Toots Hibbert
December 8, 1942 – September 11, 2020
Mick Jagger and Bonnie Raitt are among those who have paid tribute to reggae musician Toots Hibbert. The Rolling Stones frontman lamented the passing of the 77-year-old as “a great loss to the whole music world”. Raitt said: “He’s a fireball, you know. He was just a force.”
Frederick Nathaniel ‘Toots’ Hibbert was born in Kingston, Jamaica. As the leader of Toots And The Maytals he was a pioneering figure in ska and reggae music, credited with inventing the very word ‘reggae’, and a songwriter whose compositions were covered by The Clash, The Specials, Keith Richards, Izzy Stradlin, Gov’t Mule, Robert Palmer, Willie Nelson, Amy Winehouse and more.
Hibbert fronted The Maytals (later going by the name Toots And The Maytals) from the early 1960s. In 1968, while writing a novelty song about a passing dance craze, Toots mis-pronounced the Jamaican term ‘streggae’ as ‘reggae’, giving rise to a whole new term.
“In Jamaica we had a slang,” he told the BBC. “If we’re not looking so good, if we’re looking raggedy, we’d call it ‘streggae’. That’s where I took it from.” The song Do The Reggay instead came to define the sound being developed by bands such as the Maytals and the Wailers.
“I never knew it was gonna be so prevalent, or so good,” he told the Independent just last month. “But it feels good to know I was the one who put the ‘R’ in the music.”
By the late 1960s, Toots & The Maytals had a string of hits, including Pressure Drop, 54-46 (That’s My Number) and Monkey Man. Mick Jagger later commented: “When I first heard Pressure Drop, that was a big moment.”
In 1971 the band signed to Island Records, and the following year appeared in the movie The Harder They Come and contributed two songs to the soundtrack. Critically acclaimed albums including Funky Kingston (1972) and Reggae Got Soul (’76) followed, and the band toured the world supporting artists including the Eagles and Jackson Browne.
The UK punk movement embraced Hibbert’s music too, with The Clash covering Pressure Drop in 1978 and the Specials including a cover of Monkey Man on their debut album the following year. The ska punk scene of the 90s was also indebted to his sound and artists frequently covered his songs.
“I’ve always thought Toots And The Maytals were the punk rock of reggae,” Zak Starkey, drummer with The Who and co-producer of Hibbert’s final album, told Rolling Stone last month. “We had a lot of reggae playing in my house as a kid, and the feeling I got from Toots was the same I got from The Who — a feeling of aggression and excitement, the songs were about something.”
To this day, Toots And The Maytals have had more Jamaican chart-topping singles – and more No.2s – than any other artist. Their album True Love won a Grammy in 2005. Hibbert’s latest record, Got To Be Tough, was released on August 28.
A connection with the Stones, who invited the band to open on their Bigger Bang tour, remained strong. Having performed a duet with Hibbert in 2004, Keith Richards praised Toots to Rolling Stone magazine, saying: “His voice reminds me very much of the timbre of [soul great] Otis Redding. When you hear him do Pain In My Heart it’s an uncanny resemblance. Whenever I get a call from Toots I go running.”
Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood added: “I have very happy memories of playing with Toots, a lovely man and a great talent.”
The Who, who were supported by the Maytals on a 1975 US tour, tweeted: “Rest in peace”.
Chris Blackwell, founder of the band’s label Island Records, said: “Toots was just a joy of a human being, a really special person.”
Cause of death is yet yet to be confirmed. Hibbert was admitted to hospital at the end of August and tested for coronavirus. SR