“Effectively, they inform me of a pie up within the sky
Ready for me once I die
However between the day you’re born and if you die
They by no means appear to listen to even your cry
In order certain because the solar will shine,
I’m going to get what’s mine.”
—Jimmy Cliff, “The More durable they Come”
Again within the aughts once I deejayed a Caribbean Night time for a Brooklyn restaurant, I’d play Jimmy Cliff’s “The More durable They Come” at any time when I wished to get people throughout generations on the dance ground. The observe is excessive vitality sufficient in order that millennial ragamuffins may groove to it, and nostalgic sufficient that my mom and her middle-class Jamaican friends would deliriously shimmy their hips to it, Cliff’s effusive tenor commanded us to a high-stepping celebration of resilience within the Babylon system.
Cliff, who died on Nov. 24 on the age of 81 from pneumonia, in keeping with his spouse, Latifa Chambers, represented an period when Jamaican music went from the parochial urgencies of ska and rocksteady to the worldwide ambitions of reggae. Cliff was referred to as a world cultural ambassador for reggae and a cross-genre songwriting and singing expertise.
For all his reggae cred, nevertheless, Cliff by no means aspired to be a real roots reggae artist, nor did he ever obtain the icon standing of Bob Marley, in opposition to whom he was usually measured. Born a Christian, he dabbled in Rastafarianism and Islam, however ultimately positioned himself as a philosophically ecumenical man of the world and a universalist. Certainly one of pop music’s most stirring compositions, Cliff’s “Many Rivers to Cross,” for example, vibed extra with gospel soul than reggae. He collaborated with the likes of the Rolling Stones, Kool and the Gang, Paul Simon, and Elvis Costello, and his compositions usually checked dance, R&B, or rock packing containers. His seven Grammy nominations and two wins, his induction into the Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame, in addition to his being awarded the Order of Benefit, Jamaica’s highest honor within the arts and sciences, are a sampling of his crowning achievements and a testomony to his broad attraction.
Cliff wasn’t only a gifted singer/songwriter, however a magnetic performer as effectively. (Catch his breathtaking rendition of “Many Rivers to Cross” on “Saturday Night time Stay”). The famend Jamaican music promoter, Ronnie Burke, who, as part of Synergy Productions, co-founded the Reggae Sunsplash music pageant, recounted to me that Cliff was the headlining artist in Sunsplash’s first live performance collection in 1978. Sunsplash went on to function each massive identify in Caribbean music, together with Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and Third World, however Burke insisted that Cliff was “masterful” and gave the only best efficiency within the 18-year historical past of the pageant.
James Chambers was born on July 30, 1944 within the Somerton District of St. James, situated on the northwestern coast of Jamaica. From an early age, Chambers adopted the stage identify “Jimmy Cliff” and started writing and performing music. Whereas nonetheless a young person, he teamed up with the famed Leslie Kong, who produced Cliff’s first hit, “Hurricane Hattie,” a catchy ska quantity. Cliff’s different early hits included “King of Kings,” “Dearest Beverley” and “Miss Jamaica,” and by the mid-Nineteen Sixties, Cliff was featured alongside different ska, reggae, and calypso pioneers equivalent to Toots and the Maytals, in addition to Byron Lee and the Dragonaires. Cliff’s skills have been quickly acknowledged by Island Data. They added him to their roster together with the Maytals and Bob Marley’s Wailers, which prompted Cliff to maneuver to England.
Cliff loved a profitable profession at Island the place he put out noteworthy singles equivalent to “Great World, Lovely Individuals,” and “Vietnam,” however his life would by no means be the identical after Island tapped him because the lead in Jamaica’s first broadly distributed function movie, 1972’s “The More durable They Come.” Though strikingly low-budget, “The More durable They Come” grew to become a cult traditional that helped popularize reggae internationally. Cliff’s character within the movie is Ivan Martin, a younger man who arrives in Kingston from the countryside and ultimately turns to crime to fight the exploitations of metropolis life. He burns with the identical type of unstoppable ardour to make it within the music enterprise that Cliff later grew to become recognized for. It additionally made Cliff a breakout star, much less for his performing efficiency and extra for the singles from the soundtrack — the haunting “Many Rivers to Cross,” the inspirational “You Can Get It if You Actually Need,” the meditative “Sitting In Limbo,” and the infectious title observe, “The More durable They Come.” Collectively, these songs arguably stay his best physique of labor.
Though Cliff wasn’t in a position to maintain this degree of artistry for the rest of his profession, his star barely dimmed. Cliff by no means deserted reggae, however all through the ‘80s and ‘90s, his music grew to become decidedly extra pop and led to hits like “Reggae Night time,” participation on the anti-apartheid protest track, “Solar Metropolis,” and a well-liked cowl of Johnny Nash’s “I Can See Clearly Now” that was featured within the 1993 comedy movie “Cool Runnings.” The Grammys didn’t create the reggae class till 1985, so Cliff didn’t obtain formal recognition from the American music market till greater than 20 years into his profession. His second and closing Grammy was awarded in 2012 when he was nearing 60 years of age.
His worldwide profile got here at a value. The legendary musician, producer, and Reggae Sunspash emcee, Tommy Cowan, first found Jimmy Cliff’s music once they have been each youngsters, and labored with him all through his profession. He informed me that as early because the Nineteen Sixties, when Cliff moved to England, he was perceived as being considerably faraway from Jamaica and was by no means totally embraced as a son of the soil like different reggae artists who have been extra grounded in a Jamaican id and narrative.
Nonetheless, Cliff’s impression endures each inside Jamaica and the world over. “Whereas Marley’s music was about his objective and explaining what Rasta was,” noticed Cowan, “Jimmy’s music was extra concerning the journey he went by … Success for him was about getting throughout the hurdles of life. Jimmy wished you to have a sense: ‘I can see clearly now, the rain is gone.’ And yeah man, you’re in a greater temper in life as a result of ‘you may get it when you really need it.’ His music introduced hope, inspiration, and aspiration.”
