'Wonderful' singer and screen star

JIMMY Cliff was one of the most beloved proponents of reggae music and a star since the 1960s, bringing the sounds of Jamaica to audiences across the world with hits such as Wonderful World, Beautiful People and You Can Get It If You Really Want.

- Jimmy Cliff

Born James Chambers, Cliff grew up as the eighth of nine children in abject poverty in the parish of St. James, Jamaica.

But blessed with a sweet voice, he began singing in his local church, aged six.

As a schoolboy, he was inspired to write his own music after hearing Ska pioneer Derrick Morgan on the radio and asked his woodwork teacher how to compose a song and was told, "you just write it".

By the time he was 14, he'd moved to Kingston and changed his surname to Cliff in the hope of becoming a star.

He recorded a handful of singles, topping the Jamaican charts with his own composition called Hurricane Hattie.