Toots Hibbert
Frederick Nathaniel "Toots" Hibbert, OJ (8 December 1942 – 11 September 2020)[2] was a Jamaican singer and songwriter who was the lead vocalist for the reggae and ska band Toots and the Maytals. A reggae pioneer, he performed for six decades and helped establish some of the fundamentals of reggae music.[3][4] Hibbert's 1968 song "Do the Reggay" is widely credited as the genesis of the genre name reggae.[5] His band's album True Love won a Grammy Award in 2005.[4]
Toots Hibbert
Frederick Nathaniel Hibbert
8 December 1942
May Pen, Colony of Jamaica
11 September 2020 (aged 77)
Kingston, Jamaica
- Singer
- musician
- songwriter
- bandleader
- Vocals
- guitar
- Hammond organ
1961–2020
Early life[edit]
Hibbert was born on 8 December 1942 in May Pen, Jamaica, the youngest of his siblings.[6] Hibbert's parents were both strict Seventh-day Adventist preachers so he grew up singing gospel music in a church choir. Both parents died young and, by the age of 11, Hibbert was an orphan who went to live with his brother John in the Trenchtown neighborhood of Kingston.[3] While working at a local barbershop, he met his future bandmates Raleigh Gordon and Jerry Matthias.[7]
Career[edit]
1960s[edit]
Hibbert, a multi-instrumentalist,[8] formed Toots and the Maytals in 1961.[6] He could play every instrument used in his band[9] and would later cite Otis Redding, Ray Charles, Wilson Pickett, and James Brown as key influences.[10] According to Hibbert, Maytals is a reference to the Rastafari term for "do the right thing".[6] There are also statements attributing the source of the name to Hibbert's hometown of May Pen.[10] The band was originally a trio with Gordon and Mathias, and later added Jackie Jackson and Paul Douglas.[11]
Much of Hibbert's early recorded output, such as "Hallelujah" (1963), reflects his Christian upbringing.[4] He was also known to write about Rastafarian religious themes, and in an early Maytals song, "Six And Seven Books of Moses" (1963), he addressed the folk magic of obeah and its use of the occult literature of Biblical grimoires, such as the Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses.[12]
The Maytals became one of the more popular vocal groups in Jamaica in the mid-1960s, recording with producers Coxsone Dodd, Prince Buster, Byron Lee, Ronnie Nasralla, and Leslie Kong. This success included winning Jamaica's National Popular Song Contest three times with songs Hibbert wrote: in 1966 with "Bam Bam", which won a national song competition, 1969 with "Sweet and Dandy" and 1972 with "Pomps & Pride".[13]
In 1966, Hibbert was sentenced to 18 months in prison for possession of marijuana.[14] This experience provided the inspiration for one of his best known songs, "54-46 That's My Number".[14] Hibbert was one of the first artists to use the word "reggae" on a record, in 1968's "Do the Reggay".[4]
Personal life[edit]
Hibbert married Doreen as a teenager. They had seven children.[41] Two of his songs, "It's You" and "Never You Change" were written for Doreen when she was 18 years old.[4] His son Clayton followed him into a career in music, performing and recording under the name 'Junior Toots'.[42] His daughter, Jenieve, also followed him into music, most popularly performing as one half of a gospel duo with now ex-husband, Robert Bailey.[43]
Death[edit]
In August 2020, it was reported that Hibbert was in hospital "fighting for his life" in a medically induced coma.[44][45][20] On 12 September 2020, a statement on the band's Facebook page announced that he had died, at the age of 77.[46] The Gleaner and Rolling Stone later confirmed the announcement, reporting that Hibbert had died at the University Hospital of the West Indies in Kingston, in a medically induced coma.[3][47] It was later confirmed that COVID-19 during the pandemic in Jamaica was the underlying cause of his death.[48][49]
Honors[edit]
In 2010, Hibbert ranked No. 71 in Rolling Stone magazine's "100 Greatest Singers of All Time".[50] In August 2012, it was announced that he would receive the Order of Jamaica, the country's fifth highest honour.[51]