Dear Dad! The Marley Soap Opera!

[Lazie]

Ky-Mani's book stirs controversy
Dear Dad — the story the Marley family didn’t want you to know
AFP
Wednesday, March 17, 2010

MIAMI, USA (AFP) -- A son of reggae legend Bob Marley, Ky-Mani Marley, has written a new book claiming he was deprived of his father's fortune for years unlike his half-brothers and half-sisters, sparking a row that could trigger legal action.
Ky-Mani Marley's Dear Dad hit booksellers' stands February 6, when the late reggae icon would have turned 65.

It has quickly become a major headache for this 34-year-old son of Marley.
The author, aware of the family squabbling it could unleash, tried to delay its release, and to tweak the content -- but he failed.
Now, there is a dispute between Ky-Mani Marley and his editor Farrah Gray, a young businessman of 24, over the veracity of content of the book. Their clash could end up in court, both told media in the United States and Jamaica in recent days.
"The book was not an attack on my family. I love my brothers and sisters more than anyone can know," Ky-Mani Marley, a Jamaican actor and musician who is a son of Bob Marley and table tennis champ Anita Belnavis, said in a statement on his MySpace page.
The book says on its cover that it contains the "story the Marley family apparently didn't want you to know".
Among other themes, the book claims its author was kept from accessing his fathers' fortune by Marley's widow Rita. It also claims Rita Marley tried to keep the money for her children with Marley while denying financial support to his children with six other women.
"I did not expect that Dr Gray would have unprofessionally and maliciously twisted my words or use things that were discussed in confidence to create controversy in an attempt to sell a book," Ky-Mani Marley added.
"During the final edit of the book, I spoke with my sister, Cedella, and I advised Dr Farrah Gray that some changes had to be made and until the changes were made, I was not willing to do any promotion for the book," the author added.
But the editor was unmoved by what he said was the younger Marley's backtracking.
"His denials have thrown me and the publishing company under the bus. I didn't write his book, I published it. This is his story; these are his words and now I have to prove it," Gray argued.

[Farmah]

Two things here, first is that Kymani absolutely love all his sibblings and had no intention of publishing things that would hurt the Marley family. Secondly, Kymani did live a very average (sometimes below average) life as a youth and only began to benefit from the Marley estate in his very late teens (somewhere between 18 and pre-20).

The publisher is a piece of faaart for including confidential whisperings into the book. He should've respected the wishes of his client. But that said, ah nuh lie Maani ah tell! Mi naah guh seh much causen seh ah nuh every ting good fi chat!

[1of1]

most people know sey a true still, but the publisher a fassy still

[Farmah]

The publisher need a drape-up and a slap upside the head! Then haul his a$$ off to court to recant his story and to offer a public apology to the Kymani and the Marley family!

[Hortical]

Kymani Marley disagrees with his memoir

Ky-Mani Marley says book distorts his story as Bob Marley's illegitimate son
By Audra D.S. Burch
Sunday, March 14, 2010; E05


