Nash, who had been in declining well being, died of pure causes at dwelling in Houston, town of his delivery
Johnny Nash, a singer-songwriter, actor and producer who rose from pop crooner to early reggae star to the creator and performer of the million-selling anthem “I Can See Clearly Now,” died Tuesday, his son mentioned.
Nash, who had been in declining well being, died of pure causes at dwelling in Houston, town of his delivery, his son, Johnny Nash Jr., advised . He was 80.
Nash was in his early 30s when “I Can See Clearly Now” topped the charts in 1972 and he had lived a number of present enterprise lives. Within the mid-Fifties, he was an adolescent overlaying “Darn That Dream” and different requirements, his mild tenor likened to the voice of Johnny Mathis. A decade later, he was co-running a file firm, had change into a uncommon American-born singer of reggae and helped launch the profession of his pal Bob Marley.
Nash praised “the vibes of this little island” when talking of Jamaica, and he was among the many first artists to convey reggae to U.S. audiences. He peaked commercially within the late Sixties and early Seventies, when he had hits with “Maintain Me Tight,” “You Received Soul,” an early model of Marley’s “Stir It Up” and “I Can See Clearly Now,” nonetheless his signature music.
Reportedly written by Nash whereas recovering from cataract surgical procedure, “I Can See Clearly Now” was a narrative of overcoming laborious occasions that itself raised the spirits of numerous listeners, with its swelling pop-reggae groove, promise of a “brilliant, brilliant sunshiny day” and Nash’s gospel-styled exclamation halfway, “Look straight forward, nothing however blue skies!”, a backing refrain lifting the phrases into the heavens.
The rock critic Robert Christgau would name the music, which Nash additionally produced, “2 minutes and 48 seconds of undiluted inspiration.”
Though ignored by Grammys judges, “I Can See Clearly Now” was lined by artists starting from Ray Charles and Donny Osmond to Soul Asylum and Jimmy Cliff, whose model was featured within the 1993 film “Cool Runnings.” It additionally turned up all over the place from “Thelma and Louise” to a Windex industrial, and lately was typically referred to on web sites about cataract procedures.
“I really feel that music is common. Music is for the ears and never the age,” Nash advised Cameron Crowe, then writing for Zoo World Journal, in 1973. “There are some individuals who say that they hate music. I’ve run into a couple of, however I’m unsure I consider them.”
The celebrity of “I Can See Clearly Now” outlasted Nash’s personal. He not often made the charts within the years following, at the same time as he launched such albums as “Tears On My Pillow” and “Have a good time Life,” and by the Nineteen Nineties had primarily left the enterprise. His final album, “Right here Once more,” got here out in 1986, though lately he was reportedly digitizing his outdated work, a few of which was misplaced in a 2008 fireplace at Common Studios in Los Angeles.
Nash was married 3 times, and had two youngsters. He had beloved using horses since childhood and as an grownup lived along with his household on a ranch in Houston, the place for years he additionally managed rodeo reveals on the Johnny Nash Indoor Area.
Along with his son, he’s survived by daughter Monica and spouse Carli Nash.
John Lester Nash Jr., whose father was a chauffeur, grew up singing in church and by age 13 had his personal present on Houston tv. Inside a couple of years, he had a nationwide following via his appearances on “The Arthur Godfrey Present,” his hit cowl of Doris Day’s “A Very Particular Love” and a collaboration with friends Paul Anka and George Hamilton IV on the healthful “The Teen Commandments (of Love).” He additionally had roles within the movies “Take a Large Step,” during which he starred as a highschool scholar rebelling towards how the Civil Warfare is taught, and “Key Witness,” against the law drama starring Dennis Hopper and Jeffrey Hunter.
Nash satisfied his supervisor and enterprise associate Danny Sims, with whom he shaped JAD Information, to enroll Marley and the Wailers, who recorded “Reggae On Broadway” and dozens of different songs for JAD. Nash introduced Marley to London within the early Seventies when Nash was the larger star internationally and with Marley gave an impromptu live performance at a neighborhood boys college. Nash’s covers of “Stir It Up” and “Guava Jelly” helped expose Marley’s writing to a common viewers. The 2 additionally collaborated on the ballad “You Poured Sugar On Me,” which appeared on the “I Can See Clearly Now” album.
After the Nineteen Eighties, Nash turned a thriller to followers and former colleagues as he stopped recording and performing and barely spoke to the press or anybody within the music business. In 1973, he advised Crowe that he anticipated years of laborious work- “What I wish to do is be part of this enterprise and to precise myself and get some form of acceptance by making folks glad.”
1 / 4 century later, he defined to The Gleaner throughout a go to to Jamaica that it was “troublesome to develop main music tasks” with out touring and selling and that he most well-liked to be along with his household.
“I feel I’ve achieved gratification when it comes to the folks I’ve had the possibility to satisfy. I by no means received the Grammy, however I don’t put my religion in issues of that nature,” he added. “A lifetime physique of labor I may be pleased with is extra necessary to me. And the particular folksy mix to the music I make, that’s what it’s all about.”
