Jimmy Cliff, Grammy Award-winning singer and actor who helped Jamaican reggae music find its place in global pop culture, has died at the age of 81.
“It is with deep sadness that I share with you that my husband, Jimmy Cliff, has crossed over due to a seizure followed by pneumonia,” Cliff’s wife Latifa Chambers said in a post on her official Instagram account.
Cliff’s award-winning career as a musician spanned decades and included some of reggae’s most memorable hits, including “Many Rivers to Cross.” It was included in 2010 in Rock. & Roll Hall of Fame, which described him as the “first champion” of reggae.
“Jimmy Cliff was instrumental in spreading reggae beyond Jamaica,” the Hall of Fame said in your site. “Cliff, a self-proclaimed reggae pastor, has traveled the world to spread this smooth, sun-kissed sound.”
Jamaican musician, singer and actor Jimmy Cliff performs during the Timbre Rock and Roots concert on Friday, March 22, 2013 in Singapore.
Maye-e/AP Owner
“Many Rivers” and two other hits, “You Can Get It If You Really Want” and “The Harder They Come”, were featured tracks on the official soundtrack of a 1972 film, also titled “The Harder They Come”, which starred Cliff.
Cliff played a young reggae artist who is drawn to what is presented as the seedy world of music production in Jamaica.
“Cliff’s performance is riveting and authentic,” the Grammy Awards wrote in an appraisal from the soundtrack that marks the 50th anniversary of the film’s release. He noted that Cliff, whose real name was James Chambers, had seen at least some of what was portrayed in the film.
“While pursuing a career as a singer, Cliff saw firsthand the crime, violence, and survival of the strongest mentality within the ghetto areas where reggae was born,” the assessment says.
Jimmy Cliff performs live on stage on Day 1 of the Singapore Formula One Grand Prix at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Padang on September 18, 2015 in Singapore.
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Cliff was born on July 30, 1944, during a hurricane in the Somerton district of St. James, Jamaica, according to his official biography. Fourteen years later, he scored his first hit, “Hurricane Hattie,” launching a career that lasted well into this century.
He won the Grammy for best reggae album in 1986 for “Cliff Hanger” and again in 2013 for “Rebirth.” He was nominated several more times.
His songs often spoke of freedom from stifling environments and authority figures and, fittingly, noting his birth during a hurricane, also included references to nature and storms.
In “The Harder They Come” he sang about fighting “as sure as the sun will shine,” adding a few lines later: “But I’d rather be a free man in my grave/Than live like a puppet or a slave.”
His wife, in a note to fans posted Monday, said she was grateful for all the friends and artists Cliff cherished.
“To all his fans around the world, know that your support was his strength throughout his entire career,” Chambers wrote. “He really appreciated each and every fan for their love.”
