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Jim­my Cliff, the charis­mat­ic reg­gae pi­o­neer and ac­tor who preached joy, de­fi­ance and re­silience in such clas­sics as “Many Rivers to Cross,” “You Can Get it If You Re­al­ly Want” and “Viet­nam” and starred in the land­mark movie “The Hard­er They Come,” has died at 81.

His fam­i­ly post­ed a mes­sage Mon­day on his so­cial me­dia sites that he died from a “seizure fol­lowed by pneu­mo­nia.” Ad­di­tion­al in­for­ma­tion was not im­me­di­ate­ly avail­able.

“”To all his fans around the world, please know that your sup­port was his strength through­out his whole ca­reer,” the an­nounce­ment reads in part. “He re­al­ly ap­pre­ci­at­ed each and every fan for their love.”