Johnny Nash (born John Lester Nash, Jr., August 19, 1940, Houston, Texas) is an African-American pop singer-songwriter, best known for his unexpected 1972 comeback hit, "I Can See Clearly Now". Nash began as a pop singer in the 1950s. He also enjoyed success as an actor early in his career appearing in the screen version of playwright Louis S. Peterson's Take a Giant Step. Nash won a Silver Sail Award for his performance from the Locarno International Film Festival.
I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW
I can see clearly now, the rain is gone,
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
It's gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright) Sun-Shiny day
It's gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright) Sun-Shiny day
I think I can make it now, the pain is gone
All of the bad feelings have disappeared
Here is that rainbow I've been prayin' for
It's gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright) Sun-Shiny day
Look all around there's nothin' but blue skies
Look straight ahead nothin' but blue skies
I can see clearly now, the rain is gone,
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
It's gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright) Sun-Shiny day
It's gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright) Sun-Shiny day
It's gonna be so bright (bright), bright (bright) Sun-Shiny day
Oh what a bright (bright), bright (bright) Sun-Shiny day
Oh yeah Oh yeah...
Besides "I Can See Clearly Now," Nash recorded several hits in Jamaica, where he travelled in early 1968, as his girlfriend had family links with local TV and radio host and novel writer Neville Willoughby. Nash planned to try breaking the local rocksteady sound in the United States. Willoughby introduced him to a local struggling vocal group, The Wailers. Members Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer and Peter Tosh introduced him to the local scene. Nash signed all three to an exclusive publishing and recording contract with his JAD label and financed some of their recordings, some with Byron Lee's Dragonaires and some with other local musicians such as Jackie Jackson and Lynn Taitt.
Nash was also active as a composer in the Swedish romance Vill så gärna tro (1971) in which he portrayed Robert. The film soundtrack, partly instrumental reggae with strings, was co-composed by Bob Marley and arranged by Fred Jordan.
JAD Records ceased to exist in 1971, but it was revived in 1997 by American Marley specialist Roger Steffens and French musician and producer Bruno Blum for the "Complete Bob Marley & the Wailers 1967-1972" ten-album series for which several of the Nash-produced Marley and Tosh tracks were mixed or remixed by Blum for release. Nash's biggest hits were the earlyreggae (rocksteady) tunes "Hold Me Tight" (a #5 hit in the U.S. And the UK) and "Stir It Up", the latter written by Bob Marley prior to Marley's international success.
In the UK, his biggest hit was with the song "Tears On My Pillow" which reached number one in the UK Singles Chart in July 1975 for one week. After a hit version of Sam Cooke's "Wonderful World" and "Let’s Go Dancing" in 1979, for many years he seemed to have dropped out of sight; however, in May 2006 he was singing again at Sugar Hill recording studio in his native Houston. [wikipedia]
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment