The musician and actor helped propel reggae into the international spotlight, thanks in part to his songs and starring role in the 1972 film The Harder They Come.
The post Reggae pioneer Jimmy Cliff dies at 81 appeared first on HYFIN.
Jimmy Cliff, the Jamaican musician and actor who helped propel reggae into the international spotlight, has died at 81 years old. The singer-songwriter was known for hits such as “Many Rivers to Cross,” “You Can Get It if You Really Want” and the title track in the 1972 crime film The Harder They Come, in which he also starred as the main character.
According to his wife, Latifa Chambers, Cliff died due to a seizure followed by pneumonia. In an announcement on social media, Chambers wrote, “To all his fans around the world, please know that your support was his strength throughout his whole career.”
Born James Chambers in 1944, Cliff grew up in a rural village in Jamaica, and began singing in school and in church. His father worked as a tailor, and hoped his son would study medicine. After being exposed to American music from New Orleans and Florida through the radio, a teenaged James moved to Kingston to pursue an artistic career.
His first major hit in Jamaica, “Hurricane Hattie,” referenced a 1961 storm that wreaked havoc in the Caribbean. In 1964, Cliff was selected to perform at the World’s Fair in New York City as a representative for the island. The following year, British-born producer Chris Blackwell signed Cliff to his label, Island Records, and persuaded him to move to England.
Though he initially struggled to find his footing with audiences abroad, Cliff earned critical and commercial success for songs such as “Wonderful World, Beautiful People” and the protest anthem “Vietnam.” Despite addressing war and tragedy in his music, the artist infused his lyrics with a hopeful outlook.
“I grew up economically poor, spiritually rich,” Cliff told NPR in 2010. “So even though I had this condition, that kind of balance made me always take the downside and kind of put an up to it.”
Cliff’s career reached new heights when he was cast in the lead role of Ivanhoe “Ivan” Martin in the seminal Jamaican film The Harder They Come, directed by Perry Henzell. In it, Ivan is an aspiring reggae musician who moves to Kingston from the countryside, faces poverty and exploitation in the city and descends into a life of crime, eventually becoming a violent fugitive with a chart-topping single. The film features several of Cliff’s songs, which helped turn The Harder They Come into a national sensation in Jamaica and an international cult classic.
“That movie really had a tremendous effect on bringing the Jamaican world, music and culture and everything, to the forefront,” Chris Blackwell, who also served as executive producer for the film, told Fresh Air‘s Terry Gross in 2022.
Cliff continued to perform and record for decades, collaborating with artists including Elvis Costello, Annie Lennox and Wyclef Jean. In 1985, he was one of the dozens of artists featured on the all-star anti-apartheid song “Sun City.” The following year, Cliff won a Grammy Award for best reggae recording for his album Cliff Hanger.
In 2010, he became the second reggae artist, after Bob Marley, to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Two years later, Cliff reintroduced himself — and reggae — to the world with his album Rebirth, which would go on to win a Grammy for best reggae album in 2013.
In an interview with NPR, Cliff described that album as a revitalization of his artistic vision, which necessitated going back to the sound that first launched his career from the studios of Kingston — playing with the same instruments and following the same live-to-tape recording techniques that he’d employed in the genre’s beginnings. The album included a cover of “The Guns of Brixton” by The Clash, which references Ivanhoe Martin in its lyrics.
“One of the reasons for covering that song was to show and remind people the influence that reggae music had on punk music,” Cliff told NPR. “Because reggae and punk address the same issues — political, social issues. I think that is the essence of the connection.”
Copyright © 2025 NPR
Transcript:
SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Jamaican musician Jimmy Cliff has died. He was 81 years old. In the early 1970s, before Bob Marley became a household name, Cliff’s starring role and title song in the film “The Harder They Come” helped propel reggae into the international spotlight.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “THE HARDER THEY COME”)
JIMMY CLIFF: (Singing) Ooh, the harder they come, the harder they’ll fall, one and all.
