Happy Birthday JIMMY CLIFF!!! A Jamaican musician, singer and actor. He is the only currently living musician to hold the Order of Merit, the highest honour that can be granted by the Jamaican government for achievement in the arts and sciences. He is best known among mainstream audiences for songs such as Sitting in Limbo, You Can Get It If You Really Want, and Many Rivers to Cross from the soundtrack to The Harder They Come, which helped popularize reggae across the world and his covers of Cat Stevens Wild World and Johnny Nashs I Can See Clearly Now from the film Cool Runnings. Outside of the reggae world, he is probably best known for his film appearance in The Harder They Come. Jimmy Cliff was one of five performers inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010. In 1972, Cliff starred as Ivanhoe Ivan Martin in the classic reggae film, The Harder They Come, directed by Perry Henzell. As the film tells Martins story, he is a young man without funds. Arriving in Kingston from the country, he tries to make it in the recording business, but without success. Eventually, he turns to a life of crime. The soundtrack album of the film was a huge success that sold well across the world, bringing reggae to an international audience for the first time. It remains the most significant film to have come out of Jamaica since independence. The film made its debut at Londons Notting Hill Gaumont cinema on 1 September 1972. After a series of albums, Cliff took a break and traveled to Africa, and subsequently converted to Islam. He quickly returned to music, touring for several years before he recorded with Kool & the Gang for The Power and the Glory (1983). In 1984 Cliff appeared at the Pinkpop Festival in Landgraaf, Netherlands. During the 1981 River Tour, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band added Cliffs previously little-known song Trapped to their live set; it achieved great prominence when included on 1985s We Are the World benefit album. The follow-up, Cliff Hanger (1985) won a Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album, though it was his last major success in the U.S. until 1993. Also in 1985 Cliff contributed to the song Sun City, a protest song written and composed by Steven Van Zandt and recorded by Artists United Against Apartheid to convey opposition to the South African policy of apartheid. Cliff then provided backing vocals on The Rolling Stones 1986 album, Dirty Work. In 1988, his song Shelter of Your Love was featured in the hit film Cocktail. In 1991 Cliff appeared at the second Rock in Rio festival in the Estádio do Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He continued to sell well in Jamaica and, to a lesser extent, the UK, returning to the mainstream pop charts in the US and elsewhere (#1 in France) with a version of Johnny Nashs I Can See Clearly Now on the Cool Runnings film soundtrack in 1993. In 1995 Cliff released the single Hakuna Matata, a collaboration with Lebo M, a song from the soundtrack of the film The Lion King. In 2002, Cliff released the album Fantastic Plastic People in Europe, after first providing free downloads using p2p software. This album featured collaborations with Joe Strummer, Annie Lennox, and Sting as well as new songs that were very reminiscent of Cliffs original hits. In 2004 Cliff completely reworked the songs, dropping the traditional reggae in favour of an electronica sound, for inclusion in Black Magic. He also performed at the closing ceremony to the 2002 Commonwealth Games. In 2003 his song You Can Get It If You Really Want was included in the soundtrack to the film, Somethings Gotta Give. Cliff appeared in July 2003 at the Paléo Festival in Nyon, Switzerland. Cliff has also covered Solomon Lindas, Mbube, which has been re-recorded by The Tokens as The Lion Sleeps Tonight. Cliff name checked the Welsh privateer, Henry Morgan, in his song Oh, Jamaica. Joe Strummer recorded Over The Border with Cliff on the latters album Black Magic. In 2007 Cliff performed at the opening ceremony at Crickets World Cup. His song Many Rivers to Cross references the White Cliffs Of Dover, England. The Jamaican government under P.J. Patterson honoured Cliff on 20 October 2003, by awarding him The Order of Merit, the nations third-highest honour, in recognition of his contributions to the film and music of Jamaica. He and Mervyn Morris are the only currently living figures from the arts to hold this distinction and he is the only living musician to do so. Cliff was also an inaugural member of the Independent Music Awards judging panel to support independent artists. More recently, Cliff appeared on the Jazz World Stage at the Glastonbury Festival in 2008 and again at Glastonbury in 2011. Cliffs recording of You Can Get It If You Really Want was used as a campaign anthem by the Sandinista National Liberation Front in the 1990 election in Nicaragua. It was also adopted by the British Conservative Party during their annual conference in October 2007. It is unclear whether Cliff endorsed either political party. In September 2009, Cliff was nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, following a campaign on his behalf by the American, Charles Earle. Cliff reacted to the news by saying, This is good for Cliff, good for Jamaican music and good for my country. On December 15, 2009, Cliff was officially announced as an inductee and was inducted on March 15, 2010.
Posted on: Tue, 01 Apr 2014 11:47:30 +0000
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