Singer Johnny Nash, Known for 'I Can See Clearly,' Dead at Age 80
American pop singer Johnny Nash performs in London, circa 1975. (Fotos International / Hulton Archive / Getty Images)
By The Associated Press
Published October 6, 2020 at 5:22pm
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 said.
Nash, who had been in declining health, died of natural causes at home in Houston, the city of his birth, his son, Johnny Nash Jr., told The Associated Press. He was 80.
Nash was in his early 30s when I Can See Clearly Now topped the charts in 1972 and he had lived several show-business lives. In the mid-1950s, he was a teenager covering Darn That Dream and other standards, his light tenor likened to the voice of Johnny Mathis.
A decade later, he was co-running a record company, had become a rare American-born singer of reggae and helped launch the career of his friend Bob Marley.
Nash praised the vibes of this little island when speaking of Jamaica, and he was among the first artists to bring reggae to U.S. audiences.
Poster Comment:
Reggae cowboy. LOL
#1: NeoconsNailed To: BTP Holdings (#0)
That's a really fun single. Among other things it uses the noise between stations on the radio dial (or ore precisely the funny, short sounds of distant stations passing by -- quasi-doppler effect) as a rithmic element.
They tried to tout him as the next huge, colossal thing in pop music but I don'think he ever took off that much. ;)
NeoconsNailed posted on 2020-10-07 10:06:03 Reply Private Reply