How Old Is Johnny Nash? Johnny Nash Birthday
Johnny Nash was born on August 15, 1940 and is 83 years old now.
Birthday: August 15, 1940
How Old - Age: 83
Johnny Nash Death Fact Check
Johnny is alive and kicking and is currently 83 years old.
Please ignore rumors and hoaxes.
If you have any unfortunate news that this page should be update with, please let us know using this form.
Johnny Nash - Biography
John Lester "Johnny" Nash, Jr. (born August 19, 1940) is an American reggae singer-songwriter, best known in the US for his 1972 comeback hit, "I Can See Clearly Now". He was also one of the first non-Jamaican singers to record reggae music in Kingston, Jamaica.
In 1965, Johnny Nash and Danny Sims formed the JODA Records label in New York. One of the more interesting signings was four brothers from Newport, Rhode Island, ages 9, 11, 15 and 16, called The Cowsills; this was prior to their later signing with Mercury/Philips, and then MGM, for whom they had their first million-selling hit single, "The Rain, The Park & Other Things". The Cowsills went into the studio in New York with session musicians and recorded a number of songs like "Either You Do Or You Don't" and "You Can't Go Halfway". Eventually The Cowsills wrote and recorded their own song, "All I Really Wanta Be Is Me", which became the group's debut single release on JODA (J-103).
Nash recorded several hits in Jamaica, where he travelled in early 1968, as his girlfriend had family links with local TV and radio host and novel writer Neville Willoughby. Nash planned to try breaking the local rocksteady sound in the United States. Willoughby introduced him to a local struggling vocal group, Bob Marley & The Wailing Wailers. Members Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh and Rita Marley introduced him to the local scene.
Nash signed all four to an exclusive recording contract with his JAD label and also an exclusive publishing contract with Cayman music. An advance was paid in the form of a weekly wage and JAD also financed some of their recordings, some with Byron Lee's Dragonaires and some with other local musicians such as Jackie Jackson and Lynn Taitt. None of the Marley and Tosh songs he produced were successful. Only two singles were released at the time: "Bend Down Low" (JAD 1968) and "Reggae on Broadway" (Columbia, 1972), which was recorded in London in 1972 on the same sessions that produced "I Can See Clearly Now."
