Johnny Nash
b. 9 August 1940, Houston, Texas, USA. John Lester Johnny Nash Jnr.'s vocational path was defined early on when he balanced bit-parts in movies with singing lead soprano in a gospel choir. With his voice broken, he starred in such films as 1958's Take A Giant Step—with a Caribbean location—and Key Witness (1960), while his regular singing spots on a New York television variety series kept him in moderate Hot 100 strikes both as a soloist and, to a lesser degree, as one of the ad hoc Teen Commandments with Paul Anka and George Hamilton, IV. His liking for Sam Cooke's light soul was made evident in 1965 with an R&B smash, Let's Move And Groove Together but he left a more idiosyncratic mark on Britain with a pop-reggae hybrid that caught on when Hold Me Tight, You Got Soul and a version of Cooke's Cupid each made 1969's Top 10. All were produced by Byron Lee in Jamaica. Further refinement of this style was suspended by acting commitments; however, on a set in Sweden Nash met Bob Marley whose Stir It Up put him back in the UK charts in 1971, paving the way for I Can See Clearly Now (perhaps his best-loved single), There Are More Questions Than Answers and, in the USA, Guava Jelly. After a string of flops, a 1975 song written by Ernie Smith, Tears On My Pillow became Nash's only UK number 1. When another Cooke opus, What A Wonderful World, struggled into the Top 30 in 1976, Nash chose to devote more energy to films and his West Indian recording complex. In 1991 Stir It Up soundtracked an ITV coffee commercial.