Jimmy Cliff

I started the new album earlier this year, with Dave Stewart. We met in Jamaica and we started writing songs together. I had a few of my own too and it's just turned out fantastic, really great. The vibe between us worked really well. It's not all the time when you finish an album that you can say you're really happy with the way the whole thing has turned out. But I am really happy with the variety and with the way we worked so quickly too. We started in January and it was finished in May. We weren't working consistently either. We worked one or two days here and there, so it's more like a month's work together. Really incredible.

Well it's the pop scene as well as show business. If you go out to Hollywood you'll find a lot of 'fantastic plastic people' there in the business and a lot of people in life generally. They find it so hard to be themselves that they have to be plastic.

Yes. In former days when we recorded with or built on artists they were still for real. Now you can manufacture just about what you want and after just a little time the artist is forgotten and gone.

I think it will have to go back to that. It's phase we're going through. Eventually, what is real will be sought after again.

I always try to make every bit of work different. This one represents where I am today, musically. Working with Dave Stewart has added other elements to my work, along with all the other artists that have contributed. Joe Strummer, Sting, Annie Lennox have all added their own influences to the album. It's really an outstanding piece of work.

It has been a rocky road, so I've never really reflected back on it in that way. There have been times when I have found it hard to be who I am. I just give thanks and am grateful to be able to say "hey, look I'm still producing great work and I still have a lot more to do".

That was great. You know black music from different origins is very important right now, it's inspiring and influential. Lots of what's going on now actually started in Jamaica. To be performing with some of those artists and to see them doing things that I contributed to start was really gratifying. It was really something, really nice for me.

When I look at someone like Ms Dynamite, I come away with a positive feeling. It's hard, especially for female artists, to not make it all about showing meat. And she's not about showing meat, she wants to show us what's in her mind, "this is what I'm feeling, seeing". And that's a positive way to go.

The media always has to have something to rally about. It's just like that. It's all about sensationalism. If someone saves a life or does a good deed, it's not going to be jumped upon as much as bad deed. It's a sad thing in our society and the media will always feed it to us. As artists we have to stay positive and keep giving out positive messages, while realising that the two aspects exist. There's always going to be some less positive messages in all cultures. It's a reality of our time.

Ms Dynamite, absolutely. She's an artist that really represents what's happening now and I'm an artist that always stays in tune with what's happening. I'm proud of what's happened in the past, I respect it and love it, but I don't live in the past, I live now. To work with someone who's really tuning into now would be a great thing for me to do.

Again, it's just one of those things. Marley was great, but I don't think you can ignore what I did, what Peter Tush did, Yellow man... People will always look at a star that shone the brightest at a point in time, but at the same time history is history. You can't take that away. What is yours will always be yours and I believe we get in life what we deserve.

That makes me feel good, I tell you the truth, it really does. The first love I really had was for acting. I took the singing route because it was the easier one to take. It takes many thousands of pounds to make a movie, but nothing like as much to make a record. But if you look back at my career the thing that really launched me to the world was when I combined the two. Film and music together. People recognising me for that is great, it's something I love to do.

I am an optimistic person. Because of the conditions in which I grew up, I had to be like that to survive. It's become a part of me. I went into that movie with a positive mind, not really having any idea of the impact that it would have, but I did have high hopes. It seemed as though some of my subconscious dreams really did come true. But there was some dissatisfaction with it too. My character portrayed an innocent guy from the country that came into the city to experience the hard ways of the city. He found himself having to do things that were not really pretty. I wanted to show more of the positive stuff that goes on in the ghetto too. I wanted to be able to show that you can really survive in the ghetto without having to take up a gun or becoming violent. So, we're in the process of making a sequel to the movie. Again, I don't know if it'll all be positive, but Dave Stewart and I are planning to start production next year.

In terms of cast, we've not really reached that stage yet. At one point Wyclef Jean did show some interest. Wherever I go though, people are still always asking me about 'part 2', after all these years people are still expecting it.

Well, my character is supposed to be dead, but we resurrected him, [laughs]. So, someone like Wyclef could possibly play my son, or someone like Lauryn Hill or Ms Dynamite could play a part. Those are the people I have my eyes on, but we'll see how it goes.

I have to be positive about it as I was already an actor. I'm not sure how good some of the rappers are, I haven't seen them all. But it's an art that someone has to respect, that needs training and study. Some of us have it naturally, but you always have to learn things as well.

Many, many times I've thought that you know. I don't know anyone that hasn't gone through that period in their life, when you just don't know whether you're coming or going. But when you come to that point and you think you want to pack it in, you say to yourself 'and do what?' [laughs] You just have to wake up and move on.

Some are alive, some have passed away. Definitely Sam Cooke, Fats Domino, Ray Charles, Simon and Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley. I like these people because they were innovators, pioneers and they opened the way, They took the chance and did something new and I like people like that.