Ziggy Marley - File

The eldest son of reggae icon Bob Marley is now a four-time Grammy Award winner after he beat four other nominees to take the Best Reggae Album award at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles last night.

Ziggy Marley's album, Love is My Religion, is a Tuff Gong Worlwide offering and the artiste's second solo studio album.

Other nominees were Sly and Robbie, Buju Banton, British band UB40 and Matisyahu, a Hasidic Jew from the United States.

The album is viewed as an expansion of the personal, social and political themes explored in the 38-year-old Marley's debut CD entitled Dragonfly.

On Love is My Religion, Marley is the album's songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer. The album was released on July 4, 2006 and is currently sold exclusively through Target.

Independent record

The now four-time winner said recently that the album holds special meaning.

"This record is the first independent record that I own fully and growing up that was a dream of my father, because record companies always take a big chunk," he said.

He explained that he came up with the concept for the album through a conversation with a woman.

"She was Catholic and when she asked me what was my religion I said 'love is my religion' and when I said these words, there was a burning in me and I knew that was it."

He says although the album was released exclusively in the United States, he thinks "it's very important to spread the idea and the concept".

"We just finish a few tours in places like Israel, Europe, South America, U.S. and next year we a go Japan, Australia, places that side."

He added, "There is a reason why we put it in those words (love is my religion); it easier for people to understand and that is the ultimate."

Reggae Grammy Winners:

2006 - Ziggy Marley, Love is My Religion

2005 - Damian Marley, Welcome to Jamrock

2004 - Toots Hibbert, True Love

2003 - Sean Paul, Dutty Rock

2002 - Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Jamaican E.T.

2001 - Damian Marley, Halfway Tree

2000 - Beenie Man, Art And Life

1999 - Burning Spear, Calling Rastafari

1998 - Sly And Robbie (Sly Dunbar & Robbie Shakespeare), Friends

1997 - Ziggy Marley and The Melody Makers (Cedella Marley, Sharon Marley- Prendergast, Stephen Marley and Ziggy Marley), Fallen Is Babylon

1996 - Bunny Wailer, Hall Of Fame - A Tribute To Bob Marley's 50th Anniversary

1995 - Shaggy, Boombastic

1994 -Bunny Wailer, Crucial! Roots Classics

1993 - Inner Circle (Lester Adderly, Calton Coffie, Lancelot Hall, Bernard (Touter) Harvey, Ian Lewis and Roger Lewis), Bad Boys

1992 - Shabba Ranks, X-tra Naked

1991 - Shabba Ranks, As Raw As Ever

1990 - Bunny Wailer, Time Will Tell - A Tribute To Bob Marley

1989 - Ziggy Marley and The Melody Makers (Ziggy Marley, Cedella Marley, Sharon Marley-Prendergast and Stephen Marley), One Bright Day

1988 - Ziggy Marley And The Melody Makers (Ziggy Marley, Cedella Marley, Sharon Marley-Prendergast and Stephen Marley), Conscious Party

1987 - Peter Tosh, NoNuclear War

1986 - Steel Pulse (David Hinds, Selwyn Bumbo Brown, Alphonso Martin, Steve Grizzley Nisbett, Alvin Ewen and Sidney Mills), Babylon The Bandit

1985 - Jimmy Cliff, Cliff Hanger

1984 - Black Uhuru (Michael Rose, Duckie Simpson, Puma Jones, Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare), Anthem