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Jimmy Cliff, a singer-songwriter who pioneered the birth of modern Jamaican music and helped spread the influence of reggae around the world through his albums and starring role in the landmark film. The harder they comedied. He was 81 years old.
“It is with deep sadness that I announce that my husband Jimmy Cliff passed away due to a seizure followed by pneumonia,” his wife Latifah wrote in a Facebook post from Cliff’s official account.
“I am grateful to his family, friends, fellow artists and colleagues who shared his journey. To all his fans around the world, please know that your support has been his strength throughout his career,” she added.
Cliff was perhaps the most important artist in the history of the genre. An often-told story tells how Cliff accompanied another teenager to an audition in the early 1960s, who would go on to become reggae's best-selling and most iconic figure, Bob Marley.
Respect for Cliff's talents transcended genre. Harry Nilsson, Little Milton and Joe Cocker were among the first artists to do covers. Many rivers to crosssignature song from They come stronger soundtrack, and at the peak of his popularity, Bruce Springsteen recorded a cover of Cliff's song Trapped For We are the world soundtrack album.
Cliff will score a goal when Reggae night charted in several countries in 1983, and his cover of the Johnny Nash song Now I see clearlyfrom Cool races the film's soundtrack became a top twenty Billboard hit in 1993.
Cliff's honors include receiving the Jamaican Order of Merit in 2003, and seven years later he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
“When we see Jimmy Cliff, we see ourselves,” Haitian-born Wyclef Jean of the Fugees said in Cliff’s induction speech at the 2010 Hall of Fame ceremony.
