Marley Estate Plans Aggressive Expansion

As business meetings go, the one at Cedella Marley's house in Miami last fall was far from routine. James Salter, CEO for the retail branding company Hilco — which works with The Sharper Image and Linens 'n Things — took the trip to meet with Cedella, daughter of Bob, and other members of the Marley family. With jerk chicken on the grill, Rohan, one of Bob's sons, tossed Salter a football, and before long, the two were throwing passes. "I was really nervous when I went to that first meeting," Salter says. "They made me feel relaxed."

Hilco announced in early February that it had partnered with the estate to form House of Marley, which plans to use Marley's name or image on a vast array of products, from Marley Coffee (the slogan: "Stir It Up") to soccer balls, bedsheets and a Grand Theft Auto–ish video game. "He worked out," Cedella says. "Great abs. He would make a great action hero."

Over the past decade, income from the Marley estate has dipped from $10 million to less than $4 million a year, a result of bootlegged apparel and CDs, and a decline in legal CD sales. "At one point, people were saying the bootleg business was 10 times what the official business was," says Hooman Majd, a former executive at Marley's label, Island Records. Salter and Cedella deny reports that Hilco invested $20 million in House of Marley, but few doubt the potential income the name could generate.