Ziggy Marley, SOJA among 2015 Reggae Grammy nominees

With a slew of Reggae Grammys under his belt, Reggae megastar, Ziggy Marley will be looking to make a bit of history as he leads a cast of six nominated for the Best Reggae Album award at the 57th Grammy Awards in Los Angeles next February.

After winning the award for his Ziggy Marley in Concert album in 2013, Marley copped the nomination for this year’s awards for his album, Fly Rasta, which was released this past April. The singer’s fifth studio album featured its title track, featuring legendary singer, U-Roy as well as I Don’t Wanna Live on Mars and I Get Up featuring sister and a former member of his Melody Makers band, Cedella Marley.

Should Marley win the award, not only would he be the first reggae or dancehall artist since Shabba Ranks (1992 and 1993) to win back-to-back Grammy awards, he would be the first ever to win back-to-back honours twice, having done so in 1990 and 1991 with his Melody Makers band. Marley has six in total to date.

His competition will be stiff as Fly Rasta will go up against the likes of Full Frequency by Sean Paul, Out of Many, One Music by Shaggy, Back on the Controls by Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, The Reggae Power by Sly & Robbie and Spicy Chocolate and Amid the Noise and The Haste by acclaimed American reggae band, SOJA.

While the others have won this category in the past, SOJA has earned their very first nomination.

Amid the Noise and The Haste is one of the highest selling reggae albums of the last year, with 12,000 first-week copies sold and over 22,000 copies sold overall after initially topping the Billboard Reggae Albums chart