Jimmy Cliff
b. James Chambers
April 1, 1948
St. Catherine, Jamaica
The first artist in Lesley Kong's groundbreaking Beverly's label stable in 1962, Jimmy Cliff has been a figure of major influence in the internationalization of Jamaican music for thirty years. Bob Dylan called Cliff's late-60s hit "Vietnam" the best protest song he ever heard. Hearing that same tune led Paul Simon to travel to Kingston, book the same rhythm section, engineer, and studio, and record "Mother and Child Reunion," the first Yankee reggae song ever. Despite a number of ska hits and an Island Records contract in 1967, it wasn't until he was recruited to act in Perry Henzell's rollickingly hypnotic film The Harder They Come that Cliff achieved true stardom. He sang a number of his own compositions in the movie, including "Many Rivers to Cross," "Sitting in Limbo," and the title track, three standards that helped make the soundtrack album one of the biggest sellers in reggae history. The followup albums, however, were generally unfocused, their spotty material spoiling Cliff's bid to become reggae's main exponent, a gap rushed into and filled brilliantly by Bob Marley.
By 1976, Cliff had regrouped and enlisted Wailers tutor Joe Higgs to be his bandleader. A yearly stream of albums followed, with songs as good as anything he ever recorded ("Beyond the Boundaries," "Bongo Man"); and Cliff became a mainstay on the international festival and touring circuit, achieving huge fame in places like Nigeria, where he keeps a second home. Cliff's style is a high, almost gospel plaint, with a keen rhythmic sense that echoes Africa as well as R & B. A concert film, Bongo Man, was released around 1980, as Cliff looked unsuccessfully for the proper vehicle to follow up the worldwide penetration of The Harder They Come. Cliff, a father figure to several generations of young musicians, can still be counted on to deliver thoroughly professional shows and recordings, like 1999's Humanitarian.
-- Courtesy (Roger Steffens, All-Music Guide) -- |
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