Marley Magic - Julian wins first Grammy

Julian Marley winning the Grammy for Best Reggae Album is a bitter-sweet moment for road manager Floyd 'GQ' Barrett, the son of late, legendary bassist Aston 'Family Man' Barrett.

"As Julian Marley road manager, I guess it's a sweet and bitter feelings for me .... but congrats to Julian for winning the Grammy for Colors of Royal. As a team we put in a lot of hard work to accomplish this dream," Barrett told THE STAR.

Barrett is mourning the passing of his father, Aston 'Family Man' Barrett, who died on Saturday. Family Man Barrett was the original bassist for Bob Marley and The Wailers and is credited with helping to give the group its sound.

"Right now we are getting ready to leave Australia to go to Hawaii and to tell the truth ... we not even remember that today was Grammy... especially me. We were sleeping and a message come in the group saying 'We win!' I wake up and see it and ask 'Win what?'. Then I got a call asking me if I didn't remember that it's Grammy day. We had to wake Julian up to tell him," Barrett shared.

According to Barrett, Colors of Royal was "a pandemic album that we did because we were stuck in Jamaica and used the time to do music".

"We were not thinking about Grammy any at all during this production, but that doesn't mean that we didn't put in the work. There were times when Julian listen back to something and called us to seh it need to fix ... and we a tell him seh 'It all right.' But him insist and we haffi fly from where we deh fi go back to the studio and fix it. We did a lot of groundwork on Colors of Royal and we are proud as a team. This is my first Grammy because I have credits on the album as well," Barrett said.

This is Julian Marley's third nomination and first win from the Recording Academy, the entity which hands out the Grammy Awards. Colors of Royal, a project in collaboration with Alexx Antaeus, was announced as the winner at a ceremony on Sunday evening at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. It triumphed over Born For Greatness (Buju Banton); Simma (Beenie Man); Cali Roots Riddim 2023 (Collie Buddz); and No Destroyer (Burning Spear).

In his acceptance speech at the awards, Anataeus said, "I'd like to dedicate this to the people of Jamaica, who have accepted me as one of their own. And they have lived up to the motto of the country, 'Out of Many, One'," he said.

Antaeus, who is originally from Greece and who is known in Jamaica as a restaurateur, is an award-winning composer, recording artiste, and producer.

Julian's brother, Ziggy, took to Instagram on Sunday evening to congratulate him. "Hail up juju royal @julianrmarley and @alexx_antaeus on winning the Grammy for Best Reggae [Album]," Ziggy wrote.

Julian now joins his brothers Stephen, Ziggy and Damion as Grammy winners. He was nominated on two previous occasions in the Best Reggae Album category - Awake in 2010. That year his brother, Stephen Marley won it with Mind Control - Acoustic. He was again nominated in 2020 for his album, As I Am. Koffee, with Rapture, won on that occasion.

Stephen Marley and Ziggy have won eight Grammy each, while Damion Marley is a five-time winner.