Jimmy Cliff Biography

With a nearly 50-year legacy, the Honourable Jimmy Cliff is still regarded as one of the primary movers and shapers of modern music. Cliff remains a powerful voice of power and conscience, creating new music that is as vital and vibrant as ever, with a catalogue that ranks among the most influential in global culture. Cliff is working on his first new album in seven years, with producer Tim Armstrong — the Rancid frontman who has cited Cliff as his most admired artist — on a set that builds on his unparalleled history while also pointing to a bright future. A five-song EP previewing the album demonstrates the pairing's power and pledge. They bring heat to both captivating Cliff originals and a couple of well-chosen covers. The above-quoted "World is Spinning" and the steely "One More" show a performer as engaged — and unsettled — by the nature of the planet as he was when he made such game-changers as "You Can Get It If You Really Want" and the title track of the film The Harder They Come, both of which will celebrate their 40th anniversary in 2012. A cover of the Clash's "The Guns of Brixton" draws on popular revolts for liberty in the Middle East, as well as the recent London riots, which occurred while the album was being recorded. "Ruby Soho," Rancid's lovable portrait, draws the generations together in a full-circle voyage of icon and acolytes. The two also collaborated on a powerful rendition of Bob Dylan's generation-defining — and generation consoles — "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall," which will be showcased on an upcoming all-star Dylan compilation album profiting Amnesty International. It comes at a time when Cliff's legend is only expanding, reaching new earlobes from all walks of life, with much more to come as The Harder They Come celebrates its breakthrough anniversary. In addition, Cliff's 1970 song "Vietnam" was featured in Paul Simon's electrifying 2011 music events. The song was introduced by Simon. Dylan credited "Mother and Child Reunion," which he called "the greatest protest song ever written," with inspiring him to travel to Jamaica and record "Mother and Child Reunion" with Cliff's band. Cliff has recently revived and revised the song to resolve the actual wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, facilitating his past and present. "I have a huge amount of respect for what we did [in the past] and what other people did," says Cliff, the only living musician to be awarded Jamaica's Order of Merit and a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame honoree in 2010. "At the same time, I am always on the lookout with something new." In fact, Armstrong's deep affection for it and understanding of Cliff's previous work provided the artist with new insights. Armstrong enlisted the help of his studio band, The Engine Room, for the sessions, which included J Bonner (bass and percussion), Scott Abels (drums and percussion), Dan Boer (organ and percussion), and Kevin Bivona (piano and lead guitar), with Armstrong producing and playing rhythm guitar. "It woke me up to some things that had been done for someone like Tim who had a great foothold on the traditions," Cliff says. "The drummer played some patterns that I had forgotten we'd done!" It's a great awakening to all those things, knowing they're not lost, that they're being preserved and passed on by younger people." Cliff and Armstrong had never met before this project began, and Cliff was unfamiliar with Armstrong's songs. But he'd heard the younger musician's name before, and it came with a high recommendation. Joe Strummer, co-founder of The Clash, praised Armstrong as he and Cliff were capturing "Over the Border," a song from Cliff's 2004 album, Black Magic — a meeting that would sadly be Strummer's last before his death. Another Armstrong hero, Joe Strummer, published his last 3 albums on the latter's independent Hellcat Record “. "I was speaking with Joe regarding music and individuals when Tim's name came up," Cliff explains. "I'd never heard his music before, but it was amazing how well we got along in the studio." The first song they recorded together, "Ruby Soho," gave the two a chance to see how well they got along and gave Armstrong the opportunity to have an idol sing one of his songs.
Cliff says of the ska-tinged song, "I knew it but never got into it." "I had no idea it was one of Tim's music, but I liked it and could connect to the sentiments." A musician must go on tour, do his thing, and miss his lady. "Yeah, I know what it's like to live." "World Upside Down" becomes even more similar to contemporary events, though its roots go back much further than the Clash song, to the 1970s, just After Harder They Arrive. "I wrote the lyrics, but the song was written by [late reggae great] Joe Higgs," Cliff explains. "Joe and I were extremely close. People were aware of his involvement with Bob Marley and the Wailers. He was among the true heroes of Jamaican music in my opinion. This was a song I'd always wanted to do. I recorded a song in Jamaica in 2009, played the tapes to Tim, and he chose it as one he wanted us to do. The song was actually titled 'World Turned Upside Down,' but I re-wrote the lyrics and remade it for today's world. Joe's topic was not as broad." Cliff's song "Our Ship Is Sailing" seeks to motivate and embrace significant progress. "It was one of the early songs I've written this year," he describes. "It was about conveying a part of the holy fire that's already inside me, trying to express that the ship was land bound, in dry dock, not moving." The tide has come in, and the ship is moving. Sacred fire is about my aspirations as an artist and the goals I've set for myself." The song, like the rest of the music on this album, does have a global scope as well as an individual focus, and it is both unchanging and of the moment. "People may say, 'Jimmy Cliff, you've done quite a lot, you've accomplished a lot.' 'What could you want?' That's exactly what I'm looking for. I keep stuff to myself, but things are starting to open up and the ship is sailing once more." Suitably, the EP's final track, "One More," provides as a personal statement of purpose and a guarantee to himself and the world that he still has a lot to do. "'One More,'" he suggests, "kind of speaks to that." "Another shot at the prize." One more attempt at the goal. Straight from the heart and also in command." Cliff has already been "constantly touring" in the 7 years after his last album, he says. In the meantime, he was simply waiting for the right moment, the best opportunities, and the correct collaborators prior to actually embarking on a new album project. It's a full-circle coup for the now-elder statesman of reggae, with The Harder They Come marking its milestone. When the movie and soundtrack were first released in Jamaica in 1972, as an instant national perception, reggae music received widespread acclaim in Europe and the U.S, introducing it to new audiences outside of its native Jamaica. Cliff was already a big celebrity in Jamaica at the time. Coming from the small town of St. James in Jamaica, he moved to Kingston as a child and quickly persuaded record store owner Leslie Kong to generate him. "Hurricane Hattie," his 1st hit, was published when he was only fourteen years old. After portraying Jamaica at the 1964 New York World's Fair, he agreed to sign with Island Records and relocated to London, where he achieved worldwide fame and acclaim with hits such as "Waterfall" as well as "Wonderful World, Beautiful People." The Stronger They Come earned him unparalleled domestic acclaim as well as worldwide stardom. The final track, "You Can Get It If You Really Want," "Many Rivers to Cross," as well as other songs rapidly became FM radio staples, ushering in a whole new world of music and, arguably, ushering in reggae's journey to becoming a universal sound, embraced and adapted in cultures across Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Cliff has been decided to seek out as an associate by artists varying from the Rolling Stones & Elvis Costello to Annie Lennox, with Cher, Willie Nelson, Jerry Gracia, New Order, and Fiona Apple among those who have executed and documented his material. In the 1980s, when Bruce Springsteen executed it frequently and made a significant contribution in his version to the 1985 mega-hit charity playlist We Are the World, his song "Trapped" attained a large new audience. Cliff returned to the mainstream pop charts in the United States in 1993 with his version of Johnny Nash's "I Can See Clearly Now." "The music was new, and this was the first time it was heard around the world," he tells. "A few countries had heard it, and this is where it all started." What is the secret? "It captured a momentary moment in history, but it had enduring quality."

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