Marcia Griffiths’ son Taf pays tribute on Mother’s Day

To the world, Marcia Lynneth Griffiths is no ordinary mortal. She is the highly respected Queen of Reggae and wherever she goes, it is natural to see her holding court, as she is swarmed by fans like bees to honey.

However, to King (yes, King is his first name) Yohance Taf Thompson, she is simply Mom. And, on Mother’s Day Taf, as he is known, has one message for her: “I love you very much ... more than you will ever know. The love I have for you is so endless that I can hardly put it in words. Happy Mother’s Day, Mom.”

Taf, who isn’t particularly fond of the name King, primarily because “it’s a title, but my father chose it and my Mom allowed him to get away with it”, can remember being in kindergarten at Mona Prep when he was first clued into just how special his Mom was.

“I was about four or five and I would see how the other parents, and the teachers and even the principal would react to her. And when she came to sing at school barbecues that was something else,” he said of his mother, who he shared has always been very hands-on in her role, despite the demands of her life on the road as a reggae ambassador.

“She was on tour a lot, but once she was home, it was education first. Growing up, music was never even mentioned as an option. You grow up around the Marleys and singing, but it was never forced on us. My mother allowed us to trod our own journey. She allowed us to find our own passion and path and she supported our decisions and she never played favourites. My brothers and I often joke about who is the favourite, but it’s hard to tell,” Taf said.

The second of three boys together for Marcia Griffiths and her partner the late Errol Thompson, Taf has inherited his mother’s singing talent and steps on stage at some of her shows to perform her well-known duets with her. That is always a moment for fans, and in fact, their love songs are so natural, that Griffiths will tell her audience with a laugh, “He is my son ... Don’t think that he is my little young boyfriend.”

Taf, too, laughs at that. He also sings his mother praises for raising three boys as a single mother.

“My father died when I was probably two or three. I don’t remember a lot about him, but I remember the funeral, surprisingly, and one or two other little things. I can recall my mother’s sadness and also looking at her in the church and seeing her crying. And I remember my grandmother ... my dad’s mother .. screaming inside the church. I knew that I wouldn’t be seeing my father again, but my mother was ... and is ... always there for me and my brothers,” he said.

Taf’s father was singer-songwriter and popular Jamaica Broadcasting Commission disc jockey Errol Thompson.

PROUD SON

“I’m just always always proud of my mother and a lot of times I am in awe, especially when I see how people react when they see her. We could be walking in Florida or she’s on stage singing, the respect is the same. I never take her for granted,” Taf said.

Taf, who has been going to shows with his mother from he was 21, was asked to share a special memory while being on tour. Of course, there were so many that he took a while to choose the perfect one.

“We were backstage somewhere in Europe and an 11-year-old boy came around with his parents. He had one of my Mom’s Studio One albums that he wanted her to autograph. He started to name out the songs on the album which he liked and he was impressive. After she signed the album, my mother hugged him and he said ‘This is the happiest day of my life.’ That always sticks out for me. Can you imagine this little European boy being such a big Marcia Griffiths fan?”

He pointed out that the love that Europe has for Marcia Griffiths means that sometimes the song selections differ from that in North America, for example. Europe, he noted, still delights in the Bob and Marcia era during which Griffiths and Bob Andy reigned as a power couple and were in demand for concerts with their outstanding duets. That was before Taf was born, but now he is the person who steps in to fill the shoes of late Bob Andy on certain songs.

“We can’t go to Europe and not perform Young Gifted and Black,” Taf said of the blockbuster 1970 #5 UK hit single, which Bob and Marcia followed up with Pied Piper, which peaked at #11 in the UK Singles Chart in 1971. Those two releases spent a total of 25 weeks in that chart over less than 18 months.

Last week Saturday, Taf accompanied the Queen of Reggae at the Perry’s Pre-Mother’s Day concert at Hope Gardens and together they sang All My Life, the Marcia Griffiths/Da’Ville collab, as well as Live On, the classic with Beres Hammond. When The Sunday Gleaner caught up with Taf, he was on his way to sound check, this time in Cayman, to sing with his mother at another Mother’s Day concert.

“Mothers are really special and I want wish Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers,” Taf said in closing.

yasmine.peru@gleanerjm.com