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One of the great popularizers of reggae music, Jimmy Cliff blazed a trail into rock that Bob Marley later followed, but without ever capitalizing on his great advantages as a singer-songwriter, nascent film star and interpreter of other people's material. Raised by his father, Cliff first moved to Kingston in 1962 after the dream of a musical career seduced him from his studies. An early brace of singles, "Daisy Got Me Crazy", with Count Boysie, and "I'm Sorry", for sound system operator Sir Cavalier, did little to bring him to the public's attention. His career began in earnest when a song he had written himself, "Hurricane Hattie", describing the recent arrival in South America of the self-same meteorological disaster, became a local hit. He was still only 14 years old.
Cliff subsequently emerged as a ska singer for producer Leslie Kong in 1963, singing "King Of Kings" and "Dearest Beverley" in a hoarse, raucous voice to considerable local acclaim. He can be seen in this fledgling role on the video This Is Ska, shot in 1964. The same year Cliff joined a tour promoted by politician Edward Seaga and headlined by Byron Lee And The Dragonaires, with the intention of exporting reggae music to the wider world. Though it later collapsed in acrimony, the jaunt at least brought Cliff to the attention of Island Records' boss Chris Blackwell, and in the mid-60s the young singer moved to London. By 1968 Cliff was being groomed as a solo star for the underground rock market. Musicians teamed with him included Mott The Hoople's Ian Hunter and vocalists including Madeline Bell and P.P. Arnold. The shift away from the conventional reggae audience was confirmed by a cover version of Procol Harum's "Whiter Shade Of Pale" and appearances alongside the Incredible String Band and Jethro Tull on Island samplers. In 1968, Cliff chanced his arm in Brazil, representing Jamaica in the International Song Festival.
His entry, "Waterfall" (a flop in the UK), earned him a considerable following in South America. More importantly, the sojourn gave him the chance to take stock and write new material. He finally broke through in 1969 with "Wonderful World, Beautiful People", a somewhat over-produced single typical of the era, which he had written in Brazil. "Vietnam" was a small hit the following year, and was described by Bob Dylan as not only the best record about the war, but the best protest song he had heard. Paul Simon went one step further in his praises; after hearing the song he travelled to Kingston and booked the same rhythm section, studio and engineer to record "Mother And Child Reunion" - arguably the first US reggae song. In local terms, however, its success was outstripped by "Wild World", a cover version of the Cat Stevens song, the link between the two singers perhaps strengthened by a shared Muslim faith.
While the albums Jimmy Cliff, Hard Road To Travel and particularly Another Cycle were short on roots credibility, his next move, as the gun-toting, reggae-singing star of The Harder They Come (1973), was short on nothing. Cliff, with his ever-present five-point star T-shirt, was suddenly Jamaica's most marketable property. The Harder They Come was the island's best home-grown film, and its soundtrack one of the biggest-selling reggae records of all time. Cliff seemed set for superstardom. Somehow, it never happened: his relationship with Island soured and contracts with EMI Records, Reprise Records and CBS Records failed to deliver him to his rightful place. In fact, his star began to wane directly as Bob Marley signed to Island. The company executed the same marketing process for both artists - rebellion, great songwriting, hipness - but it was Marley who embodied the new spirit of reggae and reaped the rewards. Cliff's artistic fortunes were revived, ironically enough, by the recruitment of Wailers producer Joe Higgs as his bandleader. Despite their merits, Cliff's excellent records for his own Sunpower label did not really connect.
To many outside the reggae world Cliff remains best known for writing the beautiful tear-jerker "Many Rivers To Cross", a massive hit for UB40. However, his popularity on the African continent is enormous, arguably greater than that of any other reggae artist, Marley included. He is similarly venerated in South America, whose samba rhythms have helped to inform and enrich his latter-day material. His most recent studio albums highlight, as ever, his gospel-tinged delivery, offering ample evidence to dispel the widely held belief (particularly in the West) that he is a perennial underachiever.
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