Joseph Marley, the grandson of Bob Marley, the late music icon, has passed away at the age of 31.
The representative of Joseph — known professionally as Jo Mersa — confirmed his death to Rolling Stone on Tuesday.
His cause of death has not yet been officially revealed — although TMZ quoted sources as saying he died due to asthma-related conditions.
The Jamaican-American singer was reported to have been “found unresponsive” in a vehicle in the United States.
Born in Jamaica in March 1991, Jo Mersa moved to Miami at the age of 11. He attended Palmetto High School before enrolling at Miami Dade College, where he studied studio engineering.
Jo Mersa was introduced to music at an early age while being raised by his father Stephen — one of Marley’s 11 children who followed in the late reggae legend’s footsteps.
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He made his official musical debut in 2010 with ‘My Girl’.
The song, a collaboration with his older cousin Daniel Bambaata Marley, was released on the Marley family’s imprint record label Ghetto Youths International.
He thereafter put out his breakthrough track ‘Bad So’ in 2012, with his debut EP ‘Comfortable’ released in 2014.
In an interview with Reggaeville last year, Jo reflected on Marley’s influence on the global music landscape.
“Family-wise, you would hear memories from my father or from our uncles, you would see them posting pictures or even just speaking to us in an environment talking about ‘I remember when Daddy did this or when he came from Africa or when Daddy did this interview or when he was in Italy,’” he said.
“So, we always hear those reflections, speaking about those things, about the role that [Bob] played not only as family member and father, but also in the world and the impact he had on the reggae community and the reggae culture, the roots, bringing forward the message of Rastafari and love, over all love. … It’s family to us, it’s normal to me, but it’s still special.”
