Coxsone Dodd’s Daughter Wants Apology For “Very Insulting” Scene In ‘Bob Marley: One Love’ Movie

Morna Dodd, daughter of the late Studio One producer Clement ‘Sir Coxsone’ Dodd, has expressed strong disapproval of how her father is depicted in the recently released film Bob Marley: One Love.

She specifically objects to a scene where Dodd, played by Jamaican actor Jeff Crossley, is portrayed as a gun-toting ‘badman’ when he meets the teenage Wailers, an act Morna describes as “very insulting” and a gross misrepresentation of her father’s character. She wants an “immediate public apology” from Paramount Pictures, Rita Marley, and the Marley family.

“The apology is required for the portrayal of my father to millions of people globally as him approaching and threatening teenage children with a gun,” Morna told DancehallMag.

“The film’s producers have cemented an image in the minds of millions where it seems that a lot of Jamaican music was created under the gun. That should never have been done to my father.”

Coxsone Dodd, who died in 2004 at age 72, was influential in the development of Ska and Reggae in the 1950s and 1960s, launching the careers of numerous Jamaican artists through Studio One, including a very young Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and Bunny Wailer as The Wailers. The young group had their first recording session with Dodd, producing Simmer Down, I Am Going Home, and Do You Remember in 1964, and over 80 other songs until they parted ways in 1966.

The producer was also known for his nurturing role towards young artists, many of whom stayed at his Brentford Road studio. “Bob Marley even lived at Brentford Road as a teenager,” his daughter said.

“He was very much a father figure to a lot of young children. There is even a Studio One brand dedicated to young artists. My father did everything for the music, he re-invested back in his music and built his studio to be a platform for the industry.”

Morna noted: “He is also recognized as the father figure of the marriage between Bob & Rita Marley in February 1966. He bought Bob Marley’s suit for the marriage.”

“I find it very insulting that his memory has been smeared in this way,” she told DancehallMag.

Some suggest that the portrayal of Dodd in the film might have been influenced, for dramatic effect, by the colorful reputation of Arthur ‘Duke’ Reid, another prominent Jamaican producer and label owner at the time. “Duke had a passion for guns, perhaps nurtured by his decade in the police force, and it is said that he was never seen without two pistols,” The Gleaner wrote of Reid, who founded the record label Treasure Isle.

‘One Love’

Morna Dodd also raised another issue concerning One Love, the song that inspired the film’s title and is featured on the official soundtrack. “This portrayal could be considered a pre-meditated action to defame my father’s character in order to publicly reduce his reputation to take credit for the publishing of this song,” Morna claimed.

She argued that the original 1965 ska version of the song, which appeared on The Wailers’ debut album The Wailing Wailers, was produced by Studio One and that her father and Neville Livingston (Bunny Wailer) were co-writers alongside Bob Marley.

According to her, One Love has been in a publishing/credit dispute since the more popular 1977 version, One Love/People Get Ready, appeared on the Exodus album. This version credits Marley and Curtis Mayfield as it contains an interpolation of The Impressions’ song People Get Ready, written by Mayfield.

“I have seen recently where Alan Skill Cole is taking credit for the 1977 re-recording as Bob Marley was reluctant to do so, knowing of the ownership, where both my father and Neville Livingston are noted as co-writers with Bob Marley. There was an attempt to coerce Neville Livingston pka Bunny Wailer in 1999 to sign a contract to give up his rights in order to further diminish the original publisher ownership,” she alleged.

“My father died on May 4, 2004 and it should be noted that in 2007 the Recording Academy of America incorporated his 1965 One Love version in their Hall Of Fame giving both himself & The Wailing Wailers credit. This is notable as it was chosen over the now popular 1977 version as the original.”

Paramount Pictures and Tuff Gong’s Bob Marley: One Love broke records following its release on Valentine’s Day last month.

The movie, which stars Kingsley Ben-Adir and Lashana Lynch as Bob and Rita Marley, is now the sixth highest-grossing music biopic, according to Screen Rant. As of March 3, 2024, it has earned $82.8 million in the United States and Canada, and $63.3 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $146.1 million.