From racism and black resistance to the Arab Spring, Cliff used the reggae to address social injustice around the world – Image: Jules Annan/Photoshot/picture alliance
From racism and black resistance in Jamaica, to Vietnam, the Arab Spring and refugee crises, Jimmy Cliff used the sound of reggae to address social injustice around the world for half a century.
Reggae legend Jimmy Cliff, the Jamaican singer famous for hits including “I Can See Clearly Now” and “You Can Get It If You Really Want,” has passed away aged 81, his widow Latifa confirmed on Monday.
“It’s with profound sadness that I share that my husband, Jimmy Cliff, has crossed over due to a seizure followed by pneumonia,” Latifa wrote on Instagram.
“I am thankful for his family, friends, fellow artists and co-workers who have shared his journey with him,” continued the post, which was also signed by two of his children, Lilty and Aken.
“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.”
Jimmy Cliff: from St. James to global fame
Born in the Somerton District of St James, Jamaica, in 1944, Cliff began writing music as his country was gaining its independence from the United Kingdom and as the early sounds of reggae – known at the time as ska – were emerging.
He listened to musicians such as Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, Fats Domino and Jimi Hendrix and would go on to collaborate with artists including The Clash, Kool and the Gang, Sting and Annie Lennox.
Over the coming decades, he helped popularize reggae music around the world, and for a brief time was considered a rival to Bob Marley as the genre’s most prominent artist.
Superstar song-writer Bob Dylan reportedly described Cliff’s 1969 hit “Vietnam” as the “best protest song” he had ever heard.
Three years later, Cliff reached a new level of fame when he starred in the 1972 crime film “The Harder They Come” as a young Jamaican reggae singer who dreams of stardom but struggles to get his music heard.
“Back in those days there were few of us African descendants who came through the cracks to get any kind of recognition,” he told The Guardian newspaper in 2022.
“It was easier in music than movies. But when you start to see your face and name on the side of the buses in London that was like: wow, what’s going on? Reggae music was still considered a novelty.”
Inspired by ‘social injustice’
While the majority of Cliff’s music focused on racism, black resistance and the joy of reggae culture, he also touched on other socio-political issues later in his career.
“I was inspired by the riots in London in 2011 and the Arab Spring,” he told French broadsheet Le Monde in 2012, criticizing “social injustice, religious hypocrisy and political clans.”
His 2021 single “Human Touch” was about the COVID-19 pandemic and he said his final album with its title-track “Refugees” was inspired by “emotional feelings towards freedom taken away from human beings.”
Over the course of his career, Cliff won two Grammys and was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2010. He also was one of several musicians, including Marley, to be awarded Jamaica’s Order of Merit.
(DW.com/NAN 25-11-25)
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