Toots Hibbert, a prolific reggae hitmaker from Jamaica broke out in the 1960s to become a global success with his breakthrough album, Funky Kingston. His tenor voice had a raspy tone that made him sound familiar to listeners across the globe. It was warm yet rough at the same time. The familiarity that made his audience love him was evident in songs such as, Funky Kingston and 54-46 That’s My Number where Toots evoked his passion through the music in a call and answer arrangement that wooed listeners of all types.
Frederick Nathaniel Hibbert was born Dec. 8, 1942 in the rural town of May Pen, Jamaica, he was the youngest of several children, Frederick — who was given the nickname Little Toots by a brother. Around 1962, he formed a vocal trio with Raleigh Gordon and Jerry Matthias, and the young men soon became a top act in the new scene that developed around ska — the up-tempo style, heavily influenced by American R&B, that predated reggae.
Hibbert represented early reggae ethos as positive and uplifting, yet unflinching in its depiction of people’s difficulties. He wrote stories that appealed to basic moral, yet the songs were so rhythmically composed that one could dance even while contemplating the seriousness of the subject matter, usually a commentary on poverty and injustice.
Toots was serious about the message and legacy he wanted to establish. He said in an interview in 2010, “A hundred years from now, my songs will be played, because it is logical words that people can relate to.”
In a recent article, the New York Times hailed him as a father of music among Jamaica’s musical icons. