One of the giants of reggae music passed away on 24 November 2025, and so as a small tribute to his pioneering work in popularising reggae music in the Western world here is a collection of rare b-sides and out-takes from the late 60's and early 70's.
Jimmy Cliff was born James Chambers on 30 July 1944 in Saint James, Colony of Jamaica, the second youngest of nine children. He began writing songs while still at primary school in St. James, listening to a neighbour's sound system, and when he was 14, his father took him to Kingston, where he adopted the stage name Jimmy Cliff. He sought out producers while still going to school, trying without success to get his songs recorded, and he also entered talent contests. One night he was walking past a record store and restaurant as they were closing, and he went in and convinced Leslie Kong to go into the recording business, starting with himself. After two singles that failed to make much impression, his career took off when 'Hurricane Hattie' became a hit when he was aged 17, and later local hit singles included 'King Of Kings', 'Miss Jamaica', and 'Pride And Passion'.
In 1964 he was chosen as one of Jamaica's representatives at the 1964 New York World's Fair, and before long he was signed to Island Records, and he moved to the United Kingdom. Island initially (and unsuccessfully) tried to sell Cliff to a rock audience, but his career took off with his debut album 'Hard Road To Travel', which was released in 1967. It received excellent reviews and included 'Waterfall' (composed by Nirvana's Alex Spyropoulos and Patrick Campbell-Lyons), which became a hit in Brazil, and won the International Song Festival. More hits followed with 'Wonderful World, Beautiful People' in 1969 and 'Vietnam' in 1970, and one of his most popular songs of the time was 'Many Rivers To Cross', about his struggles with the music industry. In 1972, Cliff starred as Vincent "Ivanhoe" Martin (known as Rhyging) in Perry Henzell's classic reggae film 'The Harder They Come', and the soundtrack album sold well around the world, bringing reggae to an international audience for the first time. It remains one of the most internationally significant films to have come out of Jamaica since the nation's independence from the United Kingdom, and is one of the things that Cliff will forever be remembered.
After a series of albums, Cliff took a break and travelled to Africa, where he subsequently converted to Islam, taking the name of El Hadj Naïm Bachir. Quickly returning to music in the 1980's, he toured for several years before recording with Kool & the Gang, and he had a big hit with 'Reggae Night' in 1983. In 1986 he provided backing vocals on The Rolling Stones' album 'Dirty Work', and he also co-starred in the comedy film 'Club Paradise', with Robin Williams and Peter O'Toole, as well as contributing several songs to the soundtrack. He continued to sell well in Jamaica and, to a lesser extent, the UK, returning to the mainstream pop charts in the U.S. and elsewhere in 1983 with a version of Johnny Nash's 'I Can See Clearly Now' from the 'Cool Runnings' soundtrack album. In 1995 he released the single 'Hakuna Matata' as a collaboration with Lebo M, which was taken from the soundtrack of 'The Lion King', and he continued to record and tour throughout the next thirty years, with his most recent album 'Refugees' being released in 2022. On 24 November 2025, Cliff's wife announced that he had died that morning from pneumonia, after he had been hospitalised following a seizure. He was was 81 years old.
Track listing
01 Where Did It Go (The Song We Used To Sing)
02 Better Days Are Coming
03 My World Is Blue
04 Give A Little, Take A Little
05 Pack Up Hang Ups
06 Be Aware
07 She Does It Right
08 Honey Hush
09 Let Your Yeah Be Yeah
10 Those Good Good Old Days
11 Sooner Or Later
12 When You're Young
13 Dreaming
14 Struggling Man
