Jimmy Cliff, one of the greatest reggae singers of all time, has passed away. Cliff’s career began when reggae was new, and his sweet, tender voice worked in conversation with what American soul singers like Al Green were doing at the same time. Cliff was the star of The Harder They Come, a low-budget Jamaican crime film that became a cultural touchpoint. He was also the main artist on its soundtrack, and every song he sings on that album is a towering classic. Cliff’s wife Latifa Chambers made the announcement on Cliff’s Instagram page this morning: “It’s with profound sadness that I share that my husband, Jimmy Cliff, has crossed over due to a seizure followed by pneumonia.” Cliff was 81.
James Chambers, the man who became Jimmy Cliff, was born in Jamaica’s Saint James parish, and he started coming up with his own music while listening to local soundsystems. In the early ’60s, Chambers moved with his father to Kingston. While he was still in high school, he took the stage name Jimmy Cliff, and he started auditioning for producers and entering talent contests. No established producers were interested, but Cliff met Leslie Kong, a young man who owned a combination restaurant and record shop and who wanted to get into the music business. In 1962, the 17-year-old Cliff released his debut single, the Kong-produced ska song “Hurricane Hattie.”
Some of Cliff’s early Kong-produced singles were local hits in Jamaica, and Cliff performed as part of a Jamaican ska exhibition at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York. Eventually, Cliff signed to Island Records and moved to the UK. His debut album Hard Road To Travel came out in 1967. At first, Island tried to market Cliff to rock audiences, releasing his covers of songs like Procul Harum’s “A Whiter Shade Of Pale,” but they didn’t really connect with audiences. Cliff did much better with two 1969 singles, the utopian vision “Wonderful World, Beautiful People” and the devastating protest song “Vietnam.” Cliff wrote both of those songs, and Leslie Kong produced them. “Wonderful World, Beautiful People” was a top-10 UK hit, as was Cliff’s 1970 cover of Cat Stevens’ “Wild World.”
In 1972, Paul Simon recorded his hit “Mother And Child Reunion” in Jamaica, with Jimmy Cliff’s backing band. The same year Cliff played the lead in The Harder They Come, taking on the role of a struggling singer who turns to a life of crime. Cliff’s musical performances in the film are electric, and the violence lent him a certain outlaw appeal. The movie was a cult hit, and the soundtrack album was a success around the world. Cliff’s songs on that soundtrack — the title song, “You Can Get If You Really Want,” “Many Rivers To Cross,” and “Sitting In Limbo” are some of the best things you’re ever going to hear. That soundtrack is almost certainly the reason that Cliff was a musical guest on the first season of Saturday Night Live.
Cliff took a break from music in the late ’70s, traveling through Africa and going on a personal journey. He returned in the ’80s, around the same time that Bruce Springsteen covered his 1972 song “Trapped” on the We Are The World compilation album. Cliff won a Grammy for his 1985 album Cliff Hanger, and he took part in Steven Van Zandt’s all-star Artists Against Apartheid benefit single “Sun City.” He collaborated with the Rolling Stones, Elvis Costello, and Joe Strummer, and he made regular appearances on soundtrack albums. He also acted in the movies Club Paradise and Marked For Death, and he had a big comeback hit when his cover of Johnny Nash’s “I Can See Clearly Now” appeared in the 1993 film Cool Runnings.
Cliff was awarded Jamaica’s Order Of Merit in 2003, and he was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2009. In 2011, he collaborated with Rancid’s Tim Armstrong on the EP The Sacred Fire and the album Rebirth, which included covers of Rancid’s “Ruby Soho” and the Clash’s “Guns Of Brixton.” That album won Cliff a second Grammy. and he performed at festivals like Glastonbury and Coachella. Cliff continued to tour heavily until late in life.
