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Before Bob Marley became the global face of reggae, Chris Blackwell had placed his greatest hopes in another young Jamaican talent: Jimmy Cliff. Blackwell’s memoir “The Islander: My Life in Music and Beyond,” co-written with Paul Morley recalls a long, ambitious, and ultimately bittersweet partnership — one that shaped the future of reggae but ended just as it was poised to change the world.
This is the story of how Blackwell nurtured Cliff’s rise, why their relationship frayed, and how the void Cliff left at Island Records opened the door for the Wailers.
A Future Star in Exile: Cliff Arrives in England
Blackwell’s belief in Cliff started in In 1965, when he decided the young singer needed a global stage:
“In 1965, at my suggestion, Jimmy had moved to England, where I thought I could broaden his appeal.”
Blackwell built a band for him — Shake Down Sound — and secured major support slots with Jimi Hendrix and The Who. Cliff dazzled, blending ska, soul, and James Brown–style funk.
But while the music world was ready for him, Britain was not. Cliff felt alienated from his first night. “Jimmy was never completely sold on England. He found London cold, lonely, and much more racist than he’d imagined,” Blackwell recalls.
His lodging in Earl’s Court became the setting for a grim introduction: “His landlady… told him in no uncertain terms that she didn’t allow coloureds at her place, ordering him to get out within 24 hours.”
Until the next day, when everything changed: “She spotted him on TV… Recognising that Jimmy was a somebody, she allowed him to stay.” Despite these struggles, Blackwell’s conviction only grew: “I was convinced that it was only a matter of time before he broke through. He was the only Jamaican artist signed directly to Island Records.”
Island Experiments: Trying to Bend the World Toward Jimmy Cliff
Blackwell began crafting a long-term strategy and Island released some of Cliff’s early music through Trojan:
“We put out some of Jimmy’s records through our Trojan label… but I was always looking for ways to make Jimmy work within the context of rock-era Island.” Among those songs was Wonderful World Beautiful People which peaked at No. 6 on the UK Official Chart and stayed foe 13 weeks. Cliff also had Vietnam which peaked at No. 46.
“I even got him to sing a song by Our Nirvana, Waterfall, which became an unlikely hit in Brazil,” Blackwell stated. “Cat Stevens produced a Jimmy-sung version of his own Wild World, [which] made the UK top 10 in 1970.”
For Blackwell, now 88, this reinforced his belief in merging genres:
“…a commercial blend of Pink Label Island and Red Label Island, rock and reggae.”
The 1971 Muscle Shoals Miscalculation
Convinced that Jimmy Cliff was on the brink of a mainstream breakthrough in the UK, Chris Blackwell took a calculated gamble. “Sensing I was so close to breaking Jimmy through, I sent him out to the famous Muscle Shoals studio,” he later recalled. But the resulting album, Another Cycle—recorded at the storied Alabama studio and produced by Guilly Bright—landed awkwardly: “It sounded good to my ears…but it appealed neither to Muscle Shoals aficionados nor to Jimmy Cliff fans.” What Blackwell hoped would be a bold new hybrid was instead dismissed outright. “The record was considered a failed experiment,” he admitted. “Sitting in Limbo” is on that 10 track set.
The Harder They Come: A Breakthrough That Arrived Too Late
“Give me two years… and we will definitely break you,” Chris Blackwell promised Jimmy Cliff after the singer was tempted by a $50,000 offer from RCA who had plans of turning Jimmy into a pop star. Cliff stayed with Island, and the breakthrough without compromise seemed within reach when filmmaker Perry Henzell approached with a new project. “Perry thought that Jimmy’s look was exactly right for the main character… I told Jimmy he really should do this movie.” Cliff agreed, contributing both music and a pivotal performance to The Harder They Come, a film that would later become a cultural cornerstone of Jamaican identity and make Jimmy the first third world film star.
But the opportunity came at a price. “Perry a perfectionist… kept on shooting, editing, and reshooting, and the production… ended up taking two years.” The film was brilliant, but the delay was financially ruinous. As Blackwell admitted, “While The Harder They Come has turned out to be a cinematic classic… it had no impact on Jimmy’s finances at the time.” The film was not released in theaters in the US until 1975, three years after production.
Cash-strapped and increasingly frustrated, “Jimmy was running out of money and felt I had betrayed him… He was adamant. He needed to make money. He had his own dreams. I couldn’t fight that.”
Cliff ultimately left Island for EMI in the Europe and Reprise in the US releasing albums like Unlimited (1973), Music Maker (1974), and Follow My Mind (1975). His live album In Concert: The Best of Jimmy Cliff was also released by Reprise in 1976.
“It was a real blow” Blackwell says, “I believed that I had unlocked the secret of how to break reggae into the mainstream. But then, it seemed like Jimmy had left with the key.”
The Space Jimmy Cliff Left Behind
This is the narrow window into which the Wailers walked into Blackwell’s London office, a week after Cliff’s departure.
Blackwell, was emotionally raw, commercially wounded, and still holding the blueprint he had designed around Jimmy.
The path Cliff opened, but could not wait for, would soon become Bob Marley’s road.
jimmy Cliff died on November 24 at the age of 81.
English (US) ·