022 1:35 AM CST

The grandson of Bob Marley, reggae artist Joseph "Jo" Mersa Marley, died Tuesday at age 31. Sources tell TMZ that "asthma-related conditions" caused his death, though the specifics are not yet clear. According to Jamaican journalist Abka Fitz-Henley, who first reported Marley's death, as well as WZPP Radio, Marley was found unresponsive in his vehicle Tuesday morning. The radio station and Fitz-Henley's sources also blame an asthma attack for his death, though that has not been officially confirmed.

Marley, son of Grammy-winning musician Stephen Marley, was born in Jamaica and moved to Miami at age 11, People reports. He studied audio engineering at Miami Dade College, but he had been writing music since middle school. He released his first song, a collaboration with cousin Daniel Bambaata Marley (son of Ziggy Marley), in 2010. His first EP was released in 2014 and it was followed by a second EP, his last, in 2021. It's not clear where he died, but it was in the US. He leaves behind a wife and daughter.

"It was a very magical thing, seeing those people come around to the house and how the whole work process would happen," Marley told Rolling Stone in 2014 about growing up in his family. "I would come home and try to do homework, but I’d end up getting distracted and go peek in the studio. You would always want to run in and run out to see what was going on." (More Bob Marley stories.)

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