MR: What do you think Peter thought of his having been part of one of the most popular musical acts in history, The Wailers?
NM: That's a good question, as it's a complicated one. In many ways, The Wailers was the most important influence on his life, and he kept and wrote about the lessons he learned about the record business and music industry, issues of trust and friendship and other changes that developed as a result of his experience with The Wailers. The Wailers was started as band of three youths -- teenagers, really -- who were best of friends, and so interdependent that their relationship was reflected in their three-fisted logo. They were young and naïve, and wanted to do things together, and it didn't matter if one person had an idea for a song, as the others would join in on the writing, and help to shape it and the lyrics. They were starving, but they were energetic, young and proud, and they were inseparable friends -- and they were really, really good! But things were balanced -- as Bunny and Peter were more skilled at singing harmony, they were relatively unconcerned if Bob therefore more often sang the lead; after all, they were all best friends for life, right? And then, suddenly, everything had changed, and songs that had been collaboratively written suddenly were being attributed to one person or the other, and new works were no longer handled with the same degree of collaboration, and the sound wasn't as pure, and outside forces -- in Jamaica and in Europe -- were pulling them apart, in different directions. I was not yet born, of course, but friends, family and others have all led me to believe that had all weighed heavily on my father's heart. He had held The Wailers, of which he was an indelible part, as was Bunny, as almost an invincible icon, and yet it had been shattered, just as the band was emerging from poverty and into a world stage. Fortunately, both Peter and Bunny decided that it was best to interpret the forced metamorphosis of The Wailers into "Bob Marley & The Wailers" as a sign that they should move in their own predetermined directions -- as Peter would later sing, as men "of the past, living in the present, and walking in the future." And of course, Bunny and Peter continued to be friends and to collaborate long after they left The Wailers.
MR: Did Peter feel that his music was helping to create change?
NM: I think he did. I know that he hoped that it would. He saw himself as having received a gift from Jah (his voice and his songwriting and instrumental talents) and that he had a responsibility to follow through on that. He also had an extraordinary intellectual talent -- he was an avid reader, followed current events very carefully, and even taught himself not only various martial arts (he ultimately received black belt certification) and aspects of herbal medicine (and not just ganja!) and Rasta vegetarian diet, but even taught himself Amharic, the language of ancient Ethiopia (Abyssinia). So I think he wanted not only to write and perform songs that would change people -- and accordingly, the world -- but also to lead by way of personal example.
MR: If he were alive today, what kinds of topics would he be writing about?
NM: Wow, that's a tough one. Peter had written a song called "Crystal Ball," and that would require me not just to look into it, but also to understand whatever I saw! But one of his sons, my brother Jawara, is currently in jail in New Jersey on ganja charges, and I think Peter would probably write and sing about that. After all, in his last studio album No Nuclear War, for which he received a posthumous Grammy -- the first ever awarded for a reggae album -- there was the song "Nah Goa Jail" for "ganja no more." And also, his mother, my beloved grandmother, Mrs. Coke, only just passed away on October 27, at age 96. I like to think he would write a song about the lessons one can learn, and the debts one must appreciate, for one's family and their elders, in loving memory and tribute to her. Despite the branding of my father as a "firebrand," he really was more like a really powerful and effective teacher and leader, in my eyes. Interview by Mike Ragogna