Born James Chambers in 1944, Jimmy Cliff brought reggae to the world as the star and soundtrack composer of the 1972 film The Harder They Come. Cliff got his start as a hungry young rude boy during the ’60s heyday of ska and rocksteady but it was his sweet reggae songs, with their mix of fatalism and hopefulness, that brought him to wider attention as he scored hits such as “Wonderful World, Beautiful People” and “Vietnam” during the late ’60s and early ’70s. The Harder They Come, which included “You Can Get It If You Really Want,” “Many Rivers to Cross,” and the title track, then established Cliff—and reggae—as an international concern. After that, his honey-dripping voice led him to collaborations with The Rolling Stones, Joe Strummer, Annie Lennox, Sting, and Rancid’s Tim Armstrong, and he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2010. Cliff passed away in 2025 aged 81.