Remembering Jimmy Cliff: Reggae’s first international star

“I have a dislike for politicians as they’re not truthful people. It’s the nature of politics that you cannot be straight, you have to lie and cheat,” said the reggae singer Jimmy Cliff, who died on November 24 at the age of 81.

Cliff was born James Chambers on July 30, 1944, in Somerton, Saint James Parish, Jamaica. Long before luminaries such as Bob Andy, The Wailers, Lee “Scratch” Perry, and others had made an indelible mark on Jamaican popular music, Cliff had taken the genre “foreign” — not just to the US or the UK, but around the world. Suffice to say, Cliff was reggae’s first international star.

His career started seriously with ska recordings for legendary Chinese-Jamaican producer Leslie Kong on his Beverly’s label. In addition to being a musician, Cliff also served as an artist and repertoire representative, identifying and developing new talent for Kong.

Cliff, at the request of singer Desmond Dekker, invited Bob Marley to record his first song Judge Not at Federal studios in 1962. In the same year, Cliff recorded “Hurricane Hattie,” a song about the 1961 tropical cyclone that devastated the Caribbean, particularly British Honduras.

Some of Cliff’s subsequent early hits included Miss Jamaica and King of Kings, both of which showcased his lyrical dexterity on the frenetic tempo of ska.

Cliff had a knack for reflecting world events in his music at any given opportunity. By the end of the 1960s, through his material, he became one of the strongest advocates of the growing anti-war movement, exemplified by his 1968 recording, “Vietnam.”

“Vietnam,” to me, was an incredibly courageous song to have been recorded at the time. It is reminiscent of Wilfred Owen’s First World War poems, “Futility” and “Dulce et Decorum Est,” which reflect the ineffectuality of war.

In it, he sings:

Don’t be alarmed, she told me the telegram said
But, Mistress Brown, your son is dead.
Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam
What I’m saying now, somebody stop that war

The importance and power of protest against war loom at the epicentre of this song, making it resonate today.

Similarly, Cliff’s soul-wrenching crossover hit Many Rivers to Cross, again recorded in 1968, is a cry for resilience. It became an anthem for Windrush arrivals who had left the Caribbean and sojourned to the mother country of Britain.

It represented Cliff, who moved to London in the mid-60s and frequently recounted how difficult it was for him. Today, it is suitably applicable for those who have felt the sting of displacement, loneliness, heartbreak and loss anywhere.

“Struggling Man” from 1973 opens with:

Every man has a right to live.
Love is all that we have to give.
Together we struggle by your will to survive,
and together we fight just to stay alive.

This composition highlighted the political climate and general feeling of the 1970s nationally, with the start of a series of recessions gripping the country. However, it also had a global impact with the emergence of the international oil crisis, which significantly affected the lives of the masses.

Cliff was unquestionably a Renaissance man who deftly moved with ease from being a singer to a songwriter and then an actor. Many recount his role as Rhyging, the anti-hero of Perry Henzell’s 1972 film “The Harder They Come.” Ivanhoe Martin (Jimmy Cliff), aka Rhyging, is a struggling singer who, despite hits, resorts to crime to get by. The film highlighted the corruption and exploitation in Jamaica’s music industry.

As well as acting in the film, Cliff provided the heart of the film’s soundtrack with the title track, “The Harder They Come.” Three of his earlier songs also feature. His turn in the Jamaican crime film is seen as one of the most powerful cinematic performances in Jamaican cinema.

In the 1980s, Cliff returned to his reggae roots, recording “Rub-A-Dub Partner” in 1981. He also contributed to the emergence of reggae dancehall culture in 1988, when he recorded “Pressure on Botha” with the uncompromising Jamaican deejay Joey Wales. The song is a political track hitting out against the then state president of South Africa, P.W. Botha, who was a central figure in the Apartheid regime.

Cliff was undoubtedly the greatest exponent of Jamaican music, taking reggae to an international audience while firmly placing the island on the map. As an artist, his contributions were accomplished within each category of the genre, from ska to dancehall.

It was not only reggae that benefited from the brilliance of Jimmy Cliff, as he worked with a number of artists from a broad range of musical backgrounds, including the Rolling Stones, Sting, Latoya Jackson, Kool and the Gang, Jimi Hendrix, Elvis Costello and Annie Lennox, to name but a few. After recording 33 albums, performing for 50 years, and winning a Grammy in 1986, Jimmy Cliff was inducted into the Rock and Rock Hall of Fame.

For a man who claimed to hate politics, it is precisely his uncompromising sense of right and his engagement with the world that will make his legacy everlasting.

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