Jimmy Cliff

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reggae, ska, jamaica, roots, roots reggae… see all

Jimmy Cliff OM (born James Chambers, 1 April 1948, St Catherine, Jamaica)is a Jamaican reggae musician, best known among mainstream audiences for songs like “Sittin’ in Limbo”, “You Can Get It If You Really Want It” and “Many Rivers to Cross” from The Harder They Come, a film soundtrack which helped popularise reggae across the world.

Cliff moved to Kingston in 1962.After two singles that failed to make much impression, his career took off after his “Hurricane Hattie” became a hit, while he was aged just 14; it was produced by Leslie Kong, with whom Cliff would remain until Kong’s death. Later local hit singles included “King of Kings”, “Dearest Beverley” and “Pride and Passion”. In 1964, Cliff was chosen as one of the Jamaican representatives at the World’s Fair, and Cliff soon signed to Island Records and moved to Britain. Island initially (and unsuccessfully) tried to sell Cliff to the rock audience, but his career took off in the late 1960s. His international debut album was Hard Road to Travel, which received excellent reviews and included “Waterfall”, a Brazilian hit that won the International Song Festival.

“Waterfall” was followed in 1969 by “Wonderful World, Beautiful People” and “Vietnam” in 1970, both popular throughout most of the world. Folk rock singer-songwriter Bob Dylan even called “Vietnam” the best protest song he’d ever heard. Wonderful World included a cover of Cat Stevens’ “Wild World”, which was a success in 1970.

1	The Harder They Come full track	1,041
2	Many Rivers To Cross full track	932
3	You Can Get It If You Really Want full track	767
4	I Can See Clearly Now	620
5	Wonderful World, Beautiful People full track	337
6	Sitting In Limbo full track	297
7	Vietnam full track	272
8	Reggae Night	256
9	Miss Jamaica full track	220
10	Hard Road To Travel full track	188
11	Wild World full track	136
12	Sufferin' In The Land full track	112
13	Come Into My Life full track	93
14	Struggling Man full track	81
15	Sooner or Later full track	71

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Jimmy Cliff
Jimmy Cliff
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The Harder They Come
Soundtrack
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The Best of Jimmy Cliff
Jimmy Cliff
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We Are All One: The Best of Jimmy Cliff
Jimmy Cliff
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besto76 wrote:
Monday morning

jah rastaman

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ciula3 wrote:
13 days ago

i was on jimmy cliff's concert . he's really son of jahh ;D

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Hoffmanstropfen wrote:
last month

now RUHRGEGIET . THIS IS REAGGE. JAAH ...

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marietamariona wrote:
last month

El otro día asisti a un concierto de este gran sr.! solo puedo decir que fue fantastico! genial! espectacular! magico....

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ogdenweary wrote:
last month

Oh my god. The rise festival in London pulled the plug on Jimmy Cliff tonight. He was amazing and they cut him in the middle of a song... I cannot not believe it happened. anger. rage!

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girl_from_oz wrote:
June 2008

Jimmy Cliff played Glastonbury tonight

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gueopardo wrote:
June 2008

jAh...Jah...jaH... RASTAFARIANS LISTEN IN http://www.lastfm.es/music/Lion+Sitte PROMISE REGGAE SPANISH... rasta rastah rastafaari. bless

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abelmadruguinha wrote:
June 2008

the book is on the table

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keylimepie9 wrote:
June 2008

I'd rather be a free man in my grave than living as a puppet on a string

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MrSparkle91 wrote:
June 2008

Very good, Invisiblerain.

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MeKelefleur wrote:
May 2008

excellent chill music and boy do I need that sometimes lol

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balzadelia wrote:
May 2008

great appearance on jools holand last night .. he still rocks .

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coolcoolb wrote:
May 2008

Johnny Too Bad is too good. mmm

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Eastpaw22 wrote:
April 2008

underrated

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lagginswag wrote:
April 2008

damn hes a badass

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invisiblerain wrote:
April 2008

what a tosser... jesus loves everyone mate not just you lol...

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taoscow wrote:
April 2008

your outta your head

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jesuslovesme619 wrote:
March 2008

how is i can see clearly not number 1, the rest of his music is shit, i only listen to i can see clearly cause its so shit its funny.. the rest is just boring

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Nova727 wrote:
January 2008

simply one of the greatest tracks ever released

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5l4v3 wrote:
December 2007

...rock children...

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Recent Activity

djereader, stlevine, robskils and 1 other person added Jimmy Cliff to their libraries. 2 hours ago
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lagmanu connected Jimmy Cliff to the group Magazzoo. Tuesday morning
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MAGT1976 tagged Jimmy Cliff with ‘ska’ and ‘reggae’. Monday evening
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S4mson tagged Jimmy Cliff with ‘reggae’ and ‘jamaica’. Sunday afternoon
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andrepg tagged Jimmy Cliff with ‘reggae’ and ‘jamaica’. 8 days ago