The American reggae and pop singer-songwriter Johnny Nash, best known for the 1972 hit I Can See Clearly Now, has died aged 80, his family has told the media.
Nash, whose health had been ailing of late, died at his home in Houston of natural causes on Tuesday.
Nash began his career as a singer in the choir at the Progressive New Hope Baptist Church in South Central Houston. In 1957 he went on to sign with ABC-Paramount and made his first major-label debut with the single, A Teenager Sings the Blues. He went on to become a hit in both the US and the UK.
His 1972 reggae-influenced single "I Can See Clearly Now" sold over one million copies and made him an international star. The single was awarded a gold disc by the R.I.A.A. in November 1972 and reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on November 4, 1972, remaining atop the chart for four weeks, and also spending the same four weeks atop the adult contemporary chart. He also had a number one hit in the UK in 1975 with Tears on My Pillow.
His son told Johnny Nash junior told TMZ: "He was a wonderful father and family man. He loved people and the world. He will be missed by his community. Family was his everything."
Nash is survived by his wife Carlie, his son and a daughter.
May you RIP Johnny Nash.
