Not Fade Away
TOOTS HIBBERT
Reggae pioneer (1942-2020)
WHEN Toots Hibbert exhorted us to “Do The Reggay” on a rollicking 1968 single with The Maytals, he gave a new name to the irresistible, scratchy groove so unique to Jamaican music. On hits such as “Pressure Drop”, “Monkey Man”, “Funky Kingston” and “54-46 Was My Number” he went on to define the genre, singing in a soulful voice that possessed an “uncanny resemblance to Otis Redding”, according to Keith Richards. The Rolling Stone recorded with him on Hibbert’s 2004 Grammy-winning album True Love, which also included duets with Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt and Willie Nelson among others.
Born in May Pen, a market town 30 miles west of Kingston, Hibbert was orphaned in childhood and aged 11 was sent to live in the Jamaican capital with an older brother, who gave him the nickname “Little Toots”. He took a job in a barbershop, where in 1962 he formed The Maytals as a vocal trio. Early ska hits were produced by Coxsone Dodd, Byron Lee and Leslie Kong before progress wasthat, “I never go to prison,” and the experience was more like house arrest, motivated by music industry politics.
