James Chambers (30 July 1944 – 24 November 2025), known professionally as Jimmy Cliff, was a Jamaican ska, rocksteady, reggae and soul musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer and actor. He is considered one of Jamaica's most celebrated musicians, and has been credited with helping to popularise reggae music internationally. At the time of his death, he was the only living reggae musician to hold the Order of Merit, the highest honour that can be granted by the Jamaican government for achievements in
the arts and sciences. He was also nominated for the Grammy Awards seven times, winning twice. A shining star of reggae since the early '60s, Jimmy Cliff was one of the most powerful factors in bringing Jamaican music to worldwide popularity with both his powerful songs of peace and unity and his lead role in the 1972 film The Harder They Come. Cliff's star power in the movie might have been his most visible contribution to making the entire world aware of reggae, but his music remained his primary focus for decades afterward.
He was involved in music from childhood, and at the age of 14, he moved to Kingston and took the surname Cliff to express the heights he intended on reaching. He recorded two singles before he was introduced to producer Leslie Kong. Between 1962 and 1967, Cliff produced multiple hit ska tunes with
Kong's help, growing so popular that he was selected as one of Jamaica's representatives at the 1964 World's Fair. In 1967, he signed on with Island Records. The label initially tried to market his sounds to rock audiences, which didn't completely work, but still yielded interesting results like a reggae-fied take on "Whiter Shade of Pale." His career took off in the late 1960s. His international debut album was Hard Road to Travel, 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.
He became even more popular over the next few years, with the 1969 single "Wonderful World, Beautiful People" becoming an international hit and Bob Dylan calling his 1970 anti-war tune "Vietnam" the best protest song he'd ever heard. Cliff's 1971 album Wild World scored another hit for him with a cover of Cat
Stevens' song of the same name. In August of that year, Cliff's producer, mentor, and friend Kong died unexpectedly of a heart attack. One of the last projects Kong had undertaken was overseeing the soundtrack to the movie The Harder They Come. Around the same time, Bob Marley was also making waves around the world, and Cliff's music began reaching new audiences who were understanding reggae for the first time.
Throughout the '70s, Cliff released new music steadily, though he walked a nonlinear path with multiple label switches and a short-lived retirement from music in the late '70s that involved a conversion to Islam and travel to Africa in search of his spiritual roots. He still managed to release multiple albums a year
most years throughout the decade, with highlights like 1973's Struggling Man and 1975's Follow My Mind seeing respectable success across international markets. In 1975, The Harder They Come was released in the U.S., enhancing Cliff's hold on the States and necessitating a live album to capitalize on his newfound fame. The Rolling Stones' producer Andrew Loog Oldham was brought in to oversee the project, 1976's In Concert: The Best of Jimmy Cliff. The remainder of the '70s and the entirety of the '80s were active times for Cliff.
Amid constant touring, he released new albums almost annually, with 1983's The Power and the Glory inaugurating an ongoing partnership with Kool & the Gang, and 1985's Cliff Hanger taking home that
year's Grammy for Best Reggae Recording. A comeback album of sorts, Black Magic, which featured duets with high-profile stars like Sting, Joe Strummer, and others, appeared in 2004. Cliff was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009, cementing his importance in the music industry and his impact on the arts. In 2012, he partnered with Rancid frontman Tim Armstrong for Rebirth, a nostalgic return to form. Cliff teamed with Wyclef Jean in 2022 for the album Refugees.
Cliff is considered one of Jamaica’s most celebrated musicians, and is credited with helping to popularise reggae music internationally. He has been described as, for a brief period, rivaling Bob Marley as the most prominent musician in the genre. Writing for The Guardian, David Katz called him an "itinerant
ambassador who introduced the music and culture of his island to audiences across the globe", and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's website described him as "reggae's first champion". On 24 November 2025, Cliff's wife announced that he had died earlier that day from pneumonia. He had been hospitalised following a seizure. Cliff was 81. Prime Minister Andrew Holness, in a public statement after his death, said that Cliff's music "lifted people through hard times, inspired generations, and helped to shape the global respect that Jamaica enjoys today."
Jimmy Cliff – Anthology
Label: Island Records – 314 556 766-2, A&M Records, Hip-O Records
Format: 2 x CD, Compilation
Country: US
Released: Jul 1, 2003
Genre: Reggae
Style: Reggae, Ska, Reggae-Pop
CD1.
