Jimmy Cliff has died at 81. The reggae singer (and not only), a symbol with Bob Marley and other greats of Jamaican culture, passed away “after a convulsion which was followed by pneumonia”. His wife Latifa Chambers announced it on social media in a message also signed by his children Lilty and Aitken.
«It is with deep sadness that I inform you that my husband, Jimmy Cliff, has passed away due to a seizure followed by pneumonia. I am grateful to the family, friends, artists and colleagues who shared his journey with him. Fans around the world know that their support has given him strength throughout his career.” And again: «I hope you can respect our privacy in this difficult moment. Further information will be shared at a later date.”
With songs like Many Rivers to Cross, You Can Get It If You Really Want, Wonderful World, Beautiful People, Reggae Night and the covers of I Can See Clearly Now by Johnny Nash and Wild World by Cat Stevens, Cliff turned positivity into a political gesture. Before that it was a rude boy whose myth was created by the 1972 film The Harder They Come (in Italy The harder it is, the harder it falls) who brought a raw and magnetic Jamaica to the screen, opening a path to the island's cinema that no one had imagined until then.
He was among the very first to export Jamaican musical culture. He did it even before Marley and like him he received Jamaica's Order of Merit for having embodied the idea of reggae as culture and resistance. His influence extends to rock, it's amazing to think, to give a couple of examples, of the collaborations with musicians ranging from the Rolling Stones to Tim Armstrong of Rancid and Bruce Springsteen who revived his music live and relaunched it. Trapped.
Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness hails him today as a giant of his country's culture, one who «told our story with honesty and soul. His music made people feel better in difficult times, inspired generations and helped shape the global respect that Jamaican culture enjoys today.”
