Jimmy Cliff, reggae music pioneer, dies at 81

Jimmy Cliff, the legendary Jamaican singer who along with Bob Marley popularised reggae, ska and rocksteady music over a six decade career, has died. His wife Latifa Chambers announced his death on Facebook on Monday, saying the cause was a seizure followed by pneumonia. Born James Chambers on July 30, 1944 during a hurricane in St James Parish, northwestern Jamaica, he moved in the 1950s from the family farm to the country's capital Kingston with his father, determined to succeed in the music industry. At just 14, he became nationally famous for the song Hurricane Hattie, which he wrote. Cliff would go on to record over 30 albums and perform all over the world, including in Paris, in Brazil and at the World's Fair, an international exhibition held in New York in 1964. Cliff was known in part for singles You Can Get It If You Really Want It and Many Rivers To Cross, as well as for his cover of Johnny Nash's I Can See Clearly Now, which appeared on the soundtrack of the 1993 movie Cool Runnings.