The reggae icon Jimmy Cliff has died. The Jamaican singer helped popularize the musical style with hits like “You Can Get It If You Really Want” and “The Harder They Come.” Cliff’s spouse, Latifa Chambers, introduced his loss of life and stated the trigger was a seizure adopted by pneumonia. “Jimmy, my darling, may you rest in peace,” she wrote on his official Instagram web page early Monday. “To all his fans around the world, please know that your support was his strength throughout his whole career.” Cliff was 81.
Cliff was born James Chambers and raised in Jamaica. He adopted the title Jimmy Cliff as a teen and located success with a single referred to as “Hurricane Hattie,” which was produced by Leslie Kong, who helped launch Bob Marley’s profession. Quickly, he was recording native hits like “King of Kings,” “Dearest Beverley,” “Miss Jamaica,” and “Pride and Passion,” and representing Jamaica on the 1964 World’s Honest in New York.
He signed to Island Information and moved to the UK. After unsuccessful makes an attempt to market Cliff to a rock viewers, he discovered success together with his 1967 debut, Laborious Highway to Journey. The album included “Waterfall,” which was composed by members of the British psychedelic pop band Nirvana and have become a success in Brazil, profitable the Worldwide Music Pageant. Cliff adopted “Waterfall” with the 1969 prime 10 UK hit “Wonderful World, Beautiful People” and 1970’s “Vietnam,” a protest track that earned reward from Bob Dylan. Cliff’s cowl of Cat Stevens’ “Wild World” was additionally a UK hit.
His breakthrough in the US got here by performing within the 1972 movie The Tougher They Come, directed by Perry Henzell, Cliff starred as a struggling Jamaican musician who turns to crime. The soundtrack album was a world success and featured the title theme, “You Can Get It If You Really Want,” “Many Rivers to Cross,” and “Sitting in Limbo.” “You Can Get it If You Really Want” was later utilized by the Sandinistas in Nicaragua as a marketing campaign theme.
Cliff performed his first main U.S. live shows after the movie’s launch and carried out on the primary season of Saturday Night time Dwell in 1976.
Bruce Springsteen’s stay cowl of Cliff’s “Trapped” appeared on 1985’s triple-platinum We Are the World profit album and helped increase Cliff’s stateside viewers. An album from that very same yr, Cliff Hanger, which featured collaborations with members of Kool and the Gang, gained a Grammy for Greatest Reggae Recording. Cliff obtained a complete of seven nominations throughout his profession.
All through his profession, Cliff recorded with non-reggae artists like The Rolling Stones, Paul Simon, Annie Lennox, Sting, and extra. He appeared within the 1986 Robin Williams comedy Membership Paradise, and his collaboration with Elvis Costello, “Seven Day Weekend,” appeared on the soundtrack.
Cliff was inducted into the Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame in 2010. His 2012 album Rebirth earned a Grammy for Greatest Reggae Album. His closing album was 2022’s Refugees.
