It seems 2020 is no stranger to taking our beloved celebrities when their time is up. Singer and composer Johnny Nash, widely known for his 1972 comeback hit, “I Can See Clearly Now”, died on Tuesday at the resilient age of 80.
What We Know:
- Nash’s son, Johnny Nash Jr, had said his father was already dealing with a declining state of health for a while now and reportedly died of natural causes at home. Born on Aug. 19, 1940, in Houston, TX, the same city of his death, John Lester Nash Jr. began as a pop singer in the 1950s. His first chart hit, a cover of Doris Day’s “A Very Special Love”, debuted in 1958.
- Moving forward, his musical talent spawned more music and he even sung the theme song for The Mighty Hercules cartoon which premiered in 1967. A year later, Nash became one of the first non-Jamaican artists to record reggae music in Kingston, Jamaica.
- Nash signed with The Wailers, consisting of Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh, and Bob Marley, to an “exclusive publishing and recording contract with his JAD record label,” formed in 1967 with Danny Sims. Some of Nash’s biggest hits to come out of that were classic reggae tunes such as “Hold Me Tight” and “Stir It Up”, both exhort topping hits in their own years of release.
- This eventually led to the song Johnny Nash is undeniably best known for, the reggae-influenced “I Can See Clearly Now”. That single went onto sell one million copies and reached the top spot of Billboard’s Hot 100 in November 1972, where it remained for nearly an entire month.
- Ever since then, that song has been remade by several artists, including Jimmy Cliff for the 1993 film Cool Runnings. The impact of the song left its mark on pop culture, being a go to for many businesses, organizations, and groups given its optimistic nature.
- Some examples include but are not limited to commercials, programs, and covers by artists like Kermit Ruffins, Donnie Osmond Willie Nelson, Ray Charles, and Jimmy Cliff (for the film). Grace VanderWaal paid homage to the hit with a reimagined version titled “Clearly” in 2018.
Nash’s other notable covers were 70’s hits such as Sam Cooke’s “Wonderful World” in 1976 and “Let’s Go Dancing”. After starting out relatively private, Nash’s spark of fame deteriorated when he chose to gradually leave the public’s eye but not after dropping the album Here Again in the mid-’80s. He is survived by his son and wife Carli.
