Alex Marshall, New York Times:

Jimmy Cliff, the Jamaican reggae singer who helped popularize the genre around the world with songs like “You Can Get It If You Really Want” and “The Harder They Come,” has died. He was 81.

Mr. Cliff’s wife, Latifa Chambers, announced his death in a post online early Monday. She said the cause was a seizure followed by pneumonia.

I suspect Jimmy Cliff is relatively unknown to American audiences (compared to, say, Bob Marley, who Cliff essentially discovered), but he’s legendary among West Indians, especially those growing up in the ’70s and ’80s. Without Cliff, it’s unlikely reggae would have achieved its level of popularity and influence.

RIP to a musical legend.

See Also: Ben Sisario’s Times companion piece, “Jimmy Cliff: 8 Essential Songs”. I consider Cliff’s version of “I Can See Clearly Now” to be the definitive cut. Not on the list, but also worthy: Brown Eyes, a lovely ditty that’s a quintessentially mid-’80s mashup of reggae, electropop, and rap, co-written by, of all people, La Toya Jackson.