Crossing Many Rivers And Globalizing Reggae

The Jamaican artist’s death aged 81 invites reflection on a varied career during which he influenced many others and reached global audiences.

Jimmy Cliff performs during the Mile High Music Festival at Dick’s Sporting Good’s Park on August 15, 2010 in Commerce City, Colorado.(Photo by Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images)

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A Complex Career

Singer/songwriter and reggae giant Jimmy Cliff died leaving a rich creative legacy, admired not only by other reggae acts, but also rock icons including Bob Dylan and Paul Simon. The 1972 movie, The Harder They Come and its accompanying soundtrack album featuring Cliff seemed likely to make him reggae’s first global superstar, but his departure from Island Records defused that breakthrough potential, leaving the door open for Bob Marley.

It’s sadly ironic that one of reggae’s pioneers whose music made the later mainstream successes of acts like Marley and UB40 possible, never attained any gold or platinum certifications for his records in America.

Moving to Kingston from the Jamaican countryside in 1962 at age 14, the ever-confident Cliff (born James Chambers) soon began recording for Leslie Kong’s Beverley’s Records and scored his first hit in the ska era with “Hurricane Hattie.” Significantly, Cliff also recognized the potential of other aspiring young singers and his introductions made it possible for both Desmond Dekker and Bob Marley to make their respective recording debuts in the early 1960s.

Cliff was part of the Jamaican contingent for the 1964 World’s Fair held in New York, and a meeting there with Island Records’ founder Chris Blackwell encouraged him to move to England. Despite releasing his prophetically titled debut album Hard Road to Travel with the label in 1967, none of that record’s singles were successful. It was only in 1969 with “Wonderful World, Beautiful People” that Cliff scored a major British hit as the single reached #6, while in America it peaked at #25.

The post-production addition of orchestral strings to his hit demonstrated reggae’s crossover challenges in convincing European and American radio outlets that the music was sufficiently sophisticated for pop airplay.

While Cliff’s 1970 protest reggae single “Vietnam” was not a major hit, it certainly made an impact on other singer/songwriters such as Dylan and Simon (who actually performed the song live with Cliff during The Concert in Hyde Park in 2012) as a powerful personal statement about the destructive military conflict. It helped to establish reggae’s global credentials as a resistance oriented genre before Marley and his colleagues in The Wailers had begun recording for Island. It’s intriguing that Blackwell signed The Wailers to his label just as Cliff left it, effectively becoming the focus for reggae’s internationalization.

Though many of Cliff’s songs were well-known within Britain’s Caribbean communities in the late 1960s and early 1970s, only a few records crossed over to the pop charts on either side of the Atlantic, leaving his commercial ambitions only partially fulfilled. One such hit was his 1970 reggae cover of Cat Stevens’ “Wild World” which reached #8 in Britain, displaying his ability to inhabit songs as a cover artist while it also became a trademark in his live performances.

It’s often forgotten that Another Cycle, Cliff’s 1971 album recorded at Alabama’s Muscle Shoals Studio, contained no reggae and was deemed a commercial failure and a questionable artistic move. Nonetheless, it narrowly preceded one of his greatest triumphs.

The Harder They Come

Cliff’s convincing portrayal in his semi-autobiographical role in The Harder They Come certainly boosted his profile, moving him closer to achieving wider success. Cliff’s ability to identify with the movie’s musical protagonist and to create iconic songs like “Many Rivers to Cross” that accentuated the tragic narrative demonstrated how much the singer had to offer. The soundtrack album was first released in 1972, but only received a domestic American release in 1975 following the sleeper impact of the movie. The album only reached #140 on the Billboard 200, but its underground impact made it highly influential.

Frustrated by Island’s focus on rock acts like Traffic and the lack of a major breakthrough in the wake of the film’s release, Cliff left Island to subsequently sign major label deals with, EMI, Warner Bros., MCA, and Columbia, in search of the recognition he felt he deserved. Apart from the reggae Grammy he won in 1986 for the Columbia album Cliff Hanger (1985) featuring the rock guitar-laced “Hanging Fire,” Cliff’s major label alliances largely diluted his music in favor of commercial crossover approaches.

Much of his material after the 1970s arguably lacked the distinctiveness of his earlier work. His 1994 British top 30 hit with a cover of Johnny Nash’s “I Can See Clearly Now” echoed the era when Cliff was at his creative peak, and his 2013 Grammy win for Best Reggae Album with Rebirth signaled a conscious return to his musical roots.

Marley in the Mirror

Why did Bob Marley prosper commercially while Jimmy Cliff did not? As the 1971 Another Cycle album episode indicates, Cliff’s momentum was sometimes diverted by his eclectic tastes and broader musical ambitions to be recognized as a pop singer/songwriter and not just as a reggae artist. Marley retained a greater stylistic consistency in his career during his years signed to Island from 1972, sustaining his global relationship with one label that understood reggae and ways in which could be effectively marketed as opposed to Cliff’s relationships with several major labels lacking any reggae track record.

In addition, Marley largely retained his band personnel, strengthening it with successive albums and molding a consistent sonic identity resonating with fans globally. Cliff’s changing sound was characterized by a rapidly changing and large cast of supporting musicians, while the music became more pop oriented during his major label tenures. Apart from his readily identifiable voice, the instrumentation shifted shape many times, particularly after Marley’s passing in 1981 when the majors actively sought reggae’s next messiah.

As we memorialize Cliff’s enormous contribution to the pop soundscape, most of the songs we hear will almost certainly be those he recorded in the decade between 1967 and 1977 when he established his credibility as a major international act.