Packy Malley
22822 Lake Road
Cleveland, OH 44116
Entertainers are to e-mail only. Thank you.
Email: info@clevelandreggae.com

Packy Malley got his first taste of reggae music a week before his senior year of high school in August of 1982. “I listened to Rastaman Vibration and it changed my life,” he says. Malley kept exploring reggae with a firm foundation in rock and roll . Malley was a huge fan of the Beatles, Stones, Grateful Dead, Santana, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, J. Geiles, Pink Floyd and other “classic rockers.” By the time he got to Ohio State University he was deeper and deeper into the music scene – checking out the local clubs at night and getting more and more acquainted with all forms of music throughout the day. A breakthrough happened at an I-Tal reggae concert Thanksgiving weekend (1985) of his junior year. Malley met the programming Director of campus radio station WOSR and was encouraged to go get his own radio show. He was “on the air” four days later on his 21 st birthday. Starting off with a mix of “Classic Rock & Reggae” three months later it was 100% reggae with the program “Crucial Reggae & Rub-A-Dub Music” a moniker he swiped from the I-Tal band with pride. Two months later in the spring of 1986 his concert promotions began with a series of 10 concerts at the University's Mirror Lake Amphitheater where he eventually produced close to 40 acts. Malley was doing all the biggest names in Columbus but he really loved the Ohio reggae scene with bands like Irie (later changed to Identity), First Light, I-Tal, Satta, The Ark Band, Idren Posse, Earl Zero, and many others. In the spring of 1986, the reggae promotions officially began and the birth of One Love Productions was born and a passion for concert promotion took off.

Malley eventually got his degree in Economics with minors in Latin and Astronomy in 1991. He was a campus reggae DJ from 1986-1989. He also worked at WCBE, Columbus, Ohio's National Public Radio from in 1990-1991. He paid his way through college as a union bricklayer with Local #5. Upon graduation, he headed back to his hometown in Cleveland, Ohio. The reggae promotions picked right back up. Beginning with a tribute to Bob Marley on May 11th, Malley and Carlos Jones teamed up to form the Cleveland R eggae All Stars. This band of several area musicians played all Marley tunes all night and smashed the record at Peabody's Downunder in the Cleveland Flats for sales at a sold out show in the Spring of 1992. Later that summer Packy organized his first Mid West Reggae Fest with the Grammy nominated Blue Riddim Band, First Light and Island Record's Identity.

The Mid West Reggae Festival has grown each year since 1992 and it has become the longest running and best attended reggae festival in the m id -w est. Packy Malley promotes reggae throughout the year as well. He assists clubs like the House of Blues, The Odeon, Peabody's, The Grog Shop and the Beachland Ballroom. With the addition of this very web site people in the Cleveland area know what is going on at all times with the reggae scene in northeast Ohio thanks to Packy's labor of love – promoting reggae music!

Packy Malley's “real job” is co-owner of Malley's Chocolates, a Cleveland institution known internationally as producers of some of the best chocolate in the world. Their web site is www.malleys.com. His Grand parents started the company in 1935 and now Packy, with three of his five siblings are third generation “chocolatiers.” They have 16 chocolate shops (four of them have old fashioned ice cream parlors) in the greater Cleveland area.

Packy also runs his own DJ Company providing music for weddings, nightclubs, festivals or any other events where a DJ is needed. You can get more info by going to DJPackyMalley.com. He is co-owner of Soundscapes with his partner and friend, John Hannibal (216-221-TUNE). He joined John in 1997 and they have one of the best reputations in the professional DJ business in Cleveland . Some of Packy's favorite gigs include : DJ for Gravity Games in Cleveland (9/2-5/04), DJ for Voodoo Fest in New Orleans (10/31/04) and doing the Cleveland Browns pre-game activities in the Muni-lot (2004) . Packy was also supposed to be the Rolling Stones private DJ for their Amsterdam concert on 8/20/03 – but then the show got cancelled. “That would have been the highlight of my professional DJ career!” he says with wishful eyes. Packy is also the preferred DJ for all events at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and many other reputable functions around Cleveland . His main DJ appearances are at weddings and he has done hundreds of them. “I love doing weddings! I enjoy meeting people and I love coordinating successful parties that have great music and are a great time,” Malley adds.

Packy Malley Presents took on a huge task in 2004 with the birth of Cleveland's Summerfest. Summerfest turned out to be the largest festival in all of greater Cleveland. The festival attracted close to 25,000 people. The festival featured five stages of music, 43 bands, the Cleveland Pops Orchestra and the largest firework show in all of northeast Ohio. Malley continued this huge festival in 2005 and 2006.

Recently, Packy began combining his love of motorcycles with his concert promotions. He is the man behind the Cleveland Biker Rally and the Mid West Biker Rallies. He has worked with acts like Dickie Betts (from The Allman Brothers Band) and The Outlaws. Packy rides a 2003 Harley-Davidson Softail.

Packy Malley is a member of the Big Brother program of Greater Cleveland (1995 – present), a former Board Member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's “Plugged In” (1999-2005), The Ohio State University Alumni Board (1995 – 1999), The Cleveland Jaycees (1994-2005), Ohio H.O.G. Committee (2006 – present) and the Cleveland Metroparks Zoological Society (1998 – present). Packy got married to the lovely Kym on September 9, 2007.

-Mark Van Rooy
--Attorney at Law and best friend and advisor to Packy Malley.