Reggae Legend Jimmy Cliff Signs With ICM Partners To Market ‘The Harder They Come’ Sequel

Reggae legend Jimmy Cliff has signed with ICM Partners for representation across all areas, in an arrangement that will see the company marketing the St. James native’s sequel to the 1972 Perry Henzel-directed film The Harder They Come, in which he starred.

ICM, which is a company that represents talent in the fields of motion picture, television, books, music, live performance, branded entertainment, and new media, will also market a documentary and memoir, and his global touring, and will handle Cliff’s business via teams led by Ron Kaplan for North and South America and Ed Sellers & Ashley Marchi for international, according to a release.

The film, The Harder They Come, which celebrates 50 years this year, was co-written by Jamaican film icon, Trevor Rhone and part-funded by Chris Blackwell and Island Records as a means of promoting reggae outside of Jamaica, and considered one of, if not, the most influential Jamaican film and one of the most important films from the Caribbean.

It saw Cliff, now age 77, playing the role of Ivanhoe ‘Rhygin’ Martin, a youngster from rural Jamaica, who came to Kingston city hoping to become a recording artist but who fell on hard times and took up a life of crime, out of desperation.

In March 2015, the Gleaner newspaper reported that 43 years after playing the role of Rhygin, in the iconic Jamaican crime film, Jimmy Cliff, was preparing to reprise the role, which was loosely based on the life of an actual Jamaican criminal, in an upcoming sequel.  At the time, Cliff had told the newspaper that the original film, in which his character was supposedly gunned down by the security forces who rained bullets at him, that “through the magic of movies”, Rhygin’s character had survived.

“We saw my character got shot up and we assumed he must be dead, but we didn’t see him buried. With the magic of movies, he was revitalised, served a number of years in prison, came out, and is currently pursuing his career again,” Cliff had explained at the time.

The newspaper had reported that the film, which would have begun production later that year, would also feature Jimmy Cliff’s vocals, as he would be writing the soundtrack.

Filmmaker, the late Perry Henzell, who died in 2006, had written, produced and directed The Harder They Come, which premiered at the Carib cinema in Kingston in 1972, half a century ago.

Very little had been said about a sequel to The Harder they Come, until in February this year during Reggae Month, when Henzel’s daughter Justine, who is also a film producer, while speaking at the 25th annual Bob Marley lecture organized by the Institute of Caribbean Studies at The University of the West Indies, said that her family was open to a sequel of the film.

At the time, she said that she was not opposed to a sequel to her father’s iconic film, but noted that whoever was writing the script would have to “come good”.  Justine had outlined that over the years her family has been approached by many persons pitching ideas for a sequel, prequel, and remake to The Harder They Come.

“I walk that line of protecting the legacy but not being precious with the legacy. I am not averse. As I have said I love the fact that new work can be created from the original without any damage at all. So I will not say that no new iterations will happen… but dem haffi come good,” she had declared, according to the Jamaica Observer.

In March last year, the United States’ Library of Congress National Recording Registry added The Harder They Come (the album) soundtrack to its registry, which made it the second reggae album to be so recognised, the first being The Wailers Burnin’.   Back then, Jimmy Cliff, whose given name is James Chambers, described the move as “a win for the entire Jamaican music industry”, and not just himself.

The album, Harder They Come was one of 25 recordings named audio treasures worthy of preservation for all time, based on their cultural, historical or aesthetic importance in the nation’s recorded sound heritage.

“I think that’s a cool honour for the Jamaican music industry and myself, seeing that I have a number of songs on it. It’s encouraging for us artistes, producers and musicians to create even greater music; as for myself, it is my intention to do just that,” Cliff had told The Gleaner.

The Harder They Come soundtrack was released in 1972 in the UK by Island Records and issued in February 1973 in North America as Mango Records. It went on to peak at No. 140 on the Billboard 200.

Only the title track The Harder They Come was said to have been recorded by Cliff specifically for the soundtrack.   His other songs on the album included You Can Get it if You Really Want, Sitting in Limbo and Many Rivers to Cross, which has since been covered by numerous artists, including Cher, John Lennon, UB40, Annie Lennox and Percy Sledge.

Other Reggae icons who were part of The Harder They Come soundtrack were Toots and the Maytals, who had two songs, Pressure Drop and Sweet and Dandy; Desmond Dekker with Shanty Town, and The Melodians who recorded Rivers of Babylon; The Slickers with Johnny Too Bad and Scotty with Draw Your Brakes.