Reggae Icon Jimmy Cliff Dies At 81
The Jamaican singer and actor helped popularize reggae with hits like ‘You Can Get It If You Really Want’ and ‘The Harder They Come.’
The reggae icon Jimmy Cliff has died. The Jamaican singer helped popularize the musical genre with hits like “You Can Get It If You Really Want” and “The Harder They Come.” Cliff’s wife, Latifa Chambers, announced his death and said the cause was a seizure followed by pneumonia. “Jimmy, my darling, may you rest in peace,” she wrote on his official Instagram 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 name Jimmy Cliff as a teen and found success with a single called “Hurricane Hattie,” which was produced by Leslie Kong, who helped launch Bob Marley’s career. Soon, he was recording local hits like “King of Kings,” “Dearest Beverley,” “Miss Jamaica,” and “Pride and Passion,” and representing Jamaica at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York.
He signed to Island Records and moved to the United Kingdom. After unsuccessful attempts to market Cliff to a rock audience, he found success with his 1967 debut, Hard Road to Travel. The album included “Waterfall,” which was composed by members of the British psychedelic pop band Nirvana and became a hit in Brazil, winning the International Song Festival. Cliff followed “Waterfall” with the 1969 top 10 UK hit “Wonderful World, Beautiful People” and 1970’s “Vietnam,” a protest song that earned praise from Bob Dylan. Cliff’s cover of Cat Stevens’ “Wild World” was also a UK hit.
His breakthrough in the United States came through acting in the 1972 film The Harder They Come, directed by Perry Henzell, Cliff starred as a struggling Jamaican musician who turns to crime. The soundtrack album was an international 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 used by the Sandinistas in Nicaragua as a campaign theme.
Cliff played his first major U.S. concerts after the film’s release and performed on the first season of Saturday Night Live in 1976.
Bruce Springsteen’s live cover of Cliff’s “Trapped” appeared on 1985’s triple-platinum We Are the World benefit album and helped expand Cliff’s stateside audience. An album from that same year, Cliff Hanger, which featured collaborations with members of Kool and the Gang, won a Grammy for Best Reggae Recording. Cliff received a total of seven nominations across his career.
Throughout his career, Cliff recorded with non-reggae artists like The Rolling Stones, Paul Simon, Annie Lennox, Sting, and more. He appeared in the 1986 Robin Williams comedy Club Paradise, and his collaboration with Elvis Costello, “Seven Day Weekend,” appeared on the soundtrack.
Cliff was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010. His 2012 album Rebirth earned a Grammy for Best Reggae Album. His final album was 2022’s Refugees.
