The Harder They Come success
A Jamaican native with a distinctive tenor and a knack for sharp, socially aware lyrics, Cliff emerged from Kingston’s bustling music scene as a teenager, Associated Press writes. He became a key figure in the 1960s wave of talent that also produced legends like Bob Marley, Toots Hibbert and Peter Tosh.
“(Reggae) is a pure music. It was born of the poorer class of people,” Cliff told Spin in 2022. “It came from the need for recognition, identity and respect.”
His career reached a defining moment in the early 1970s when he starred as Ivanhoe “Ivan” Martin in Perry Henzell’s groundbreaking film The Harder They Come— a raw portrait of an ambitious musician pushed into crime when the industry fails him.
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