JImmy Cliff: Too Many Rivers to Cross

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With the exception of Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff is probably the most successful and well-known of Jamaica’s reggae exports. While Marley concentrated on roots reggae music and its inherent emphasis on politics and spiritual matters such as the Rastafarian religion, Cliff was much more of a pop performer, and his style of music is often referred to as pop reggae. As such, Cliff’s music is often appealing to non-reggae fans.

 Cliff was born James Chambers in Adelphi, St. James, Jamaica, in 1948. He made his recording debut as a teenager in 1962 with the hit song “Hurricane Hatty.” Two more hits, “Miss Jamaica” and “King of Kings,” would follow shortly thereafter.

In the late Sixties, Cliff would begin recording full-length albums, starting with his debut, “Hard Road to Travel” (1967), which was a pop recording with very little reggae content. His next release, “Jimmy Cliff” (1969), was a superb effort that was far superior to his tepid debut. The album was pure pop-reggae, replete with memorable tunes. The songs “Too Many Rivers to Cross” and “Vietnam” would become hits.

Cliff would record several more fine albums in the Seventies, including “Two Worlds” (1971) and “Struggling Man” (1973). Cliff appeared in the film “The Harder They Come,” about life in the slums of Jamaica, and several of his songs, including the title track, appear on the soundtrack to the film “The Harder They Come” (1972). This soundtrack is considered to be among the greatest movie soundtracks ever recorded.

 As roots-reggae artists such as Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and Toots and the Maytals came to the fore, Cliff’s brand of

Pop-reggae began to lose prominence, and his star began to wane. Cliff continued to record into the 21st century and sadly passed on November 24, 2025.

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