The story of Jimmy Cliff, who has died at age 81, is in part the story of reggae itself. Like so many Jamaican teens of his time, he moved to Kingston in the early 1960s and joined a rising musical movement that would help give voice to the country's independence from Great Britain.

Jimmy Cliff, the smooth-voiced singer who helped popularize the reggae genre, has died at age 81, his wife announced on Instagram on Monday.

One of the original stars of the 1960s ska boom, Cliff had his first hit in Jamaica in 1962 aged just 14, after walking into a record store singing a song to the owner, producer Leslie Kong.