AFTER HAVING A STREET NAMED FOR HIM, A STATUE IS NOW COMMISSIONED TO BE ERECTED FOR THE LEGENDARY JIMMY CLIFF!

Jimmy Cliff —

Reggae legend Jimmy Cliff welcomes the idea of having a statue erected in his honor.

“It is a good thing to have a statue erected of me. It is something that encourages our people to love ourselves, thus making us stronger in unity. I appreciate them doing this,” Cliff, 71, told the Jamaica Observer.

On March 28, Gloucester Avenue in St James — popularly called the Hip Strip — was renamed Jimmy Cliff Boulevard. The event was held at the Old Hospital Park in Montego Bay.

During the function, Entertainment and Culture Minister Olivia “Babsy” Grange said she supports mounting a statue in Cliff’s honor.

“We must have monuments, so that future generations can recognize and look at those… as inspirations. It would be fitting and most appropriate,” she said.

“I would like to see a statue of Jimmy Cliff in Montego Bay, in the heart of the city. We have commissioned and mounted statues of our athletes… [and] we started, in treating with our culture, [by mounting] a statue of Louise ‘Miss Lou’ Bennett-Coverley… so there will be many more statues,” she continued.

“The naming of this street after me is indeed a wonderful honor that my wife and I appreciate. I have been shown much honor all over Africa as recently as February in Liberia, so it is quite fitting for the land that I incarnated in this life gives it as well. My rock, business partner and wife shares this great honor with me. So, we say it’s a good long way this ‘Son of Somerton’ has come,” he said.

Cliff would join Bob Marley and cultural icon “Miss Lou” to have statues in their honor. The latter was erected in September 2018 in Gordon Town Square, St Andrew.

Cliff began making music as a teenager in the early 1960s. He rose to international prominence in 1972 with the film, The Harder They Come, in which he starred as Ivan, an aspiring musician who turns to crime. The movie’s soundtrack includes some of Cliff’s most successful songs such as the title track, You Can Get It (If YouReally Want) and Wonderful World, Beautiful People.

---