Jimmy Cliff, the pioneering reggae singer and star of the 1972 Jamaican film The Harder They Come, is dead at 81. His wife, Latifa Chambers, said he died after experiencing a seizure followed by pneumonia. She shared the news with “profound sadness” in a November 24 Instagram statement. “To all his fans around the world, please know that your support was his strength throughout his whole career,” Chambers wrote. “He really appreciated each and every fan for their love.” She thanked Cliff’s medical staff for their help and addressed her late husband directly: “Jimmy, my darling, may you rest in peace. I will follow your wishes.” The message, which was also signed by their children, Lilty and Aken, requested privacy for the family before concluding, “See you and we see you Legend.”
Born James Chambers in Jamaica in 1944, Cliff adopted a stage surname meant to convey the heights he planned to reach with his musical career. And he didn’t have to wait very long for his ascent to start. He topped the Jamaican charts with his own composition, “Hurricane Hattie,” as a teenager. In 1965, he signed to Island Records and moved to the U.K., where he expanded his fan base with global hits like “Waterfall,” “Wonderful World, Beautiful People,” and “Vietnam” — the latter of which Bob Dylan praised as the best protest song he’d ever heard.
Cliff’s fame hit a new level once he made his acting debut as aspiring musician turned outlaw Ivanhoe Martin in Perry Henzell’s crime drama The Harder They Come. Cliff wrote and performed several songs — “You Can Get It If You Really Want,” “Many Rivers to Cross,” “The Harder They Come,” and “Sitting in Limbo” — on the 1972 film’s soundtrack, which helped introduce and popularize the reggae sound for many international fans. “It is a pure music,” Cliff reflected of the genre in a 2022 Spin interview. “It was born of the poorer class of people. It is the soul of Jamaican music. It came from the need for recognition, identity, and respect.”
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His decades-long discography also includes the 1983 hit “Reggae Night,” a popular cover of Johnny Nash’s “I Can See Clearly Now,” and more. By the time he released his latest single, “Human Touch,” in 2021, he was a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee and a two-time Grammy winner, and his contributions to Jamaican culture were recognized with his home country’s prestigious Order of Merit. Following Cliff’s death, Jamaican prime minister Andrew Holness described the late singer as “a true cultural giant whose music carried the heart of our nation to the world” in a social media tribute. “Jimmy Cliff told our story with honesty and soul,” Holness wrote. “His music lifted people through hard times, inspired generations, and helped to shape the global respect that Jamaican culture enjoys today.”
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