01. Miss Jamaica 2:25
Producer – Leslie Kong
Written-By – Jimmy Cliff
02. Huricane Hattie 2:44
Producer – Leslie Kong
Written-By – Jimmy Cliff
03. King Of Kings 3:22
Producer – Leslie Kong
Written-By – Jimmy Cliff
04. Waterfall 2:26
Written-By – G. Spyropoulos, P. Campbell-Lyons
05. Time Will Tell 3:18
Arranged By – Larry Fallon
Producer – Larry Fallon, Leslie Kong
Written-By – Jimmy Cliff
06. Wonderful World, Beautiful People 3:13
Arranged By – Larry Fallon
Producer – Larry Fallon, Leslie Kong
Written-By – Jimmy Cliff
07. Come Into My Life 2:55
Arranged By – Larry Fallon
Producer – Larry Fallon, Leslie Kong
Written-By – Jimmy Cliff
08. Hard Road To Travel 2:35
Producer – Leslie Kong
Written-By – Jimmy Cliff
09. Viet Nam 4:50
Arranged By – Larry Fallon
Producer – Larry Fallon, Leslie Kong
Written-By – Jimmy Cliff
10. Many Rivers To Cross 2:44
Producer – Leslie Kong
Written-By – Jimmy Cliff
11. Sufferin' In The Land 3:08
Producer – Larry Fallon, Leslie Kong
Written-By – Jimmy Cliff
12. Use What I Got 2:48
Producer – Larry Fallon, Leslie Kong
Written-By – Jimmy Cliff
13. You Can Get It If You Really Want 2:46
Producer – Jimmy Cliff
Written-By – Jimmy Cliff
14. Let Your Yeah Be Yeah 3:03
Producer – Jimmy Cliff, Leslie Kong
Written-By – Jimmy Cliff
15. Wild World 3:51
Producer – Cat Stevens
Written-By – Cat Stevens
16. Bongo Man 4:03
Producer – Jimmy Cliff, Leslie Kong
Written-By – Jimmy Cliff
17. Sitting In Limbo 5:04
Producer – Guilly Bright, Jimmy Cliff
Written-By – Guilly Bright, Jimmy Cliff
18. Goodbye Yesterday 3:20
Producer – Guilly Bright, Jimmy Cliff
Written-By – Guilly Bright, Jimmy Cliff
19. The Harder They Come (Single Version) 3:12
Producer – Chris Blackwell, Jimmy Cliff
Written-By – Jimmy Cliff
20. Trapped 3:24
Producer – Cat Stevens
Written-By – Jimmy Cliff
21. Oh Jamaica 3:27
Producer – Jimmy Cliff
Written-By – Jimmy Cliff
22. Fundamental Reggay 3:00
Producer – Jimmy Cliff
Written-By – Jimmy Cliff
23. Under The Sun, Moon And Stars 4:06
Producer – Jimmy Cliff
Written-By – Jimmy Cliff
01. Struggling Man (Album Version) 3:27
Producer – Jimmy Cliff
Written-By – Jimmy Cliff
02. Better Days Are Coming 3:13
Producer – Jimmy Cliff
Written-By – Jimmy Cliff
03. Sooner Or Later 5:19
Producer – Jimmy Cliff
Written-By – Jimmy Cliff
04. House Of Exile 4:32
Producer – Jimmy Cliff
Written-By – Jimmy Cliff
05. Action Speaks Louder Than Words 3:39
Producer – Jimmy Cliff
Written-By – Jimmy Cliff
06. If I Follow My Mind 2:46
Producer – Jimmy Cliff, Trevor Lawrence
Written-By – Jimmy Cliff
07. Brave Warrior 4:18
Producer – Jimmy Cliff
Written-By – Jimmy Cliff
08. Stand Up And Fight Back 3:16
Producer – Bob Johnston, Jimmy Cliff
Written-By – Jimmy Cliff, A. K. Baah
09. I Am The Living (Album Version) 5:00
Producer – Chuck Tranel, Jimmy Cliff, Luther Dixon
Written-By – Allee Willis, Deniece Williams, Jimmy Cliff
10. Love Again 3:01
Producer – Jimmy Cliff, Oneness
Written-By – Jimmy Cliff, Phil Ramacon
11. What Are You Doing With Your Life 3:45
Producer – Jimmy Cliff, Oneness
Written-By – Jimmy Cliff
12. Shelter Of Your Love (Single Version)3:31
Producer – Jimmy Cliff, Oneness
Written-By – Jimmy Cliff
13. Give The People What They Want 3:49
Producer – Jimmy Cliff, Oneness
Written-By – Jimmy Cliff
14. Rub-A-Dub Partner 2:56
Producer – Jimmy Cliff, Oneness
Written-By – Berton McLean
15. We All Are One 4:31
Producer – Amir Bayyan, Jim Bonnefond, Jimmy Cliff, Khalis Bayyan, Oneness
Written-By – Amir Bayyan, Hugh Harris (6), Joseph Williams, Raymond Harris
16. Club Paradise 3:02
Producer – Jimmy Cliff, Steve Goldman
Written-By – Jimmy Cliff
17. Love Me, Love Me 4:23
Producer – I.B.M.C., Jimmy Cliff, Khalis Bayyan
Written-By – Jimmy Cliff
18. She Was So Right For Me 4:44
Producer – I.B.M.C., Jimmy Cliff, Khalis Bayyan
Written-By – Jimmy Cliff
19. I Can See Clearly Now 3:15
Producer – Paul Henton
Producer [Additional] – Jimmy Bralower
Remix – Jimmy Bralower
Written-By – Johnny Nash
Flac Size: 477 MB
VIETNAM LYRICS
Hey, Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam
Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam
Yesterday I got a letter from my friend
Fighting in Vietnam
And this is what he had to say
'Tell all my friends that I'll be coming home soon
My time it'll be up some time in June
Don't forget, he said to tell my sweet Mary
Her golden lips as sweet as cherries
And it came from
Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam
Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam
It was just the next day his mother got a telegram
It was addressed from Vietnam
Now mistress Brown, she lives in the USA
And this is what she wrote and said
Don't be alarmed, she told me the telegram said
But mistress Brown your son is dead
And it came from
Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam
Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam
Somebody please stop that war now
It was just the next day his mother got a telegram
It was addressed from Vietnam
Now mistress Brown, she lives in the USA
And this is what she wrote and said
Don't be alarmed, she told me the telegram said
Oh, but mistress Brown your son is dead
And it came from
Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam
Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam
Somebody please stop it
Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam
Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam
What I'm saying now somebody stop that war
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