Jimmy Cliff

CTL-E-6225 · Person · musician · 1944–2025; career 1960s–2022

VERIFIED evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)

Combined Graph record U-07420 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-6225.

Jimmy Cliff, born James Chambers on July 30, 1944, in St. James Parish, Jamaica, was the reggae pioneer who carried Jamaica's music to the world as a singer, songwriter, and actor. He emerged from Kingston's music scene in the early 1960s, after a childhood first hit, Hurricane Hattie, written as a teenager. By 1970 he had three singles in the United Kingdom charts, among them Wonderful World, Beautiful People and Vietnam, which Bob Dylan praised as a great protest song. He starred as Ivanhoe Martin in the landmark 1972 film The Harder They Come, whose soundtrack helped popularize reggae internationally, and later reached new audiences with I Can See Clearly Now for the 1993 film Cool Runnings. He won two Grammy Awards for best reggae album, was nominated seven times, held Jamaica's Order of Merit, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010, the only Jamaican besides Bob Marley so honored at his death. Cliff died on November 24, 2025, at eighty-one, after a seizure followed by pneumonia, his wife Latifa Chambers announced.

The record

• Also known as: James Chambers, James Ezekiel Chambers

Notes

Staged 2026-10-16 under CTL-GOV-006 (Scan Tail Wave 6 — 747 Program, Wave 13; sixth Scan Tail packet at the founder’s 40-record size). Gate A (2026-10-16): Gate A CLEAR (script + hand-checked 2026-10-16): no Jimmy Cliff entity, alias, or variant in the live graph (3,910 entities). ID CTL-E-6225 free at staging. Supply: 747 Supply Ledger — scan string #2421 (corpus-gap-candidates-2026-10-15.json), banked in the Scan Tail Wave 5 reserve (Appendix E), re-screened CLEAR against the live graph at 3,910 entities by this wave. The supply supplied the name only; every fact is sourced under CTL-GOV-004. SCOPE GATE: Global record (Jamaica; career in the UK, US, and worldwide); no Chicago angle in the opened sources and none claimed. BRIEF CORRECTION: the assignment brief described Cliff as living; dated November 2025 evidence opened for this record shows he died on November 24, 2025, so the record is staged as deceased, with flowers, on that evidence — not on the brief's premise. Vital status: Born July 30, 1944, St. James Parish, Jamaica (Legacy obituary gives the full date; AP and CNN give the year 1944 and Saint James). Died November 24, 2025, aged 81, after a seizure followed by pneumonia (Legacy gives the date; AP and CNN report the family's announcement and cause). Deceased — verified from dated 2025 sources. BIRTH-DATE CONFLICT IN THE WIDER RECORD, flagged not used: older references long carried April 1, 1948; CNN's obituary itself carries a correction that an earlier version misstated his birth year. The description follows the 2025 obituaries (1944). STATISTICS — From opened sources, dated 2025-11-24: seven Grammy nominations and two best-reggae-album wins — 1986 for Cliff Hanger and 2012 for Rebirth (AP); final album Refugees, 2022 (AP); over 30 albums recorded (Legacy); Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction 2010 (all three). FRAMING DIFFERENCES, not blended: CNN says Cliff moved to Kingston in 1961 and had his first hit at 14 with Hurricane Hattie; AP says only that he moved to Kingston in his youth and joined its music scene in his teens. AP counts Cliff as the featured artist on four of the soundtrack's 11 songs. No chart positions are carried, because no chart source was opened. MEDIA: photo HELD (HELD — candidate: the 2019 Love Supreme Festival performance photograph (Getty Images 1160470458) carried on the opened AP/Pollstar obituary. No license claimed or verified; HELD under CTL-PHOTO-001 pending a file-level record.); chart FILLED (charts/chart-ctl-e-6225-jimmy-cliff.svg); video HELD (Checked the CTL Shorts Link Map (shorts-link-map-2026-10-15.json, 233 entries) by name and title on 2026-10-16: no Jimmy Cliff entry. Near-miss check: the map's Bob Marley Shorts are Marley's own records, not Cliff's. Video HELD.); audio HELD (no rights-cleared matching-entity audio staged); map N/A. MEDIA LAYER (staged 2026-10-16; full per-asset PHOTO-001 records + embed specs in the packet's staged JSON, Drive packet folder): map = N/A (Person records carry no map slot; maps attach to places and institutions.) | visual_assets = HELD: | chart = FILLED (CTL-created chart (black / deep red / gold) built only from this record’s sourced statistics and timeline fact) | video = HELD (Checked the CTL Shorts Link Map (shorts-link-map-2026-10-15.json, 233 entries) by name and title on 2026-10-16) | audio = HELD (HELD: No CTL-owned or rights-cleared matching-entity audio exists at staging.)

Relationships

• Bob Marley — related to
  CNN's opened obituary states Cliff was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010 as the only Jamaican apart from Bob Marley to achieve that honor; AP describes Cliff as for a time rivaling Marley as reggae's most prominent artist. Marley (CTL-E-0413) is in the graph.

Sources

• Associated Press via Pollstar News, Jimmy Cliff, Reggae Giant and Star of Landmark Film 'The Harder They Come,' Dead at 81, Nov. 24, 2025 (accessed 2026-10-16) — AP obituary published Nov. 24, 2025: died at 81; family message said he died from a seizure followed by pneumonia; born James Chambers in Saint James, moved to Kingston in his youth; starred as Ivanhoe 'Ivan' Martin in The Harder They Come, the first major commercial release from Jamaica; featured on four of the soundtrack's 11 songs per AP; seven Grammy nominations, two best-reggae-album wins (1986 Cliff Hanger; 2012 Rebirth); 2022 album Refugees; Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction 2010; represented Jamaica at the 1964 World's Fair — https://news.pollstar.com/2025/11/24/jimmy-cliff-reggae-giant-and-star-of-landmark-film-the-harder-they-come-dead-at-81/ (primary source · build store)
• CNN, Jimmy Cliff, reggae legend who sang 'The Harder They Come,' dead at 81, Nov. 24, 2025 (accessed 2026-10-16) — Died at age 81, wife Latifa Chambers announced; cause given as a seizure followed by pneumonia; born James Chambers in 1944 in St. James Parish during a hurricane; moved to Kingston in 1961 per CNN; first hit Hurricane Hattie at 14 per CNN; by 1970 three UK chart singles including Vietnam; I Can See Clearly Now recorded for the 1993 Cool Runnings soundtrack; Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2010, only Jamaican apart from Bob Marley; CNN correction note: an earlier version misstated his birth year — https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/24/entertainment/jimmy-cliff-reggae-death-intl-scli?cid=external-feeds_iluminar_meta (build store)
• Legacy.com, Jimmy Cliff Obituary, Nov. 24, 2025 (accessed 2026-10-16) — Died November 24, 2025, at age 81, following a seizure and subsequent pneumonia, announced by his wife Latifa Chambers; born James Chambers on July 30, 1944, in St. James Parish, Jamaica; over 30 albums recorded; starred in the 1972 film The Harder They Come; Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2010; held Jamaica's Order of Merit — https://www.legacy.com/legacy/notable-deaths/jimmy-cliff (build store)

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Record CTL-E-6225 · Combined Graph record U-07420 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 3 sources · 1 mapped relationship.
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Researched and maintained by the CultureTechLens research program · CultureTechLens Combined Graph, Release 2026-11-04. Corrections are public: the corrections log.

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