MIAMI -- A son of Bob Marley has written his memoir, an arresting narrative about life as the exiled child of a musical and social icon.
But the most curious chapter is not in the book: Ky-Mani Marley, a Grammy-nominated reggae artist raised in Miami, says that the book that bears his name and words offers a twisted view of his family -- and that he's considering suing the publisher.
Publisher Farrah Gray says that he might file a lawsuit against the Marley estate and that Ky-Mani Marley was intimidated by relatives who objected to the book's contents and threatened to cut him out of the late musical legend's financial orbit.
"This is his story; these are his words," Gray said.
This war of words and the pesky possibilities of a courtroom showdown stand in startling contrast to Bob Marley's legacy of peace and goodwill.
"Dear Dad: Where's the Family in Our Family, Today?" tells the story of an outcast son, born out of wedlock, who was abandoned financially by the Marley family after his father's death. Forced to grow up in a poverty-subsumed corner of Miami, Ky-Mani Marley found a way to his own stardom.
Marley said he intended to share a story of redemption and healing and the bond of blood and a common name. Instead, he said the book has been distorted through unauthorized captions and changes to the cover and original title.
"I did not expect that Gray would be unprofessional and malicious in twisting my words or using things that were discussed in confidence to create controversy in an attempt to sell a book," said a statement from Marley, who was traveling in Jamaica when contacted by the Miami Herald.
A teaser on the bottom of the cover reads, "The Story the Marley Family Apparently Doesn't Want You to Know." And the working title was "Dear Dad: The Marley Son Who Persevered From the Streets to Prominence."
Gray, an entrepreneur and bestselling author who released "Dear Dad" through his new publishing company, defended the memoir as truthful. In an unusual open letter in the book, he calls on the executors of the Marley estate to pay Ky-Mani Marley his financial due and treat him as an equal among the 11 legitimate heirs.
Rita Marley, widow of Bob Marley, could not be reached for comment. Daughter Cedella Marley, chief executive of Tuff Gong International, the studio and label that Marley founded in 1965, declined two interview requests through a representative.
"I am an advocate for freedom of speech," Gray said in a statement, "and being a newfound publisher, I feel it's more important than ever to publish this book regardless of whether others are on a mission to squelch the event."
Among the sordid claims detailed in the book: Rita Marley disdained Ky-Mani, one of several children her husband fathered outside their marriage. And she refused to help support Ky-Mani financially after Marley's death when Ky-Mani was 5.
The backdrop to this dispute is Bob Marley's iconic brand, built upon the Rastafarian's enduring legacy of socially conscious songs and manifestos against war and poverty.
Marley's popularity has grown generationally and globally since the singer died of cancer in 1981 in Miami without a will. He was 36. Since then, Marley has ranked on Forbes's annual Top 13 Dead Celebrities list several times, most recently in 2007, with sales of $4 million.
Now, the estate has brought in a private equity firm to expand brand merchandising and protect the trademark, which might generate as much as $600 million a year in sales of unlicensed goods, according to a Fortune article. The firm, Toronto-based Hilco Consumer Capital, estimates the estate is poised to earn up to $1 billion by 2012 through licensing deals that could place Marley's image on products including beverages, video games and a restaurant chain.
Last year, the Las Vegas-based Gray and Ky-Mani Marley met through a mutual friend.
"You hear the last name and look at his father's iconic status throughout the world," Gray recalled. "You just don't expect to hear the things that happened to him and how he pulled himself up by his bootstraps. I told him, 'You have a book in you.' "
"Dear Dad" was released to coincide with what would have been Marley's 65th birthday Feb. 6. It chronicles Ky-Mani Marley's journey from Falmouth, a port town on Jamaica's north coast, to the struggling Miami neighborhood of Liberty City. He went on to a successful career as an entertainer and philanthropist.
The book focuses on Marley's close relationship with his mother, Anita Belnavis, a Jamaican table-tennis champion; his impoverished childhood; his time as a small-time crack dealer; and the mother and son's eventual move to Kendall, Fla., to escape the ugliness of the inner city.
"I woke up during my teenage years and discovered myself floundering, hustling, and selling weed and crack to survive -- or maybe just to rebel. By that time, it was all the same to me," the prologue reads.
The book details Marley's complicated relationship with his half-brothers and -sisters, some of whom enjoyed lavish lifestyles. It recounts the grandness of the hilltop Marley home in Falmouth, with three stories, a pool, a gym and a rehearsal room.
"My eyes were opening, and I was watching my family, lookin' at my brothers Ziggy and Stevie, my sister Cedella, and everybody else," Chapter 7 reads. "Honestly, I'm watching them and they're living like kings and queens. Like royalty. And they should have been. Their father had been crowned a king. But I was also the seed of this man, and I'm in a situation that's not so pretty. . . . 'If my father is this person who made so many millions, why am I living like this?' "
When he turned 18, Marley accepted a settlement from the family estate, according to the book, and later embarked on his own musical career. Now 34, he has released four albums and starred in several films.
Marley said that during the final edit, he spoke with his sister Cedella and later advised Gray that changes needed to be made. He has not said what changes he requested.
Gray offered his version of the story: Two days before the book was to go to press, he received a frantic phone call and follow-up e-mails from the mother of Ky-Mani Marley's daughter asking that publication be delayed.
"It seems that some in the family were infuriated by the idea that the truths of his story would become public, preferring instead that it remain in the family lock box," Gray's statement reads.
According to Gray, "There was the threat of further familial exile and financial reprisal in the form of severing a monthly stipend doled out by the estate."
By the time "Dear Dad" hit the marketplace, Ky-Mani Marley was crying foul. "Gray apparently thought that by turning something that was written from the heart into something seemingly malicious was going to benefit him in some way," his statement reads

[Hortical]

Tuff **************** luck if him never sey that if would not be in the book. Him a fret sey the monthly stipend a go cut off now from the Marley estate. If he had the literary skills him would a pen the book in the first place.

[Bricktop]

The publisher need a drape-up and a slap upside the head! Then haul his a$$ off to court to recant his story and to offer a public apology to the Kymani and the Marley family!

Yuh waan di man drape up and slap him baby modda? heh heh heh watch di ride yuh tink Farrah easy?

[MdmeX]

Suh Kymani never saw a draft of the contents of the book, before final publication.

Him need to take responsibility, instead of playing the blame game with the publisher.

[Bricktop]

Power of the hmm hmm

[Farmah]

Yes, a draft/early manuscript was viewed and was even shown to one of the sisters (I think Cedella) and all was well. Then after this book came from priinting all hell broke loose!

[HL]

Comm'on now Farmah... comm'on now everybody. This is your classic good business move.

Controversy SELL books.

"That's all I have to say about that."
---Forrest Gump.

[Rockman]

The musician(formerly with Bob and the Wailers) that sued the Marley Estate(Rita)and lost has to happy with the contents of the book.It is no more controversial than Rita's ill-advised statement that Bob raped her, in fact Bob's legacy(he died hence he could not defend himself) was undermined..whilst Rita's is being questioned(again),and she can defend herself.
Bob did not mince his words,it would be nice if Kymani didn't either, bout the dread waan tek back chat.

Is yuh friend still but Rita a gwaan too bad.


Blessed

[Assasin]

"Everything gonna be allright"

Rita nuh say Bob rape her inna fi her book?

When man married and have pickney outta road a nuh easy at all.

[Farmah]

HL, you are correct in that controversy sells books. But something went bonkers between the time the book went for review and when the final edit was done and sent to the printers.

I know Kymani before the general public was aware of him. His uncle and I played football together in Miami and on most occasions the young Maani would tag along. So too would Nita (Maani's mom). I visited their home several times during those rough years and I know for a fact that Maani did not live the life of a Marley son during those times. There's much more which are not fit to be said here. But basically, while Maani did not want all that history to be made public in his book, it was no lie! Farrah Gray and the publishers could've found another way to market the book, instead of creating acrimony between Maani and his siblings.

Rita is another piece of work. She had the gall to state that Bob raped her! Did she mention her affair with Owen "Ital" Stewart in her book? And others.....?

[Bricktop]

Farrah Gray and the publishers could've found another way to market the book, instead of creating acrimony between Maani and his siblings.

Maybe him stop pay child support. If this book was supposed to be about his life why leave out the drug abuse?