The soulful Jamaican singer who gave reggae its name

In 1968, Toots Hibbert and his band the Maytals recorded an up-tempo dance single titled “Do the Reggay.” The distinctively Jamaican groove that propelled the track had been heard before in the local music known as ska, rocksteady, and bluebeat. But the title of Hibbert’s song—the singer said he’d been thinking of “streggae,” slang for a “raggedy” woman—gave a new name to the sound that would become Jamaica’s greatest cultural export. Toots and the Maytals went on to release a string of international reggae hits including “Pressure Drop,” “Monkey Man,” and “54-46, That’s My Number.”

All featured Hibbert’s soulful vocals and lyrics that often addressed the suffering of his people. “A hundred years from now,” he said, “my songs will be played, because it is logical words that people can relate to.”

Frederick Hibbert was born in the rural town of May Pen and “given the nickname

Little Toots” by an older brother, said The New York Times. At age 18, Hibbert headed to the capital, Kingston, and began singing in a vocal trio, first called the Vikings and then the Maytals. The group had a string of ska hits, but its rise was temporarily halted when Hibbert was arrested for marijuana possession and spent a year in prison. That experience inspired “54-46,” a reference to his prison number.

The Maytals’ international breakout came in 1972 with an appearance in the movie The Harder They

Come, “about ghetto life in Kingston,” said The Times (U.K.). The band toured the world with the Who and the Eagles, “taking reggae to a white rock ’n’ roll audience.” The trio split in 1981, but Hibbert kept recording until earlier this year. The people “need it now more than ever,” he said late last year of his music. “No time to waste.”