RIP Toots

[Drunk Monk]

Reggae legend Toots Hibbert dead at 77

CLAUDE MILLS CREATED : 11 SEPTEMBER 2020JAMAICA NEWS 
[img=0x0]https://loopnewslive.blob.core.windows.net/liveimage/sites/default/files/2020-09/SZsZO8Si5w.jpg[/img]

Toots Hibbert on stage at Rebel Salute in January 2020. (Photo: Marlon Reid)

Reggae superstar Toots Hibbert has died. He passed away Friday at the University Hospital of the West Indies after being placed in a medically induced coma over a week ago. 

The 77-year-old icon, whose birth name is Frederick Hibbert, was the frontman of the groundbreaking reggae and ska group Toots and the Maytals, which for almost six decades has been among the most prominent groups in reggae.

“It’s hard cause we all loved daddy, we just wanted more time, it’s just hard,” gospel singer Jenieve Bailey, the singer's eldest daughter told [i]Loop News[/i], before bursting into tears. 

Hibbert's manager Cabel Stephenson was so overcome with emotion that he could not comment.

Hibbert was hospitalised late August after he developed "breathing problems". He was said to be awaiting a COVID-19 test result.

The Jamaican cultural icon recently participated in the island's annual Festival Song competition which he won three times. He released his latest album, Got to Be Tough, on August 28.

The album, co-produced by Zak Starkey for his Trojan Jamaica label, features Toots' signature mellowed vocals delivering a burning plea for resilience and strength for a world at the breaking point. The songs address the legacy of slavery and systemic racism in Jamaica, rising economic injustice, and inequities exacerbated by the ravages of the coronavirus pandemic. 

Toots had been consistently touring with his band, the Maytals, since the early 1970s, when his landmark album Funky Kingston (one of the greatest reggae albums of all time) made him a global superstar opening for the Who and the Eagles. He and his band won the Grammy Award for best reggae album in 2005.

 

So saddened to hear this. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen Toots perform. He was incredible on stage. He’d lost a lot in recent years but I have so many fond memories of his shows.

[King Bob]

RIP Toots. Saw him years ago at the Catalyst. Went with DM and I think Steve Yee, but maybe wrong on that last. The music was great but he didn't wear pants, instead going for tights with skulls, which was not so great.

[Greg]

Ah, the irony that in last months Rolling Stone, they interviewed Toots about what he was doing to make a comeback to his best form

[Drunk Monk]

Saw him years ago at the Catalyst. Went with DM and I think Steve Yee, but maybe wrong on that last. The music was great but he didn't wear pants, instead going for tights with skulls, which was not so great.

I don't remember that. I just went searching for a ticket stub but I couldn't find one. I would've paid to get into the Catalyst so there should be one in my collection, but I've lost some over the years. That's a shame on my memory because a night at the Cat with you and the Yi man must have been so irie. We did a fair number of Cat shows back in the late 80s, especially during my grad school years so forgive the blur. 

I'm copying my DOOM posts about seeing Toots below in mourning.

Toots was heartbreaking.

Toots brought it home and many really loved that set, but for me, it seemed a bit slow for Toots.  He still looks in great shape and has a phenomenal voice, but was playing more soulful and slow, and I was hoping for something more upbeat, like the old Toots, more high energy.  Still, he has so many anthem tunes, it can't but be amusing.

- Toots started strong with two songs I really wanted to hear: Pressure Drop & Time Tough.  But then he went all cheesy with Louie Louie.  I had already walked away when that happened.  So strong opening, but I think he didn't like the fog - too chilly for his JA blood.

Toots & the Maytals: I'm is a huge Toots fan having seen him dozens of times over the past two decades.  He's still got it, although he didn't blow me away this round.  Opened with Do the Reggay - the song that first coined the term.  In the first six songs, Toots nailed the three I wanted to hear: Time Tough, Bam Bam and...oh man, there was another, but it escapes me now.  Anyway, I decided to man medical instead of wait out the set, knowing that many other volunteers really wanted to see Toots and for them, this would be a first time.

