Reggae Legend Jimmy Cliff To Build ‘Bridges’ In New Album
International Reggae icon Dr. Jimmy Cliff will be releasing his new album, Bridges through Universal Music Enterprises later this year – a project many people are calling a ‘legacy project”.
“I have just delivered my new album, Bridges, to Universal Music Enterprises, with A&R/marketing guru Maxine Stowe in tow. In this world of deep changes due to the COVID pandemic and its challenges, I celebrate the transformation as it so reflects the good that comes and is encouraged by the bad. A 2020/21 Vision, which is one of the songs, is required,” he said in a release.
“So Happy Day, which is also another song and mantra from my album, is what I wish back to my world of fans as we continue on this physical and spiritual journey. Let us continue to engage the SunPower together!”
Jimmy Cliff will be joining forces once again with music industry insider and marketing executive Maxine Stowe with whom he had worked successfully in the past. Stowe played an instrumental role in promoting the Cool Runnings Soundtrack where Jimmy’s single I Can See Clearly Now went number 1 in several countries in 1993 at Columbia Records. Then when she transitioned to Island Records oversaw the successful release of his album “ Higher & Higher” in 1995, which was nominated for a Grammy.
“I am excited to reunited with Hon. Jimmy Cliff OM, he is The Last Icon of a particular echelon of Jamaican Music,” she said, adding that the work will be to “the benefit of the foundation of Jamaican music industry”.
Stowe, who resided in the United States for many years, has expertise in intellectual property rights and has worked as A&R for several top reggae and dancehall artistes as well as international record labels. She is the widow of dancehall and reggae legend Sugar Minott.
She is further excited about the digital products and services particularly podcasts that offer a rich vein that can be tapped to facilitate musical storytelling on a global scale.
“Bridges” bridges a big gap in our collective lives and will help to guide Jamaica and the world through this “ Many Rivers To Cross CoVid Pandemic”,” she said.
She looks forward also to be reunited with the Universal Music Group where she has had major successes.
JIMMY CLIFF ADDED TO THE US LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Last week Wednesday, Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden announced that the soundtrack for seminal Jamaican film The Harder They Come, which stars Cliff, has been added to the Library of Congress National Recording Registry, making it only the second reggae album to be so recognized. Six tracks are from Cliff.
Cliff is known for megahits such as Many Rivers to Cross, You Can Get It If You Really Want, The Harder They Come, Reggae Night, Wonderful World, Beautiful People, and his covers of Cat Stevens’s Wild World and Johnny Nash’s I Can See Clearly Now.
He starred in the film The Harder They Come, which helped popularize reggae across the world. He also starred in the movie Club Paradise, and Cliff appeared in the film Marked for Death in 1990, performing John Crow with the Jimmy Cliff Band.
He is the only living musician to hold the Order of Merit, the highest honour that can be granted by the Jamaican government for achievements in the arts and sciences. Cliff was one of five performers inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010.
In 2011, Cliff’s full-length album Rebirth won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album and was included in Rolling Stone’s ’50 Best Albums of 2012′.