Beloved Jamaican reggae artist Frederick Nathaniel “Toots” Hibbert of Toots and the Maytals passed away on September 11, 2020 at age 77. He died at the University Hospital of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica, due to complications of COVID-19.
His death was announced on the band’s Facebook and Twitter accounts. “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,” read the statement.
The Maytals were formed in the early 1960s, and frontman Toots Hibbert is considered a Reggae pioneer along with Bob Marley. Toots’ vocals have been compared to Otis Redding and he was named by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the 100 Greatest Singers. He’s been described as one of the “most explosive and exciting performers ever to come out of Jamaica” and “the most powerful singer Jamaica has ever produced.”
The Maytals’ 1968 single “Do the Reggay” was the first song to use the word “reggae,” coining the name of the genre. “It did catch on, but at first I never realized how much—it just started being used,” said Hibbert. In an early interview in the book Reggae Bloodlines, Toots is quoted in defining the word: “Reggae just mean comin’ from the people.”
Born in May Pen, Jamaica, on December 8, 1942, he was the youngest of seven children. His family relocated to Kingston in the early 1960s when Hibbert was still a teenager.
Toots Hibbert. Photo: Nick Busco
In 1966, Hibbert was sentenced to 18 months in prison for possession of marijuana. This experience provided the inspiration for one of his best-known songs, “54-46 That’s My Number.”
During his career, Toots and his band worked with many strong and influential producers. Island Records founder Chris Blackwell said of the Maytals: “[They] were unlike anything else … sensational, raw and dynamic.”
Many of the genre’s pioneers were highly influenced by R&B, doo-wop, and soul artists they heard on the radio—perhaps none more so than Toots, who, as is heard on his exceptional 1990 album, Toots in Memphis, returned to those sources throughout his career. In the 1950s, with the technological changes in radio transmissions, “Jamaica picked up a radio station from New Orleans,” said Toots, thus was Jamaican music influenced by American R&B, particularly from New Orleans and Memphis. Toots acknowledged the New Orleans influences though he didn’t cover any New Orleans R&B tunes until 2007:
“I recorded ‘Let the Four Winds Blow’ for a Fats Domino tribute album [Goin’ Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino] and had the pleasure of recording it with him in New York City and playing with him on the Today Show.”
Toots, who came up in the church in his hometown of May Pen, also superbly blended the gospel roots of soul with reggae’s lilting rhythms on tunes like Otis Redding’s “I’ve Got Dreams To Remember.” Later, he turned to the Rastafarian faith, though he never wore dreadlocks. “The Bible says you must comb your hair—you don’t have to be dread to be Rasta,” he explained.
“I love New Orleans—both New Orleans and Jamaica have lots of soul and great music,” said Toots in an OffBeat interview, who lived in his homeland until his death. “Of course, you need to be close to your roots no matter where you live.”
Toots Hibbert was conferred with Jamaica’s fifth highest honor, the Order of Jamaica, in 2012. The band received the Grammy Award for best reggae album in 2004.
Toots Hibbert and his wife Doreen married as teenagers. He wrote both “It’s You” and “Never You Change” for his wife when she was only 18 years old.
Hibbert is survived by his wife of 39 years and by seven of his eight children.
