REGGAE STAR Johnny Nash and creator of the 1972 hit song I Can See Clearly Now, has passed away aged 80, his son said.

Nash, who had been in declining health, died of natural causes at home in Houston, the city of his birth according to Johnny Nash Jr.

Nash began his career as a pop singer in the 1950’s. In the 1960’s, he and Danny Sims formed JAD Records, and while living in Jamaica, the pair signed Bob Marley and other members of the group, The Wailers.

The iconic I Can See Clearly Now, reportedly written while he recovered from cataract surgery, sold more than a million copies and sat at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart for four weeks.

He also found success with the hits Hold Me Tight in 1968, which broke the top 5 in both the US and the UK, and a 1971 cover of Bob Marley’s Stir It Up and There Are More Questions Than Answers.