Tuff Gong is the brand name associated with a number of businesses started by Bob Marley and the Marley family. 'Tuff Gong' comes from Marley's nickname, which was in turn an echo of that given to founder of the

Rastafari Rastafari, sometimes called Rastafarianism, is a religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by scholars of religion. There is no central authority in control ...

movement, Leonard "The Gong" Howell.

Record label

Tuff Gong is a

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the prod ...

formed by the

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use the ...

group The Wailers in 1970. Before 1981, the label used the facilities of Federal Records recording company in Marcus Garvey Drive. The first single on the label was "Run For Cover" by The Wailers. After 1973, the Tuff Gong headquarters was located at

56 Hope Road The Bob Marley Museum is a museum in Kingston, Jamaica, dedicated to the reggae musician Bob Marley. The museum is located at 56 Hope Road, Kingston, and is Bob Marley's former place of residence. It was home to the Tuff Gong reggae record label ...

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the five most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispan ...

— Bob Marley's home. The location is now home to the Bob Marley Museum. The Tuff Gong label is distributed by

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

through

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, an ...

. Tuff Gong is the official Caribbean distributor of

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp. (trade name, d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational entertainment and record label Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in New York C ...

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

, and Disney Music Group. In Rockstar Games and Rockstar North's '' Grand Theft Auto IV'', Tuff Gong Radio is based on the record label and is featured as one of the many fictional radio stations featured in-game. The station is dedicated to playing songs associated with Bob Marley, including tracks by his sons

Stephen Marley Stephen Robert Nesta Marley (born April 20, 1972) is a Jamaican-American musician. The son of Bob Marley, Marley is an eight-time Grammy Award winner, three times as a solo artist, twice as a producer of his younger paternal half-brother Dam ...

and Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley.

Recording studio

Tuff Gong is a full-service recording studio located in Kingston, Jamaica. In 1981, Bob Marley's wife, Rita Marley, purchased Ken Khouri's Federal Records recording studio, the island's very first pressing plant, and the company subsequently moved from 56 Hope Road to 220 Marcus Garvey Drive, where it continues to operate. Tuff Gong includes a recording studio, mastering room, stamper room, pressing plant, cassette plant, wholesale record shop, booking agency, as well as offices for Rita Marley Music and Ghetto Youths International. Tuff Gong International studio is one of the largest Caribbean studios and features the second-largest live recording space on the islands. Artists, musicians, producers and tourists travel from around the world to visit the facility that birthed songs such as " No Woman, No Cry", "

Trenchtown Rock Trench Town (also Trenchtown) is a neighbourhood located in the parish of St. Andrew, part of which is in Kingston, the capital and largest city of Jamaica. In the 1960s, Trench Town was known as the Hollywood of Jamaica. Today Trench Town is t ...

", " Stir It Up", " Catch a Fire", " Redemption Song", "

Buffalo Soldier Buffalo Soldiers originally were members of the 10th Cavalry Regiment (United States), 10th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army, formed on September 21, 1866, at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. This nickname was given to the Black Cavalry by N ...

" and " Could You Be Loved". A longtime resource for Jamaican musicians, Tuff Gong has been the location of recordings from Rita Marley, Capleton, Sly and Robbie, Shaggy,

Bounty Killa Rodney Basil Price (born 12 June 1972), known as Bounty Killer, is a Jamaican reggae and dancehall deejay. AllMusic describes him as "one of the most aggressive dancehall stars of the '90s, a street-tough rude boy with an unrepentant flair f ...

, Lady Saw, Vybz Kartel, Popcaan, Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers,

I-Wayne I Wayne, Rastafarian stage name for Cliffroy Taylor (born September 13, 1980 in Portmore, Jamaica), is a roots reggae singer. He is known for his hit singles " Living In Love" and " Can't Satisfy Her" from his debut album, ''Lava Ground''. ...

, Beenie Man, Jimmy Cliff, and many others. International music stars, such as

Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. (born October 20, 1971), known professionally as Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg and briefly Snoop Lion), is an American rapper. His fame dates back to 1992 when he featured on Dr. Dre's debut solo single, ...

, Sinead O'Connor, Kenny Chesney,

Lauryn Hill Lauryn Noelle Hill (born May 26, 1975) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, and record producer. She is often regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time, as well as being one of the most influential musicians of her generation. ...

, Self Defense Family, and Tiken Jah Fakoly :fr:Coup de gueule (album) have chosen the studio for both its recording resources and its history. A renewed international interest in Jamaican music has led to studio being used by a younger generation of artists, including Major Lazer.

References

External links

Tuff Gong Homepage

Tuff Gong Worldwide
{{Authority control Jamaican record labels Record labels established in 1970 Reggae record labels Vanity record labels Bob Marley Island Records Jamaican brands Kingston, Jamaica

Record label

Recording studio

See also

References

External links