Jimmy Cliff, Grammy-Winning Reggae Legend, Dead Age 81

By Shane Croucher

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The twice Grammy Award-winning Jamaican reggae music icon Jimmy Cliff has died at the age of 81, his family announced. Cliff's wife, Latifa, said he had died "due to a seizure followed by pneumonia" in a post on his official Instagram page.

Cliff had many hits throughout his decades-long career, among them "I Can See Clearly Now," "The Harder They Come," "You Can Get It If You Really Want," and “Vietnam.”

"I am thankful for his family, friends, fellow artists and co-workers who have shared his journey with him," his wife's statement said. "To all his fans around the world, please know that your support was his strength throughout his whole career. He really appreciated each and every fan for their love."

She added in a statement also signed by their two children, Lilty and Aken: "Jimmy, my darling, may you rest in peace. I will follow your wishes."

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Jimmy Cliff Tributes

Ali Campbell, former lead singer and co-founder of the English reggae group UB40, paid tribute to Cliff in a post on X.

"Absolutely heartbroken to hear about the passing of a reggae forefather Jimmy Cliff," Campbell wrote. "A true foundation, a pillar of our music, and one of the first to carry reggae out into the world. Rest Easy King, Many Rivers To Cross. Big Love, Ali."

Andrew Holness, the Jamaican prime minister, also paid tribute to Cliff, saying his country "pauses to honor the life" of a "true cultural giant whose music carried the heart of our nation to the world."

Cliff, Holness said in his post on X, "told our story with honesty and soul" through his songs.

"His music lifted people through hard times, inspired generations, and helped to shape the global respect that Jamaican culture enjoys today," Holness said.

"We give thanks for his life, his contribution, and the pride he brought to Jamaica. I extend heartfelt condolences to his family, loved ones, and to every Jamaican, I know we feel this loss deeply.

"Walk good, Jimmy Cliff. Your legacy lives on in every corner of our island and in the hearts of the Jamaican people."

'The Harder They Come'

Cliff was a native Jamaican with a spirited tenor and a gift for catchphrases and topical lyrics who joined Kingston’s emerging music scene in his teens and helped lead a movement in the 1960s that included such future stars as Bob Marley, Toots Hibbert and Peter Tosh.

By the early 1970s, he had accepted director Perry Henzell’s offer to star in a film about an aspiring reggae musician, Ivanhoe “Ivan” Martin, who turns to crime when his career stalls.

Henzell named the movie The Harder They Come after suggesting the title as a possible song for Cliff.

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“Ivanhoe was a real-life character for Jamaicans,” Cliff told Variety in 2022, upon the film’s 50th anniversary.

“When I was a little boy, I used to hear about him as being a bad man. A real bad man. No one in Jamaica, at that time, had guns. But he had guns and shot a police officer, so he was someone to be feared. However, being a hero was the manner in which Perry wanted to make his name—an anti-hero in the way that Hollywood turns its bad guys into heroes.”

Cliff’s career peaked with “The Harder They Come,” but, after a break in the late 1970s, he worked steadily for decades, whether session work with the Rolling Stones or collaborations with Wyclef Jean, Sting and Annie Lennox, among others.

Grammy Award Nominations, Wins

Meanwhile, his early music lived on.

The Sandinistas in Nicaragua used “You Can Get it If You Really Want” as a campaign theme and Bruce Springsteen helped expand Cliff’s U.S. audience with his live cover of the reggae star’s “Trapped,” featured on the million-selling charity album from 1985, We Are the World. Others performing his songs included John Lennon, Cher and UB40.

Cliff was nominated for seven Grammys and won twice for best reggae album: in 1986 for Cliff Hanger and in 2012 for the well-named Rebirth, widely regarded as his best work in years. His other albums included the Grammy-nominated The Power and the Glory, Humanitarian and the 2022 release Refugees.

He also performed on Steve Van Zandt’s protest anthem, “Sun City,” and acted in the Robin Williams comedy Club Paradise, for which he contributed a handful of songs to the soundtrack and sang with Elvis Costello on the rocker “Seven Day Weekend.”

In 2010, Cliff was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Jimmy Cliff's Early Life in Music

He was born James Chambers in suburban Saint James and, like Ivan Martin in The Harder They Come, moved to Kingston in his youth to become a musician.

In the early 1960s, Jamaica was gaining its independence from Britain and the early sounds of reggae—first called ska and rocksteady—were catching on.

Calling himself Jimmy Cliff, he had a handful of local hits, including “King of Kings” and “Miss Jamaica,” and, after overcoming the kinds of barriers that upended Martin, was called on to help represent his country at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York City.

“[Reggae] is a pure music. It was born of the poorer class of people,” he told Spin in 2022. “It came from the need for recognition, identity and respect.”

This article includes reporting by The Associated Press.

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