Reggae legend Jimmy Cliff dies aged 81

Jimmy Cliff, one of reggae music’s most famous and best-loved proponents, has died aged 81.

He has been a star since the 1960s, bringing the sound of Jamaica to a global audience with hits such as “Wonderful World,” “Beautiful People” and “You Can Get It If You Truth Want.”

His performance as a gun-toting rebel in the 1972 crime drama The Harder They Come became a cornerstone of Jamaican cinema and is credited with bringing reggae music to the United States.

Cliff’s wife, Latifa Chambers, announced Cliff’s death in a statement via Instagram.

“It is with deep sadness that I share that my husband, Jimmy Cliff, has passed away from a seizure and pneumonia,” she wrote.

“I am grateful to his family, friends, fellow artists and colleagues who shared his journey with him.

“To all his fans around the world, please know that your support has been his strength throughout his career.

“Jimmy, my dear, may you rest in peace. I will comply with your wishes.”

Her message was also signed by their children Lildie and Akon.

Cliff was born James Chambers in 1944, the eighth of nine extremely poor children in St. James Parish, Jamaica.

He had a sweet, beautiful voice and began singing in a local church at the age of six.

He was inspired to start writing his own songs when he heard ska pioneer Derrick Morgan on the radio and asked his woodworking teacher how to compose his own songs.

“He told me, ‘Just write it!'” he told Mojo magazine.

“So I went ahead and… wrote a song called ‘I Need A Fiancée’ and another song called ‘Sob Sob,’ and I made a guitar out of bamboo to accompany myself.”

At the age of 14, he moved to Kingston and adopted the surname Cliff to express the heights he wanted to achieve.

He recorded a number of singles before topping the Jamaican charts with his composition “Hurricane Heidi”.

In 1965 he moved to London to work with Island Records (later the home of Bob Marley), but the label’s attempts to adapt his sound to a rock audience were initially unsuccessful.

He eventually went gold with the 1969 single “Wonderful World, Beautiful People,” an upbeat, feel-good song, and the more political “Vietnam,” which Bob Dylan called “the best protest song ever.”

The lyrics tell the story of a young soldier writing during the war who promised his mother that he would be home soon; only the next day she received a telegram informing her of his death.

In 1986, Cliff looked back on the song, telling reggae archivist Roger Stephens: “The essence of my music is struggle. The icing on it is the hope of love.”

The musician rose to international stardom with “The Harder They Come,” written for the film of the same name, in which he played Ivan Martin, a young man trying to break into Jamaica’s corrupt music industry.

“The film opened the door for Jamaica,” Cliff recalled. “It says, ‘This is where the music comes from.'”

Cliff contributed four songs to the soundtrack, including the gospel hymn “Many Rivers To Cross,” which reflected his early years as a struggling artist in England.

“I was in my early teens,” he later recalled. “I was full of energy: I was going to be successful, I was going to be right up there with the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.”

“It wasn’t really like that, I was touring clubs, not breaking through. I was struggling with work, life and my identity. I couldn’t find my place. Frustration fueled this song.”

Instead, the film and its score earned him international acclaim. Rolling Stone even named it one of their Top 500 Albums of All Time.

In the 1980s, he collaborated with the Rolling Stones on the Dirty Work album and returned to the U.S. charts in 1993 with “I Can See Clearly Now” from the Cool Runnings soundtrack, which recounted the adventures of the Jamaican bobsled team.

His other recordings include the Grammy-winning albums Cliff Hanger (1985) and Rebirth (2012), a throwback to the nostalgic style.

Cliff was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010, calling it a “huge thrill and honor.”

“The Fugitive” star Wyclef Jean introduced him and said he was inspired by Cliff’s success as a child growing up in Haiti.

“When we see Jimmy Cliff, we see ourselves,” he said.

Cliff continued to tour later in life and performed at Glastonbury’s legendary show in 2003. and won over a new generation of fans at the 2010 Coachella Music Festival.

His contribution to Jamaican music and culture was recognized in October 2003 when he was awarded the country’s prestigious Order of Merit.

But the singer said his connection with his fans is more important than any other honor bestowed upon him.

Interviewed by US radio station NPR in 2012”, he reflects: “When someone comes up to me and says, ‘I was a school dropout and I heard your song ‘You Can Get It If You Until You Want’ and that song brought me back to school and now I’m a teacher and I use your song with my students’ – that’s a huge success for me. “