In The 1970s- IN MEMORY Johnny Nash

UPDATED OCTOBER 2020

American reggae and pop singer-songwriter Johnny Nash, best known for the 1972 hit I Can See Clearly Now, has died aged 80, his family has said.

Nash, whose health had been in decline, died at his home of natural causes on Tuesday, his son told US media.

The musician began singing as a child and made his major label debut with the 1957 song A Teenager Sings the Blues.

Nash, born in Houston, was one of the first non-Jamaican singers to record reggae music in Kingston, Jamaica.

His single I Can See Clearly Now sold more than a million copies and reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1972, where it remained for four weeks.

He also had a number one hit in the UK in 1975 with Tears on My Pillow.

John Lester Nash was born in America in 1940 and was a minor film star in the 1950s and formed the record company JAD in 1965. He travelled to Jamaica in 1968 and met Bob Marley and it was Nash who signed them up to his label.

In the UK johnny had his first hit single with Stir It Up  which was written by Marley in the 1960s for his then wife.

In the same year of 1972 Johnny had his second hit called I Can See Clearly Now, which was actually written by Johnny himself.  The song went gold in the UK and reached No. 5.

Johnny had his last hit of 1972 with There Are More Questions Than Answers a No. 9 UK hit.

We have to move on to 1975 for his next hit and his biggest single hit in the UK with the No.1 song Tears On My Pillow. The song was written by Ernie Smith who had nine albums himself in the 1970s.