A ray of ‘Sunshine’ - Jo Mersa’s daughter honours late singer at his birthday concert

In the midst of an emotional performance celebrating the life of his brother Jo Mersa Marley, Yohan Marley welcomed to the stage Jo Mersa Marley's daughter, Sunshine, for a special tribute.

The two performed the fittingly titled song Sunshine which was released in 2014 on Jo Mersa's Comfortable EP.

"Hey guys, sing the words with us!" the nine-year-old shouted boldly before she and her uncle put on a stellar performance. As Sunshine sang back-up vocals, her uncle deejayed the verses, often looking back to ensure his niece was keeping up. The son of Stephen Marley, Jo Mersa passed away in 2022 from acute asthma exacerbation.

To celebrate his life and legacy, the Marley family hosts an annual celebration marking the anniversary of his birth, inviting several notable members of the family and the music fraternity to be part of the event. This year's event was held on Saturday at the Bob Marley Museum on Hope Road. On this year's line-up, coming all the way from Australia, was Nattali Rize. Her newly released album, Liberate, features a previously unreleased song with Jo Mersa titled This Sound.

"We worked on the track some years ago. Actually, a mutual friend of ours, Kabaka Pyramid, had introduced us maybe five or six years ago and the attention was set from then to do a collaboration, and so we did," Rize told THE STAR.

"The song wasn't released before Jo left us in the physical realm, but as we know, music and the spirit live on forever. And, when you have that, and you're able to share that, then you know that is powerful. So, I'm very grateful to Stephen Marley and the family for giving me the blessing to share the track that me and your work done because we really love it," she added.

Many of reggae's current stars performed at the event, including Chronixx, Jesse Royal, Lila Ike, as well as members of the Marley family including Skip, Hymn and Mystic.