But on a recent day in the studio, the multi-instrumentalist, multiple-Grammy-winning producer and hit solo artist sat down with BobMarley.com to look back on life with Bob. The interview with BobMarley.com's Jen Gurny was conducted exclusively for broadcast on the site in a series called "Memories of Bob."
"His advice came through music," Stephen said of his father. "Music was always his message. So anything he'd teach me, even if it has to do with your personal life, it still comes through your music."
And the message behind that advice?
"I mean, it was just love," Stephen said. "Just outright love for everything, for every existence."
The spirit of the huge, musical Marley family continues through every generation, and it wasn't a coincidence that Stephen's young son was in the studio looking over Dad's shoulder and watching how great music is made. It couldn't help but remind Stephen of his seminal years in Kingston, Jamaica, when Bob was at the height of his popularity, cranking out reggae classics for Island Records at 56 Hope Road.
"He's my boy with me, just like me with my father before me," Stephen said. "It's natural. It's beautiful. It lets us know that we're all connected. It's great to see this child doing the same things I used to do with my father... He's too young to understand. But he's doing the same exact things, so it's a great feeling."
Stephen says the message from his father he intends to pass along as a father himself is one that's easy to find in any song written by a Marley.
"[My father] stood for one love," Stephen said. "That is the most important thing. No segregation. No fences. That will teach him that everything comes through love."
Watching his son run and play in the studio like all little kids do, Stephen was reminded of his own upbringing, although maybe Stephen's a bit more tolerant when it comes to behavior during recording sessions.
"Being in the studio with my father, it was no joke," Stephen recalled with a smile. "It was not a place to joke. It was always serious. You couldn't be hanging out if you (weren't serious). You had to be easy."
One thing that isn't easy for Stephen to do is reveal his favorite Bob Marley song, but he's been asked the question so many times that he has come up with a clever way to answer it.
"Today? Because tomorrow I'm going to have a different one," he said. "Today, it's 'I'm A Rebel.' That's the one for today."