Multiple Grammy Award-winning reggae artiste Damian “Junior Gong” Marley has been added to Groovin’ in the park, the annual music festival which is set for Roy Wilkins Park in Queens, New York on June 24.
Marley joins a strong line-up of acts including a trio of female singers — J C Lodge, Pam Hall and Marcia Aitken, as well as Romain Virgo, Busy Signal, Capleton and R&B legend Babyface.
According to founder and CEO of the event Chris Roberts, all the stars aligned and this made it possible to add Marley to the roster at this time.
“Ever since Stephen Marley performed as a special [guest] of Capleton at Groovin In the Park three years ago, we have had our eyes on Damian [Jr] Gong Marley for Groovin in the Park. We started working on booking him it since then and it finally came together a few weeks ago, but we had to hold back announcing him as a headliner because of an assignment he had on Friday at the Governors Ball at Randalls Island in New York,” he told the Jamaica Observer
Roberts noted that the New York reggae community has been awaiting for a performance from an artiste of Marley’s calibre for a long time but as they say nothing happens before the time.
“Damian is an extremely talented artist. His catalog of hit songs and his accomplishments are quite impressive. He is, of course, the son of two celebrities — Bob Marley and former Miss World 1976 Cindy Breakespeare but he has cemented his own place in the annals of music history when he became the first reggae artist to win a Grammy outside of the reggae category, taking home an award for Best Urban/Alternative performance for his single, Welcome To Jamrock. His single and Grammy winning-album Welcome to Jamrock, has been a fixture on Billboard’s Reggae Digital Singles chart and was listed as one of the Top 100 Songs Of The Decade by Rolling Stone magazine. This says a whole lot about the respect and stature that Damain Marley has in the industry. We are delighted to have him as a headliner and he will close the music festival this year,” said Roberts.
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