DETROW: According to a statement published by his wife, Cliff died of a seizure followed by pneumonia. NPR’s Isabella Gomez Sarmiento has the story of reggae’s first global star.
ISABELLA GOMEZ SARMIENTO, BYLINE: Born James Chambers in 1944, Jimmy Cliff grew up in a rural village outside Montego Bay, Jamaica. His father was a tailor and wanted his son to study medicine. But from the beginning, Cliff had other plans, as he told NPR in 2010.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR CONTENT)
CLIFF: I started singing in school at a very early age. In church as well. You know, we had a gospel church in Jamaica.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: As a teenager, Cliff moved to Kingston to pursue a career as a singer. Jamaica gained its independence from Britain in 1962. Jimmy Cliff had his first hit single that year, a song called “Hurricane Hattie,” after a tropical storm that had hit the island.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “HURRICANE HATTIE”)
CLIFF: (Singing) From way over there, my lovely, I’m coming over.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: When British-born producer Chris Blackwell heard Cliff’s music, he signed him to his label, Island Records, and persuaded him to move to England. There he earned modest commercial success for singles like “Wonderful World, Beautiful People.”
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “WONDERFUL WORLD, BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE”)
CLIFF: (Singing) Wonderful world, beautiful people. You and your girl.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: But as Blackwell recalled in an interview with Fresh Air, Cliff was still trying to find his footing abroad.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR CONTENT)
CHRIS BLACKWELL: We never really had a hit which could get him on the radio and get him famous, as it were.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Until an opportunity came along to star in a Jamaican film called “The Harder They Come.” Cliff was cast as the main character, Ivan Martin. In the film, Martin is an aspiring reggae musician who moves to Kingston from the countryside.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, “THE HARDER THEY COME”)
CLIFF: (As Ivan Martin) I can sing, too, you know, sir. I’d like the chance to make a record.
BOB CHARLTON: (As Hilton) Everybody want to make a record.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: When he faces poverty and exploitation in the city, Martin descends into a life of crime, eventually becoming a violent fugitive with a chart-topping single.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “THE HARDER THEY COME”)
CLIFF: (Singing) And then the harder they come, the harder they’ll fall, one and all.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Cliff wrote and recorded the title track for the film. Its soundtrack collected several older songs from his catalog, alongside tracks by other notable reggae acts, including Toots and the Maytals and Desmond Dekker. It helped turn “The Harder They Come” into a national sensation in Jamaica and an international cult classic. Chris Blackwell served as executive producer for the film. In 2022, he told Fresh Air…
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR CONTENT)
BLACKWELL: That movie really had a tremendous effect on bringing the Jamaican world – music and culture and everything – to the forefront.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Most of Cliff’s hit songs are from the early 1960s and ’70s. They represent the difficulties of Jamaican life – violence and oppression. But his music maintained an optimism, rooted in peace and resilience.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “YOU CAN GET IT IF YOU REALLY WANT”)
CLIFF: (Singing) You can get it if you really want.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: In 1985, Cliff was among dozens of artists featured on the all-star anti-apartheid anthem “Sun City.” The following year, he won the Grammy for best reggae recording for his album “Cliff Hanger.”
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “REGGAE STREET”)
CLIFF: (Singing) Well, I got your funk on the funky Broadway.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: In 2012, Cliff returned to the instruments and live-to-tape recording techniques that first launched his career, with a new album called “Rebirth.” The album features Cliff’s take on the punk song “The Guns Of Brixton” by The Clash, which references his famous film in its lyrics.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “THE GUNS OF BRIXTON”)
CLIFF: (Singing) When they kick out your front door how are you gonna come? With your hands…
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: It was a full-circle moment for the man who brought reggae to the world.
Isabella Gomez Sarmiento, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “THE GUNS OF BRIXTON”)
CLIFF: (Singing) How you gonna go? Shot down on the pavement or waiting on death row? You can crush us, you can bruise us, but you’ll have to answer to, oh, guns of Brixton.
The post Reggae pioneer Jimmy Cliff dies at 81 appeared first on HYFIN.