Telski & Sheridan Arts Foundation: Jimmy Cliff

22 Jul Telski & Sheridan Arts Foundation: Jimmy Cliff

Jimmy Cliff to perform Wednesday, July 30, 2014, at 9 p.m., doors at 8 p.m.,Telluride Mountain Village Conference Center, Mountain Village, $40* general admission (limited VIP tickets available)

The Sheridan Arts Foundation and Telluride Ski Resort presents music legend Jimmy Cliff at the Telluride Conference Center, July 30, 2014. This special concert is a fundraiser to help the SAF complete a full lobby and stairwell renovation in the historic Sheridan Opera House.

Tickets are $40* general admission and $75 VIP. VIP tickets come with a private bar and private seating in the Mountain Village Telluride Conference Center. A $5 ticketing fee applies, with $2 of each ticket going directly toward the SOH fundraising efforts.

Jimmy Cliff is reggae royalty. The 66-year-old Jamaican is responsible for some of the genre’s greatest triumphs. For his efforts, Cliff was rightfully inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010, as well as awarded the highly prestigious Order of Merit by the Jamaican government.

The singer was born in St. Catherine, Jamaica, on April 1, 1948, with the less prosaic name of James Chambers. His talent was evident from childhood, and he began his career appearing at local shows and parish fairs. Feeling ready for the big time at the age of 14, he moved to Kingston and took the surname Cliff to express the heights he intended on reaching.

Cliff recorded two unsuccessful singles before he was spotted by Derrick Morgan,who brought him to Leslie Kong. His first single for the budding producer, “Hurricane Hattie,” was an instant hit. Unusually, Cliff  remained with Kong until the producer’s death; most Jamaican artists flit from studio to studio. The singer’s loyalty was rewarded, however, by a string of follow-up hits. In the early years, the pair helped set the ska scene alight, both in Jamaica and in Britain, where the singer’s singles were picked up by Island Records. “Miss Jamaica,” “King of Kings,” “One Eyed Jacks,” and “Pride and Passion” have since become classics of the original ska era.

By 1964, Cliff’s star was so bright that he was selected as one of Jamaica’s representatives at the World’s Fair…

Continue reading Cliff’s bio on AllMusic here.

Jimmy Cliff is now touring in support of his first studio album in seven years.

“I got one more shot at the goal/Straight from my soul/I’m in control,” sings reggae legend Jimmy Cliff on “One More,” the lead track from Rebirth, the new Universal Music Enterprises album from the Grammy-winning musician, actor, singer, songwriter, producer and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, produced by punk icon Tim Armstrong, of Rancid and Operation Ivy fame.

According to Cliff’s website, the release is the next step in their collaboration on last year’s Sacred Fire EP, an effort Rolling Stone called Cliff’s “best music in decades… [his] tenor still soars.”

With the groundbreaking 1972 film The Harder They Come celebrating its 40th anniversary, Cliff— who starred in the movie and contributed the title cut, “You Can Get It If You Really Want,” “Many Rivers to Cross” and “Sitting in Limbo” to the soundtrack— is still going strong in a career that has spanned almost 50 years and includes his native Jamaica’s highest honor, the Order of Merit. In Rebirth’s autobiographical “Reggae Music,” Cliff recounts going to see famed Jamaican producer Leslie Kong in 1962 to convince him to work with him, releasing Cliff’s first hit, “Hurricane Hattie,” when he was just 14.

Continue reading about Rebirth here.

For a preview of the show, watch this video about Rebirth…