“I Can See Clearly Now” Singer Johnny Nash Dead at 80
Written by SOURCE on October 7, 2020
Johnny Nash, a pop and reggae music singer best known for his 1972 smash “I Can See Clearly Now,” died Tuesday, CBS Los Angeles reports. He was 80 years old.
“He was a wonderful father and family man. He loved people and the world. He will be missed within his community. Family was his everything,” John Nash III, his son, told TMZ. He died of natural causes at home in Houston, his son said.
Nash’s hit “I Can See Clearly Now” stayed at the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks in 1972. The song later returned to the charts when Jimmy Cliff recorded a version of it for the soundtrack for the 1993 movie Cool Runnings.
Outside of his own music, Nash, who started JAD Records with Danny Sims, signed members of the band The Wailers, including Bob Marley.
“Johnny loved reggae,” Sims said to the Houston Chronicle back in 2012. “And he loved Bob and the guys. He taught Bob how to sing on the mic, and they taught Johnny how to play the reggae rhythm.”
Though Nash never won major accolades, he was proud of what he accomplished — which is more than enough.
“I think I’ve achieved gratification in terms of the people I’ve had the chance to meet. I never won the Grammy, but I don’t put my faith in things of that nature,” he told The Gleaner in 1998. “A lifetime body of work I can be proud of is more important to me. And the special folksy blend to the music I make, that’s what it is all about.”
Some Twitter users noted that Tuesday was a sad day in the music world, as the news Eddie Van Halen died broke on the same day.
