Jimmy Cliff – “lifted people through hard times, inspired generations, and helped to shape the global respect that Jamaica enjoys today.”

Jimmy Cliff – in concert – WXRT Chicago Sunday Night – Park West – November 11, 1978.

More sad news tonight – Jimmy Cliff left early this morning from complications with Pneumonia. He was 81.

Probably one of the best loved and most influential Reggae artists from the 1960s on, he was instrumental in bringing Reggae to a wider worldwide audience. A lot of people pinpoint the Soundtrack from the film The Harder They Come as the starting place for a discovery of Reggae music – and they are probably right.

Jimmy Cliff is best known among mainstream listeners and audiences for songs such as “Many Rivers to Cross“, “If I Follow My Mind”, “You Can Get It If You Really Want“, “The Harder They Come“, “Reggae Night“, and his covers of “Hakuna Matata“, Cat Stevens‘s “Wild World“, and Johnny Nash‘s “I Can See Clearly Now” from the film Cool Runnings. He starred in the film The Harder They Come, which was the first major commercial film from Jamaica and helped popularize reggae around the world, and Club Paradise. Cliff was one of five performers inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010, and is one of only two Jamaicans in the Hall of Fame, the other being Bob Marley.

In 1972, Jimmy Cliff starred as Vincent “Ivanhoe” Martin (known as Rhyging) in the classic reggae film, The Harder They Come, directed by Perry Henzell. As the film tells Martin’s 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 around the world, bringing reggae to an international audience for the first time. Upon release, the film broke box office records in Jamaica.  It remains one of the most internationally significant films to have come out of Jamaica since the nation’s independence from the United Kingdom. The film made its debut at London’s Gaumont cinema in Notting Hill on 1 September 1972.

For a dive back in time and a reminder what a tremendous talent Jimmy Cliff was (and still is, thanks to recordings) – here is that concert from Chicago as it was broadcast by WXRT on November 11, 1978.

Light a candle.