Jamaican music films

Perry Henzell's 1972 Jamaican feature starring Jimmy Cliff as Ivanhoe Martin, an aspiring singer navigating Kingston's record business and outlaw economy. The film and soundtrack became a major international gateway into reggae, connecting Cliff's performances with Toots & the Maytals, Desmond Dekker, The Melodians and other Jamaican recordings.

Jimmy Cliff (born James Chambers, 1944, Somerton District, Jamaica) is a Jamaican ska and reggae singer, songwriter and actor, and one of the music's most important international ambassadors. He starred in and provided songs for the influential 1972 film The Harder They Come, whose soundtrack helped bring reggae to a global audience, and is known for anthems such as "Many Rivers to Cross," "You Can Get It If You Really Want" and "The Harder They Come." He is one of only a small number of performers inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for reggae.

"Many Rivers to Cross" is a Jimmy Cliff song from around 1969-1970 that became central to "The Harder They Come" (1972), the Jamaican film and soundtrack that introduced reggae to a wide international audience; the song's gospel-tinged ballad style, distinct from the album's more upbeat tracks, has made it one of Cliff's most enduringly covered recordings.

Ted Bafaloukos's late-1970s Kingston music film starring drummer Leroy 'Horsemouth' Wallace, with real musicians and scene figures including Jacob Miller, Burning Spear, Gregory Isaacs, Big Youth, Dillinger, Robbie Shakespeare and Dirty Harry Hall. Its plot follows Horsemouth's record-selling hustle and stolen motorbike, making the city, studios, record shops and yards part of the cast.

Leroy "Horsemouth" Wallace is a Jamaican drummer who studied at Alpha Boys School and became a mainstay of Clement Dodd's Studio One house rhythm sections from the late 1960s, later playing on countless roots recordings with artists such as Burning Spear, Augustus Pablo, The Gladiators and Gregory Isaacs. He is widely credited with helping shape the driving 'Rockers' drum style and became a cultural icon starring as himself in the 1978 film Rockers. Source note: Leroy Wallace Wikipedia, Rockers (1978 film) sources.

Roots singer born 1952 in Mandeville who first recorded for Clement "Coxsone" Dodd before becoming lead singer of Inner Circle, fronting the hit "Tenement Yard" and appearing in the film Rockers; Miller and Inner Circle were preparing a US tour with Bob Marley and the Wailers when he was killed in a Kingston car accident in March 1980.

Richard "Dirty Harry" Hall was a tenor saxophonist trained at Alpha Boys School whose raw, emotive horn sound helped define the Rockers style through work with Augustus Pablo and King Tubby, including Burning Spear's Marcus Garvey (1975) and Peter Tosh's Equal Rights; he also appeared in the 1978 film Rockers.

Gregory Isaacs (Gregory Anthony Isaacs, 15 July 1951 - 25 October 2010), nicknamed the "Cool Ruler," was a Jamaican reggae singer and a defining voice of lovers rock. He co-founded the African Museum label and shop with Errol Dunkley and scored his most famous record with "Night Nurse," the title track of his 1982 album for Island Records. His smooth, plaintive delivery made him one of reggae's most emulated vocalists.

Rick Elgood and Don Letts's 1997 Jamaican dancehall feature follows Marcia, played by Audrey Reid, as she uses dancehall performance, disguise and competition to fight back against exploitation. The film is a key screen document of 1990s Kingston dancehall culture and features Cherine Anderson's early screen role as Tanya.

Jamaican actor best known internationally for starring as Marcia in Dancehall Queen (1997), a role that anchors the film's portrait of Kingston dancehall competition, disguise and working-class survival.