Johnny Nash

Early life Nash was born on August 19, 1940, in Houston, Texas, the son of Eliza (Armstrong) and John Lester Nash. He sang in the choir at Progressive New Hope Baptist Church in South Central Houston as a child. Beginning in 1953, Nash sang covers of R&B hits on Matinee, a local variety show on KPRC-TV;

1960s Nash sang the theme song to the syndicated animated cartoon series The Mighty Hercules, which ran on various television stations from 1963 to 1966.

In 1964, Nash and manager Danny Sims formed JoDa Records in New York. JoDa released The Cowsills' single "All I Really Want to Be Is Me". Although JoDa filed for bankruptcy after only two years, Nash and Sims moved on to marketing American singers to Jamaica, owing to the low cost of recording in that country. That year, he and Sims moved to Jamaica. Their lawyer Newton Willoughby was the father of Jamaican radio host Neville Willoughby.

After selling off his old entertainment assets in New York, Sims opened a new music publishing business in Jamaica, Cayman Music. Nash signed all four to an exclusive publishing contract with Cayman Music for J$50 a week. JAD released Nash's rocksteady single "Hold Me Tight" in 1968; it became a top-five hit in both the U.S. and UK, The record sold well in Argentina. According to the January 25 issue of Cash Box, both Nash's version and a version by Anthony Swete were selling strongly. It was charting alongside a version by Anthony Swete in the Argentina's Best Sellers chart.

1970s In 1971, Nash scored another UK hit with his cover of Marley's "Stir It Up". "I Can See Clearly Now" reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on November 4, 1972, and remained atop the chart for four weeks, spending the same four weeks atop the adult contemporary chart. The I Can See Clearly Now album includes four original Marley compositions published by JAD: "Guava Jelly", "Comma Comma", "You Poured Sugar on Me", and the follow-up hit "Stir It Up". "There Are More Questions Than Answers" was a third hit single taken from the album.

Nash was also a composer for the Swedish romance film Want So Much to Believe (1971), in which he portrayed 'Robert'. The movie soundtrack, partly instrumental reggae with strings, was co-composed by Bob Marley and arranged by Fred Jordan. The album Tears on My Pillow came out later in the year.

After a cover of Sam Cooke's "Wonderful World" in 1976 and "Let's Go Dancing" in 1979, for many years Nash seemed to have dropped out of sight.

Later career Nash had a brief resurgence in the mid-1980s with the album Here Again (1986), which included the minor UK hit, "Rock Me Baby". Younger audiences were introduced to Nash's music with the appearance of Jimmy Cliff's cover of "I Can See Clearly Now" in Disney's 1993 film Cool Runnings. Nash's version of the song appeared over the opening scene of John Cusack's 1997 film, Grosse Point Blank.

In May 2006, Nash worked with SugarHill Recording Studios chief engineer Andy Bradley and Tierra Studios' Randy Miller to transfer analog tapes of his songs from the 1970s and 1980s to Pro Tools digital format.

Acting Nash has four acting credits in film and television. In 1959, he had the lead role as Spencer Scott in Take a Giant Step, directed by Philip Leacock, one of the first black family films written by a black writer. In 1960, he appeared as "Apple" alongside Dennis Hopper in the crime drama Key Witness.

Nash died of natural causes in his home, surrounded by close family in Houston on October 6, 2020, after a period of declining health.

Rapper Scarface (born Brad Jordan in 1970) claims to be a cousin of Nash.

Selected discography Albums Source: AllMusic

Year AlbumUK CBS 1977 Johnny Nash Collection 18 BPI: Gold Epic 1981 Stir It Up– Hallmark 1993 The Reggae Collection– Epic "–" denotes releases that did not chart.

Soundtrack Nash sang the theme song for the television cartoon series The Mighty Hercules, which aired in first-run syndication from 1963 to 1966.

Singles Source: AllMusic RMNZ: Platinum "There Are More Questions Than Answers"b/w "Guava Jelly" – – – – 9 – – 1973 "Stir It Up"b/w "Ooh Baby You've Been Good to Me" 12 – – – – – – "My Merry-Go-Round"b/w "(Oh Jesus) We're Trying to Get Back to You" 77 74 – 34 – 47 –My Merry-Go-Round "Ooh What a Feeling"b/w "Yellow House" 103 – – 38 – – – 1974 "Loving You"b/w "Gonna Open Up My Heart Again" 91 67 40 – – – – "You Can't Go Halfway"b/w "The Very First Time" 105 90 38 – – – –Celebrate Life "Celebrate Life"b/w "Beautiful Baby" – – – – – – – 1975 "(You Gave Me Such) Good Vibrations"b/w "The Very First Time" – – – – – – – "Tears on My Pillow"b/w "Beautiful Baby" (from Celebrate Life) – – – – 1 – 69 BPI: Silver Tears on My Pillow (UK release only) "Let's Be Friends"b/w "The Edge of Love" – – – – 42 – – 1976 "(What A) Wonderful World"b/w "Rock It Baby (Baby We've Got a Date)" (from Tears on My Pillow) 103 82 66 34 25 – 96What a Wonderful World (UK release only) 1977 "That Woman"b/w "Back in Time" – – – – – – – 1979 "Closer"b/w "Mr. Sea" – – 74 – – – – Let's Go Dancing 1985 "Rock Me Baby"b/w "Love Theme from Rock Me Baby" – – – – 47 – 99Here Again 1989 "I Can See Clearly Now" (remix)CD single with three other tracks – – – – 54 – –Non-album track "–" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.