“GET UP, STAND UP” IS THE LATEST CHILDREN’S BOOK FROM CEDELLA MARLEY!

By Brian Bonitto
Associate Editor ——

The cover of Cedella Marley’s Get Up, Stand Up —-

REGGAE anthem Get Up, Stand Up provided inspiration for Cedella Marley’s latest children’s book of the same name, which came out on Tuesday. It is published by Chronicle Books and has illustrations by John Jay Cabuay.

According to Marley, Get Up, Stand Up is written for children between ages six and eight, and tackles bullying.

“It is an anthem for all those who struggle and a call for change with a message that continues to inspire everyone who hears it,” Marley, 52, told Forbes Magazine.

“With this book, my goal was to make the song speak to our youth. I hope that it inspires them to do the right thing, no matter how hard that might sometimes be,” she continued.

Marley, who is the daughter of reggae king Bob and his wife Rita, said Get Up, Stand Up was a song she intended to turn into a picture book for years. However, she decided to use the track to confront bullying, which she labelled as “an epidemic”.

She said she experienced bullying growing up.

Get Up, Stand Up was recorded in 1973. It was co-written by Bob Marley and Peter Tosh and appears on The Wailers’ Burnin’ album, released that year by Island Records.

Tosh also recorded the song for his 1977 album, Equal Rights. Get Up, Stand Up is recognised as one of pop music’s great protest songs.

Bob Marley died in May 1981 of cancer at age 36. Tosh was killed in his St Andrew home on September 11, 1987 at age 42.

Get Up, Stand Up, the book, is the third by Marley. Her previous titles are One Love and Every Little Thing.

A former member of sibling group Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers, which won three Grammy Awards before disbanding in 2002, Cedella Marley is CEO of Tuff Gong International.