Jimmy Cliff, reggae music and Jamaican cultural icon, dies at 81

Reggae music icon Jimmy Cliff, who’s unique tone, lyricism and breakthrough role on the silver screen helped make the music of his native Jamaica part of popular culture across the globe, has died at the age of 81, his family said in a statement shared Monday on social media.

“It’s with profound sadness that I share that my husband, Jimmy Cliff, has crossed over due to a seizure followed by pneumonia,” Latifa Chambers said in a statement posted on Cliff’s Instagram account. “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 … Jimmy, my darling, may you rest in peace. I will follow your wishes.”

The couple’s children Lilty and Aken also signed the statement.

Cliff was one of Jamaican music’s early international stars, emerging as reggae evolved from the sounds of ska and rocksteady in the 1960s and early 1970s. His starring role in the enduring classic movie “The Harder They Come,” an entirely Jamaican production, in 1972 cemented his legacy as not only a musician, but a cultural phenom.

Cliff played Ivanhoe “Ivan” Martin, an aspiring singer who came up against the harsh realities of a music business run by self-interested producers, at the expense of artists, and the abundant traps for young Jamaicans trying to survive amid an epidemic of violent gang crime that swept the nation. 

“Ivanhoe was a real-life character for Jamaicans,” Cliff told Variety magazine in a 2022 interview to mark the 50th anniversary of the movie’s release. “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 policeman, so he was someone to be feared. However, being a hero was the manner in which [director] Perry [Henzel] wanted to make his name — an anti-hero in the way that Hollywood turns its bad guys into heroes.”  

The messages in the movie, just like his music, were timeless.

The title track from “The Harder They Come,” along with familiar hits including “Many Rivers to Cross” and “You Can Get It If You Really Want,” spoke to the struggles of Jamaicans at the time, but they have continued to resonate with audiences around the world since he wrote them.

Cliff, along with other icons such as Bob Marley and Toots Hibbert helped give the music and culture of their relatively small Caribbean nation a global impact that endures today, and far exceeds Jamaica’s size in terms of population economy.

His animated onstage presence and high-pitched tone were unmistakable. Cliff released his last single, “Human Touch,” only four years ago. According to The Associated Press, Cliff was nominated for Grammy awards seven times and he won twice, taking best reggae album in 1986 with “Cliff Hanger,” and again in 2012 with “Rebirth.”

In a tribute posted on his own social media accounts early Monday morning, Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness called Cliff “a true cultural giant whose music carried the heart of our nation to the world.”

“Jimmy Cliff told our story with honesty and soul,” Holness said. “His music lifted people through hard times, inspired generations, and helped to shape the global respect that Jamaican culture enjoys today. We give thanks for his life, his contribution, and the pride he brought to Jamaica … Walk good, Jimmy Cliff. Your legacy lives on in every corner of our island and in the hearts of the Jamaican people.”