Part of the Jamaica Worldwide reggae artist series.
Who He Was
Frederick “Toots” Hibbert was born in 1942 in May Pen, Clarendon. Raised singing gospel in church, he brought that fire into Jamaican popular music as the leader of Toots and the Maytals.
The Journey
The Maytals’ 1968 song “Do the Reggay” is widely credited with giving the genre its name. Their hits spanned ska, rocksteady and reggae, and “Pressure Drop” featured in The Harder They Come. Toots won the Grammy for Best Reggae Album with True Love in 2005 and again posthumously for Got to Be Tough. He passed away in September 2020.
Essential Songs
“Pressure Drop”, “54-46 That’s My Number”, “Monkey Man”, “Funky Kingston”, “Sweet and Dandy”, “Do the Reggay”.
Why He Matters
Toots fused gospel, soul and Jamaican rhythm into something joyful and unmistakable. Every reggae fan owes him a debt for the very word they use.
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