Toots was sluggish to begin, still doing his standard schtick of starting out with a classic riddem, then double-timing the beat towards the end, sending the audience into a frenzy.  He's showing his age, not the Ben Vereen of Reggae anymore.  He got me towards the end, with that same riddem double-time trick.  He did a version of Bam Bam, a persoanl fav song, that I didn't care for, but I respect that he tried to reinterpret one of his standards and pushed the edge a little, instead of just going for the easy play-it-like-he-always-has-for-30+ years now.  He got me in the end with a 20+ encore that was just darting in and out of different riddems, coming dangerously close to polka or moshpit beats, but then returning to the comfrot of roots reggae and ska.  A good show, all in all.

My fondest memory of Toots was Reggae Sunsplash at the Greek which I'm guessing was the late 80s. Dm puddled on L and got in early to secure awesome seats, then smoked a huge fatty with his squad right near the entrance and the audience streamed in, setting the tone of the crowd. That was before fatties were even in the vernacular. It was all about pinners back then because pot was still way on the down low - still very illegal - and this was so blatant. The L kicked in hard and it started to rain. Dm hadn't dressed for weather and one of the things he hates most of all is being wet and cold. Yellowman took the stage and Dm's trip went dark - very dark - bordering on Armageddon. Reggae's repeatative crescendo teasing structure made Dm think that as soon as the song climaxed, the apocalypse would begin and Yellowman was some dark angel or albino demon sounding the first trumpet. Afterwards, Dm's squad said he just pulled inwards, tucked deep in a crouch, stable but clearly not wanting to be disturbed. Then Toots hit the stage. In Dm's lysergic-soaked mind's eye, a beam of sunlight pierced the clouds and shined upon him during the first song. During the second song, the sunshine spread, embracing the entire venue with summertime warmth. By the 3rd song, everyone was dry and dancing. Dm can still see that magnificent moment, acid-seared into his retinas. Toots sang 'everybody got soaked' and it was a musical epiphany.

[King Bob]

I remember that at the Catalyst it was soon after he did his Memphis album, and he did "Love the Rain" (remake of "Can't Stand the Rain" but he said he changed the lyric so it was positive). Plus of course "54-46 was my number."

I don't remember tickets at the Catalyst; I don't have any stubs from there. I think I always just showed up and paid.

[Drunk Monk]

Maybe that's it. Maybe it was a hand stamp deal. They still do that at the Cat sometimes. 

I wonder if the Cat will survive the pandemic. The place is still a dive, more so in recent visits than back when we used to go. I don't think they've cleaned it since...

This has been my anthem of late...

[King Bob]

That's a good one. Funky Kingston is still one of my favorite reggae albums.

[Drunk Monk]

Agreed. There is nothing like that Toots energy. 

Here's a show I was at. I love seeing the crowd groovin to him, his call-response work, and those wicked tempo changes that the Maytals could pull off under his command. 



2004 predates my RotR coverage here on DOOM unfortunately.

[Drunk Monk]

SEPTEMBER 12, 2020 5:05PM ET



Jimmy Cliff Remembers Toots Hibbert: ‘What a Soul, What a Personality’

“His soul will always be resonating with us and the people who loved his music,” reggae legend says of his friend and Maytals singer

[i]By[/i] 
DANIEL KREPS 

Following the death of "Toots" Hibbert, his friend and fellow reggae legend Jimmy Cliff spoke to Rolling Stone about the Maytals' singer.
Redferns

