Songoftheday 2/20/16 - If there is no love in your heart, then there is no hope for you...

"Tomorrow People" - Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers
from the album Conscious Party (1988)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #39 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 1

Today's song of the day comes from Jamaicans Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers, who were four children of the biggest and most important reggae musician of all time, Bob Marley. Led by singer Ziggy, sisters Cedella and Sharon and brother Stephen came together in the late 70s as children under their father's tutelage and released one album in 1979. They re-emerged years after their dad's death in 1984 with a couple more albums, but it wasn't until being signed by Virgin Records in 1988 that they got their own big break. With their fourth album Conscious Party produced by the Talking Heads/Tom Tom Club's Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth, the bright, shiny throwback to their parents' music got them noticed in their own right. The first single, "Tomorrow People", sounded so much like Bob that many people were confused, especially with the video featuring Ziggy looking strikingly like his father...

"Tomorrow People" became the Melody Makers' sole top-40 pop hit in America in July of 1988. The single also climbed to #16 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock radio chart. Internationally, the single reached #5 in Belgium, #7 in the Netherlands, #22 in both Ireland and the UK, and #36 in Australia. The Conscious Party would earn the group a Grammy Award for best reggae album the following year.

Their follow-up single, "Tumblin' Down", failed to reach the Hot 100 in America, but the single version topped the R&B chart for two weeks, while the extended remix made it to #28. The song also reached #5 on Billboard's new Modern Rock chart, and popped in at #43 on their Mainstream Rock list. In 1989, the siblings released their next album, One Bright Day, and lead track "Look Who's Dancing" climbed all the way to #2 on the Modern Rock chart (at #65, it was their last British hit). They started the 90s with their last pop hit "Good Time" (which went to #27 on the R&B chart) along with the top ten modern rock hit "Kozmik" (#6) in 1991. Four years later, their single "Power To Move Ya" became their highest-charting club hit at #13. The band together were last seen on the singles charts in 1998 with the dance hit "Everyone Wants To Be" (#16). Ziggy embarked on a solo career in 2003, while the rest of the family still perform (sometimes with Ziggy) as the Melody Makers. Stephen also has made some solo albums, and both Ziggy and Stephen have won Grammys by themselves. Their half-brother Damian Marley has also done well with a top-5 album in the US and a #55 hit with "Welcome To Jamrock".

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Here's the band in their heyday performing "Tomorrow People" live..

...and from another show in 1995...

...and finally from a Ziggy show in 2013...

Up tomorrow: A legend comes to rescue.