In a poignant tribute to reggae icon Jimmy Cliff, who passed away on November 24 at age 81, new light emerges on his instrumental role in launching another legend’s career. The revelation comes as part of ‘Jimmy Cliff: Stories Of A Bongo Man,’ a seven-part retrospective series examining the singer-songwriter’s multifaceted legacy.
The year was 1962 when a determined 17-year-old welder named Robert Nesta Marley entered Beverley’s Records in downtown Kingston. Much like Elvis Presley’s legendary visit to Sun Records nine years earlier, Marley arrived with dreams of recording his original compositions. Instead of encountering producer Leslie Kong directly, Marley was greeted by 18-year-old Jimmy Cliff—already an established star with his hit ‘Hurricane Hattie’ fueling Jamaica’s ska revolution.
Cliff, in a December 2021 interview, vividly recalled the moment: ‘I hear a voice say, ‘dat sound good yuh nuh’. When I looked around, it was a little youth with his chest pushed out.’ Despite Kong’s dismissive assessment that Marley ‘cyaan sing, mon,’ Cliff recognized extraordinary talent in the young artist’s poetic sensibility and innate rhythm.
Under Cliff’s advocacy, Kong eventually recorded three of Marley’s early ska compositions: ‘Judge Not,’ ‘One Cup of Coffee,’ and ‘Terror.’ Released in late 1962, ‘Judge Not’ became Marley’s debut single—a historic milestone made possible by Cliff’s intervention.
The Marley family officially acknowledged this debt on their social media, posting: ‘Jimmy was an instrumental figure in Bob’s coming up, having brought him to producer Leslie Kong in 1962 to record his very first singles.’
Though Marley’s tenure with Beverley’s Records was brief—he soon formed The Wailers with Peter Tosh and Bunny Livingston—the encounter marked a critical juncture in music history. Both Kong and Marley met premature ends: Kong dying of a heart attack at 37 in 1971, and Marley succumbing to cancer at 36 in 1981. Cliff’s recent passing at 81 closes a chapter, but his legacy as both a pioneering artist and crucial talent-spotter endures.