[i]In 2019, Jimmy Cliff said he considered Frederick “Toots” Hibbert and the Maytals’ 1962 album [/i]Never Grow Old[i] the birth of the reggae genre. The two singers often pushed each other artistically through friendly competition, with Cliff also recruiting Toots and the Maytals to appear in [/i]The Harder They Come[i]. Following the death of his longtime friend and tourmate “Toots,” fellow reggae legend Jimmy Cliff spoke to [/i]Rolling Stone[i] Saturday about the Maytals’ singer.[/i]
Toots, he’s out there somewhere now vibrating. Toots was one of the artists that I really loved and respected, because way back in the days, Toots was one of the people that got me into smoking herbs. They used to laugh at me, ‘Hey, take a draw, man.’ He was such a creative artist. People don’t know how creative he is. He’d start talking about something, then he’d take up a guitar and put [the song] down right away. That was one of the great things I’ll always remember about him, how creative he was.
Toots man, the world will always remember him. He has that amazing, unique voice. Back in the days when we used to do shows all over Jamaica — we had our little competition with each other, but it was all fun because we inspired each other — I used to sing some Otis Redding songs in my act, and the artists that were more inspirational to [Hibbert] were like Ray Charles. But after those shows, he became so taken up with Otis Redding that he started singing Otis Redding songs, and then he wrote this great song, a huge hit in Jamaica, called “Daddy.”
When Toots first came to Beverley’s Records — because I started quite a few years before him — he auditioned for myself and Derrick Morgan, and we turned Toots down. We said, ‘You sing like a cowboy,’ and [we mocked how] he played his guitar left-handed… He was hurt, and he left. And a month after that, he made this huge hit. He went to Coxsone [Dodd], another one of the producers, and made a huge hit. When he saw us, he said no words. Just looked in our eyes.
“Sweet and Dandy” was already a hit before [i]The Harder They Come[/i], and that is one of my favorite Toots and the Maytals songs. Toots is such a natural artist, so he was not used to miming, but he had to mime that song for the film. So it was difficult for him: He’s not a mimer he’s a natural. So it gave him a little trouble, but he had it down after a while.
Jerry and Raleigh, [The Maytals’ Henry “Raleigh” Gordon and Nathaniel “Jerry” Matthias], they were also very good friends of mine. We were so close on all of those concerts that we were doing all over Jamaica. They’d go down to a river before showtime, always trying to find a river [to smoke at]. ‘C’mon Jimmy, take a draw.’ But I was not into smoking, it was such a strange thing.
What a soul, what a personality, Toots. He’s like the sun. When he walks in, he lights up the place. Whether it’s a show or he’s just walking. He was always saying hi to everyone. What a spirit that man was, what a soul.
The last time I saw him, he came around my studios, about three years ago, with his one man kutchie. But we spoke occasionally, on the phone. It was the same kind of comradeship we had, like with him, Desmond Dekker, because we were all Beverley’s artists, even Bob Marley. Toots, I’ll always remember his kindness. He was such a kind man.
From our religious background, our concept of when someone cross over — we don’t say they “pass away,” we say “cross over,” they just go to the other side of existence, there’s no such thing as death — and then they go out there and they vibrate for however many days before they go to a higher height. But Toots, the way Toots lived his life, I’m sure his soul got to move on. The soul can reincarnate from 24 to 24,000 times, it depends how you lived your life. But with Toots, I can’t see Toots coming back to this planet. He’s evolved. He’s completed his task that he has to do on this planet.
And his new album [[i]Got to Be Tough[/i]]. I love his new album! His new album is one of the best he’s done. He just leaved us with that great album, and gone! It’s one of his best definitely, without a doubt. He had some great songs prior to this, but it took him so long to make this new album. But he left us with something great.


His spirit will always be resonating with us. His soul will always be resonating with us and the people who loved his music.

[Drunk Monk]

An audience-shot whole set.

[Drunk Monk]

Grammy for Toots and The Maytals
Sunday, March 14, 2021

KINGSTON, Jamaica— Got to Be Tough by Toots and The Maytals won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album.

The announcement was made a short while ago during the Grammy pre-telecast on www.grammy.com.

Got to Be Tough was released on August 28. This is the seventh nomination for frontman Toots Hibbert and sixth overall nomination for The Maytals.

Hibbert, 77, died on September 11 from COVID-19 complications.

The Trojan Jamaica/BMG set is the veteran act's first release in more than a decade. It peaked at number nine on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart and has to date sold more than 5,186 copies in the United States.

Toots and The Maytals won the Grammy in 2005 for True Love. Their previous nominations were Toots in Memphis (1989), An Hour Live (1991), Ska Father (1999), Light Your Light (2008), and Reggae Got Soul: Unplugged on Strawberry Hill (2013).

Kevin Jackson

[Greg]

Toots and Bunny Wailer did appear in the 'In Memoriam' section at the Grammy's

[Drunk Monk]

No love for U-Roy?

[King Bob]

Roots gets more respect than dancehall

[Greg]

I didn't notice U-Roy. But they did mention the Grammy's put up a list of over a 1000 names of people who passed.