Jimmy Cliff, Grammy-Winning Reggae Legend, Dead Age 81

By Shane Croucher

Breaking News Editor

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The Jamaican reggae music icon Jimmy Cliff has died at the age of 81, his family has announced. Cliff's wife, Latifa, said he had died "due to a seizure followed by pneumonia" in a post on his official Instagram page.

He had many hits throughout his decades-long career, among them "I Can See Clearly Now", "The Harder They Come", "You Can Get It If You Really Want", and “Vietnam”.

"I am thankful for his family, friends, fellow artists and coworkers who have shared his journey with him," his wife's statement said. "To all his fans around the world, please know that your support was his strength throughout his whole career. He really appreciated each and every fan for their love."

She added: "Jimmy, my darling, may you rest in peace. I will follow your wishes."

Cliff was a native Jamaican with a spirited tenor and a gift for catchphrases and topical lyrics who joined Kingston’s emerging music scene in his teens and helped lead a movement in the 1960s that included such future stars as Bob Marley, Toots Hibbert and Peter Tosh.

By the early 1970s, he had accepted director Perry Henzell’s offer to star in a film about an aspiring reggae musician, Ivanhoe “Ivan” Martin, who turns to crime when his career stalls.

Henzell named the movie “The Harder They Come” after suggesting the title as a possible song for Cliff.

“Ivanhoe was a real-life character for Jamaicans,” Cliff told Variety in 2022, upon the film’s 50th anniversary.

“When I was a little boy, I used to hear about him as being a bad man. A real bad man. No one in Jamaica, at that time, had guns. But he had guns and shot a policeman, so he was someone to be feared. However, being a hero was the manner in which Perry wanted to make his name—an anti-hero in the way that Hollywood turns its bad guys into heroes.”

This is a breaking news story. Updates to follow.

This article includes reporting by The Associated Press.