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Jamaican reggae legend Jimmy Cliff has died aged 81.
The sad news was confirmed on social media by the icon’s wife, Latifa, who revealed that his cause of death was a seizure and pneumonia.
She shared, “It’s with profound sadness that I share that my husband, Jimmy Cliff, has crossed over due to a seizure followed by pneumonia.”
Latifa added, “I am thankful for his family, friends, fellow artists and coworkers who have shared his journey with him. To all his fans around the world, please know that your support was his strength throughout his whole career.”
The heartbreaking message was also signed off by their two children, Lilty and Aken.
Cliff was born as James Chambers in 1944, before adopting the stage name of Jimmy Cliff upon moving to Kingston and forging a music career in the Jamaican capital as a teenager.
His best-known creations include ‘You Can Get It If You Really Want’ and his famous cover of Johnny Nash’s ‘I Can See Clearly Now’, which Cliff made his own. His version of Cat Stevens’ classic, ‘Wild World’, was another example of Cliff’s incredible ability to stamp a song with his unmistakable mark.
Cliff reflected on his career with NPR in 2012 and explained how he views success, “I’m wiser and I know how to handle success now. But success has different meanings to me. When someone comes up to me and says, ‘I was a dropout in school and I heard your song ‘You Can Get It If You Really Want,’ and that song made me go back to school, and now I am a teacher and I use your song with my students’ — that, for me, is a big success.”
He also revealed that, initially, his first dream was to become an actor rather than a musician, sharing, “The first thing I wanted to be was an actor, even before I wanted to be a singer, before I discovered I could sing. “
Notably, Cliff starred in the 1972 film, The Harder They Come, which remains a vital part of Jamaican cinema history. He also produced a groundbreaking soundtrack for the movie, which helped spread reggae across the globe.
In 2010, Cliff’s career was celebrated by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame when he was inducted by Wyclef Jean. He became only the second Jamaican, after Bob Marley who was posthumously inducted in 1994, to receive the honour.
Cliff later told the Jamaican Observer that his induction wasn’t about him, but instead a victory for the people, declaring, “I accepted this award on behalf of the people of Jamaica, Africa, the Caribbean and South America.”
In 2003, he was awarded with the Honor of Merit by the Jamaican government, which is the highest possible honour to be given to a living person.
Over the course of his career, which spanned almost 60 years, Cliff released 17 studio albums, which began with Hard Road to Travel in 1967. His final album, Refugees, arrived in 2022.
Cliff did not tour his last album upon its release, and had stayed away from the road in recent years. His last tour of the UK and Europe occurred in 2019.
The tributes to Cliff’s death have been led by the Jamaican Prime Minister, Andrew Holness, who described him as “a true cultural giant whose music carried the heart of our nation to the world”.
Holness also thanked Cliff’s contributions to shaping the image of Jamaica on a global stage, adding, His “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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