“It is with the heaviest of hearts to announce that Frederick Nathaniel ‘Toots’ Hibbert passed away peacefully tonight, surrounded by his family at the University Hospital of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica,” his family said in a statement. “The family and his management team would like to thank the medical teams and professionals for their care and diligence, and ask that you respect their privacy during their time of grief. Mr. Hibbert is survived by his wife of 39 years, Miss D, and his seven of eight children.”
Reggae Nation woke up to stunning news on Tuesday morning. Fortunately, the talebearers got it wrong this time. Toots was in critical but stable condition and had not in fact left us.
“Although Toots is critically ill, he is slowly making steady progress, and being given all the necessary support. He is making steady improvements daily. We are asking those who are desirous of giving support and are willing to do so, to donate blood to Mr Hibbert’s account at the Blood Bank at UHWI or at Slipe Pen Road,” Grange said.
Reports are that the 77-year-old Reggae legend was admitted to the hospital suffering from COVID-19 symptoms a week ago. We are sending waves of healing energy to Mr. Hibbert. Hang on in there, Toots.
Let’s celebrate him
Really, the man needs no introduction, but just in case...
In the 1960s, Frederick “Toots” Hibbert didn’t just give the emerging genre of reggae its most soulful voice – he also gave it a name. A slip of the tongue while rehearsing with his group the Maytals one day and “streggae”– Jamaican patois for someone in ragged clothes – became “reggae” in Toots’s mouth. When the Maytals released “Do the Reggay” in 1968, they intended to name a passing dance craze. Instead the newly minted word stuck to the sound they and the Wailers were helping to shape: a faster, brighter evolution of the rocksteady beat. “I never knew it was gonna be so prevalent, or so good,” says Toots, now 77, of reggae’s worldwide success. “But it feels good to know I was the one who put the ‘R’ in the music.”
There once was a time when Toots was even more popular than Bob Marley.
In 1971 the Maytals were the biggest act on the island. The wide distribution of Bob Marley and the Wailer’s first two album, along with the soundtrack to Harder They Come broadened reggae’s appeal and helped launch the Maytals, Bob Marley and the Wailers, and Jimmy Cliff to international stardom. Capitalizing on their new popularity and the appeal of their lead singer, the Maytals changed their name to Toots and the Maytals.
Funky Kingston, Toots and the Maytals’ first release to be distributed by Chris Blackwell’s Island label proved to be a critical triumph. Rock critic Lester Bangs, writing in Stereo Review, described the album as “perfection, the most exciting and diversified set of reggae tunes by a single artist yet released.”In the Dark followed, which included a cover version of John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” The group’s popularity continued through the 1970s, with the release of Reggae Got Soul, Pass the Pipe, Just Like That, Knock Out, and Toofs & The Maytals Live.
Toots and the Maytals have the distinction of recording in almost all sub-genres of Reggae: Bluebeat, Ska, Rocksteady, Reggae, and Dancehall.
Here’s a clip of young Jimmy Cliff, Toots and his Maytals, and other founding fathers of Reggae:
Here are some of my favorites from the man himself:
Time Tough
“Time Tough” more than any other song illustrates the philosophical differences between Toots on one hand and his contemporaries Bob Marley and Jimmy Cliff on the other. In the song, he bemoans widespread poverty and oppression and you listen attentively as he builds up to the solution:
Can't blame the minister
And you can't blame the preacher
And you can't blame your brother
And you cannot blame your sister
Can't blame your friends
'Cause today is the judgment day
And that's why everyone have to pray...
Still, one of my faves.
Reggae Got Soul
Never Get Weary
Rasta Man
Bam Bam
We are sending waves of healing energy to Toots. Fight on, Sir.