John Lester Nash Jr. (August 19, 1940 – October 6, 2020)[2] was an American singer and songwriter, best known in the United States for his 1972 hit "I Can See Clearly Now".

[8] Signing with ABC-Paramount, Nash made his major label debut in 1957 with the single "A Teenager Sings the Blues".

[6] Marketed as a rival to Johnny Mathis, Nash also enjoyed success as an actor early in his career, appearing in the screen version of playwright Louis S. Peterson's Take a Giant Step in 1959.

Nash continued releasing singles on a variety of labels such as Groove, Chess, Argo, and Warner Bros.[6] The song "The Teen Commandments" by Paul Anka, George Hamilton IV, and Johnny Nash reached #14 on Canada's CHUM Charts, December 15, 1958.

[9] Nash sang the theme song to the syndicated animated cartoon series The Mighty Hercules, which ran on various television stations from 1963 to 1966.

[12] Although JoDa filed for bankruptcy after only two years, Nash and Sims moved on to marketing American singers to Jamaica, owing to the low cost of recording in that country.

[11][17] JAD released Nash's rocksteady single "Hold Me Tight" in 1968; it became a top-five hit in both the U.S. and UK,[6] and number 1 in Canada.

[24] The movie soundtrack, partly instrumental reggae with strings, was co-composed by Bob Marley and arranged by Fred Jordan.

Younger audiences were introduced to Nash's music with the appearance of Jimmy Cliff's cover of "I Can See Clearly Now" in Disney's 1993 hit film Cool Runnings, and Nash's original version appeared over the opening scene of John Cusack's 1997 film, Grosse Point Blank.

[24] Nash died of natural causes in his home, surrounded by close family in Houston on October 6, 2020, after a period of declining health.