A man that left the world with music to remember for a lifetime; music legend Johnny Nash dies at 80

BY MICHAEL THOMAS

“I Can See Clearly Now The Rain Is Gone” was the song that catapulted Johnny Nash to stardom in 1972. Born in Houston, Nash is one of the first non-Jamaican artists that sold a million copies of a reggae song, and like the story says the rest is history.

Besides selling a million copies of that song, Nash also topped the billboard chart in 1972 and remained there for four weeks. Nash, whose health had been in decline died of natural causes earlier this month his family told US media.

Now here is a little piece of the musical history behind the man known as Johnny Nash. He began singing as a child and made his signed major debut in 1957 with a song called “A Teenager Sings The Blues” and in 1975 again, Nash rose to number one in the UK with a song called “Tears on My Pillow.”

Nash also enjoyed success as an actor early in his career appearing in the screen version of playwright Louis S. Peterson’s Take a Giant Step. Nash won a Silver Sail Award for his performance from the Locarno International Film Festival.

According to Nash’s website, he is even credited with helping the great Bob Marley sign a recording contract, Nash also covered Marley’s songs (like Stir it Up) which helped bring Marley’s music to a bigger audience, and financed some of Bob’s recording with Byron Lee’s Dragonaires, as well as some with other local musicians such as Jackie Jackson and Lynn Taitt.

He and Bob also worked together on a track called “You Poured Sugar On Me.” Other Bob Marley songs recorded by Nash includes “Guava Jelly”, “Comma Comma”,  and  “There Are More Questions Than Answers” was a third hit single taken from the album.

Nash was also active as a composer in the Swedish romance Vill så gärna tro (1971) in which he portrayed Robert. The film soundtrack, partly instrumental reggae with strings, was co-composed by Bob Marley and arranged by Fred Jordan.

A reputable news source revealed that upon hearing of his death, singer Boy George said, Nash had a “Voice like silk”, as one of the artists who “Made me fall in love” with reggae.

After a hit version of Sam Cooke’s “Wonderful World” and “Let’s Go Dancing” in 1979, Nash seemed to have dropped out of sight, but he reappeared here and there and even recorded another minor UK hit named “Rock Me Baby” and “Here Again” (1986). In May 2006 he was singing again at SugarHill Recording Studios and at Tierra Studios in his native Houston.

It can be said that whenever the word rocksteady and reggae is mentioned worldwide, folks of a certain era will always remember Mr. Johnny Nash as a trailblazer, icon, legend, and most of all a man that left the world with music to remember for a lifetime. Besides his son John, Nash is survived by his wife, Carli.