Top 17 Jimmy Cliff Quotes

Basically, I’m motivated to write about sociopolitical issues as well as relationships. I think those themes have stayed with me throughout my life.

It was one of my dreams as a child, growing up in my little village with my cousins. We used to walk together, and I used to say, when you look at the world map, ‘This town is there, that town is there, that river is there.’ I used to say, ‘One day, I’m going to travel these places.’

I’m the kind of person who likes to hang out and observe what’s going on in the streets, or in certain places. I used to do that a lot. But having to become an international superstar, I can’t do that comfortably! But it’s all positive, you know.

When I lived in the U.K., I recorded a lot of ska and rock-steady styles of Jamaican music. But people there weren’t accepting it. So I began using a faster reggae beat.

The music that I represent and helped to create and establish was born in Jamaica.

I have a career, which is important, but my family is the priority. First family, and then career. It’s a delicate balance.

Someone like Katy Perry – I like her writing because I listen to music as a songwriter. I like a lot of her songs – like, ‘Firework’ is a song that I think I could write.

My most important relationships were with my father and grandmother.

If you go out to Hollywood you’ll find a lot of fantastic plastic people there in the business and a lot of people in life generally. They find it so hard to be themselves that they have to be plastic.

Christian values were important at home. Cleanliness. Don’t steal. Don’t lie. Those were the rules, and they were strictly enforced. Especially the stealing and lying. When you broke the rules, you got a beating. I always broke the rules a lot.

I visit studios. Just to get the feel, the smell, and see what other people are doing. Not only listening to the radio, but going to studios, greeting musicians and artists, just getting a vibe.

I used to do a little acting in school. It was my first love, and I really thought I would be doing it as a career. I really wanted to complete that part of my ambition.

I wanted to travel the world – I don’t how that idea got in my head, but I really wanted to see the world… towns, cities, countries, I wanted to see them all.

The first thing I wanted to be was an actor, even before I wanted to be a singer, before I discovered I could sing.

I have not become the artist I believe I am. I want to become a stadium act. I’m not done at all.

In hindsight, I see the great value of family and how it moulded my life and kept me together. So now family means everything to me.

There are goals that I had set out for myself as an artist. I have accomplished some of them – becoming accepted all over the world – however, other parts of my goals have not been completed.