MARLEY Undaunted By VAN HALEN Opening Slot
September 14, 2007, 17 years ago
The following report is courtesy of Wes Orshoski from Billboard.com:
The throngs of rock-loving VAN HALEN fans who show up early to the band's long-anticipated reunion tour this fall will be greeted with an unlikely opening act in reggae royalty KY-MANI MARLEY. But those expecting to hear copycat versions of his father's 'One Love' or 'Exodus' are in for a surprise, he says.
With a seven-piece band in tow, Marley - the 31-year-old son of the iconic Bob and one-time table tennis champion Anita Belnavis - will be performing tracks from his forthcoming Radio disc," which he says is not a reggae album.
"It's really edgy, really urban. It's not reggae," he tells Billboard.com. "I don't want to call it hip-hop, and it's not R&B.; I like to call it 'Ky-Mani.' I think I've created my own sound now, where you can identify me from everything else. I don't like to stick to one genre. And that's the reason I call it Radio, because the radio is where all genres of music meet."Marley, who also made strides as an actor in recent years, says he's not worried about the classic-rock audience he'll face on tour with Van Halen. "I'm not nervous because I'm not going there to play reggae,” he says.” I have music for everybody. There's definitely going to be some people surprised, I promise you. Of course, everybody's not going to like it, but everybody can't hate it. So my thing is, if I can capture one fan, then I've done my job."
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