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Jimmy Cliff
Artist Profile

Jimmy Cliff

1958–present

James Ezekiel Chambers (30 July 1944 – 24 November 2025), known professionally as Jimmy Cliff, was a Jamaican ska, rocksteady, reggae and soul musician. He was considered to be one of Jamaica's most celebrated musicians and was credited with helping to popularise reggae music internationally. At the time of his death, he was the 4th reggae musician to hold the Order of Merit, the highest honour granted by the Jamaican government for achievements in the arts and sciences. He was also nominated seven times for the Grammy Awards, winning twice.

Cliff starred in The Harder They Come (1972), the first major commercial film from Jamaica. The soundtrack helped to make reggae widely known. He was known for such songs 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 Cat Stevens's "Wild World", Johnny Nash's "I Can See Clearly Now" (from the Cool Runnings soundtrack) and "Hakuna Matata". Cliff was one of five performers inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010. He was one of only two Jamaicans in the Hall of Fame, the other being Bob Marley.

Jimmy Cliff made deliberate, multifaceted efforts...

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Reggae Ska

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Albums

Refugees

13 tracks · 2022

Black Magic

3 tracks · 2004

Sunshine in the Music

2 tracks · 2003

Fantastic Plastic People

8 tracks · 2002

Higher & Higher

2 tracks · 1996

Breakout

14 tracks · 1992

Images

4 tracks · 1989

Hanging Fire

8 tracks · 1987

Cliff Hanger

9 tracks · 1985

The Power and the Glory

7 tracks · 1983

Special

10 tracks · 1982

Give Thankx

9 tracks · 1978

Follow My Mind

12 tracks · 1976

Music Maker

11 tracks · 1974

Unlimited

13 tracks · 1973

Struggling Man

9 tracks · 1973

Goodbye Yesterday

9 tracks · 1971

Another Cycle

2 tracks · 1971

Jimmy Cliff / Wonderful World, Beautiful People

10 tracks · 1969

Hard Road to Travel

2 tracks · 1967

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Riddims Jimmy Cliff voiced

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The Harder They Come Riddim

1 version · 1972 · Island Records

Struggling Man Riddim

1 version · 1973

Songs on JamaicansMusic

160 playable tracks in the catalog.

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From the archive

Career timeline

Stories about Jimmy Cliff from the JamaicansMusic archive, oldest first · 1962–2012

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  1. 1962

    Music

    ‘Hurricane Hattie’: James Chambers Becomes Jimmy Cliff and Leslie Kong Gets His First No. 1, 1962

    A Somerton teenager who renames himself after the cliffs he wants to climb walks into Beverley’s with a ballad too slow for the charts. Derrick Morgan sends him back with a ska warning named for the 1961 storm — and Leslie Kong’s label has its first monster hit.

  2. 1969

    Music

    ‘Wonderful World, Beautiful People’: Cliff’s Trojan Masterpiece Opens the A&M Years, 1969

    After a string of Leslie Kong hits and the 1967 set Hard Road to Travel, Jimmy Cliff delivers an eleven-track album on Trojan — retitled Wonderful World, Beautiful People in America — with ‘Many Rivers to Cross,’ ‘Vietnam’ and a title track destined for international charts.

  3. 1972

    Music

    Ivanhoe Martin on Screen: The Harder They Come Premieres at the Carib Theatre, 1972

    Perry Henzell casts Jimmy Cliff as a country boy cheated by the music business who turns outlaw — and a low-budget Jamaican crime film, shot over two years on Kingston streets, introduces reggae to audiences worldwide.

    Music

    ‘Many Rivers to Cross’: The Spiritual That Carries Ivan — and Reggae — Across the Water, 1972

    Written from Cliff’s struggles in England and first issued on his 1969 Trojan album, the hymn-like ballad becomes the emotional centre of The Harder They Come soundtrack — and one of the most covered songs in reggae history.

  4. 1986

    Music

    Cliff Hanger: Jimmy Cliff Wins the Second-Ever Reggae Grammy, 1986

    After a run of Columbia albums with a pop sheen, Cliff Hanger takes the Best Reggae Recording prize at the 28th Annual Grammy Awards — beating Judy Mowatt, Ziggy Marley, Burning Spear and the Blue Riddim Band.

  5. 2003

    Music

    ‘The Rebel Gets Honoured’: Jimmy Cliff Invested With Jamaica’s Order of Merit, 2003

    On National Heroes Day at King’s House, James Chambers — singer, songwriter, actor — receives the third-highest honour in the Jamaican honours system, joining a roster limited to fifteen living recipients.

  6. 2010

    Music

    Wyclef Calls Him ‘The Godfather’: Jimmy Cliff Inducted Into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 2010

    At the Waldorf Astoria on 15 March 2010, Cliff becomes only the second reggae performer in the Hall — after Bob Marley — and delivers a twenty-minute set that stops the room cold.

  7. 2012

    Music

    Children’s Bread and Jamaica 50: Jimmy Cliff’s Humanitarian Voice in the Rebirth Year, 2012

    Two years after the Rock Hall induction, Cliff releases Rebirth — a Tim Armstrong-produced return to roots — and carries social-justice themes to the indigO2 for Jamaica’s golden jubilee, speaking for oppressed people from a stage in London.

13 more stories about Jimmy Cliff in the archive →

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