Johnny Nash

A young Johnny Nash 1958 Credit: Getty Images

The first American to record reggae music, introduce it and make it popular to American audiences wasn’t guitarist Eric Clapton. Nor was reggae-rock band The Police, the first to introduce reggae to American audiences.

As the title states, it was an African American by the name of Johnny Nash (Not to be confused with Johnny Cash). Nash not only made reggae popular in the United States but made it even more popular to British audiences as well, thereby contributing to it’s increase in worldwide popularity. Nash wrote and recorded the 1971 reggae hit, “I Can See Clearly Now,” which seemed to have been made increasingly more popular in Jamaica by Jimmy Cliff’s 1993 version. Sources recount that Nash wrote I Can See Clearly Now from an hospital bed when he was recovering from an eye-injury. It was subsequently recorded in the UK and released on Epic Records.

Nash was born in 1940 Houston, Texas as stated here. Like most of his contemporaries, he began singing in church, in his case it was at The Progressive New Hope Baptist Church in South Central Houston when he was a child. By age 13 and subsequent teenage years, he was already on television on the Arthur Godfrey’s program.

Johnny Nash moves to Jamaica from the United States and tours in Jamaica (1965-1967)

In 1965 Nash, his manager Danny Sims, and a third business associate formed their own record label called JAD and moved to Jamaica to be closer to reggae culture and music. He signed Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh and Bob Marley early in their careers. According to sources listed on Wikipedia, Nash was planning to try to break rocksteady into the American market. Nash must’ve thought very highly of reggae music, was wondering why no one in the United States knew what a reggae music was, and saw it’s potential to explode in the United States and the rest of the world.

Nash and Jamaicans Move and Grove Together

Johnny Nash’s Let’s Move and Groove

Nash’s ballad, ‘Let’s Move and Groove Together,” reached the top 5 on the R&B Charts and it also became a hit in Jamaica as stated here. That must have thrilled Nash, hence why he traveled to Jamaica again for his promotional tour in 1967. It was during this time, he recorded three songs at the Federal Studios in Kingston according to Jamaica Gleaner. Those songs were written by Bob Marley entitled Stir it Up (No.13 on the U.K., charts in 1972), Guava Jelly, Nice Time and Comma Comma, some of which were included on the I Can See Clearly album.

It was then that Nash became the first non-Jamaican to record in Kingston, Jamaica and record reggae music at that.

Nash and Bob Marley and The Wailers

I don’t know how this handsome sweet-falsetto singing African American rolled up in Jamaica and ended up signing Bob Marley and The Wailers to a recording and publishing contract on his JAD label. But he did it, The Wailers (Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Livingston) were only popular locally in Jamaica, and like most if not all musicians in Jamaica at the time, were struggling. Even African American musicians in the US had a bit more resources than Jamaican musicians in Jamaica. JAD ended up “overseeing the controversial release of several Bob Marley and the Wailers songs,” as stated by The Gleaner. It’s like he was godsend as he would prove that The Wailers could trust him with their musical careers. Thus, he was instrumental in pushing-out and propelling Bob Marley’s career from Jamaica into the international limelight. Nash and The wailers collaborated on countless projects. I want to point out that Nash grew up in the country area of Houston, Texas hence why he had no problem fitting right into the Jamaican landscape and culture when he moved there. Jamaica also has a lot of country areas, naturally being that it’s an island. He and his recording team “first met Marley at a ‘groundation’ (Rastafarian meeting) in Kingston during the mid-1960s,” as stated by Campbell here.

No one was free from the influence of Sam Cooke. In early 1970 Nash scored a hit with a reggae-version of Cupid that was originally penned by Cooke and released in 1961. His re-recording of Bob Marley’s “Stir it Up,” was a major hit in Britain in 1971. In 1975, Nash did another Sam Cooke cover “(What A) Wonderful World,” which marked his return to the British charts. It’s clear by now that Nash has a knack for either finding, collaborating and covering songs from or with great singer-songwriters, such as Sam Cooke and Bob Marley. Sam Cooke would himself dab a little in Jamaican music when he covered Jamaican folk song entitled, “Jamaica Farewell,” originally recorded and made famous by Jamaican folk singer Harry Belafonte in 1958. I think Nash could’ve been a great talent scout, especially during those years when he “stopped” doing music and was disillusioned with and disenfranchised from the music industry.

Now back to Nash and The Wailers: as stated by Campbell here, “The Wailers were opening act for Nash on his winter tour of Britain in 1971.” Nash passed away peacefully surrounded by loving family members at his Houston home on Oct 6 2020. His music will remain in the hearts of those who love it best. Johnny Nash’s contribution to making reggae music increasingly known to international audiences was exceedingly invaluable and unparalleled.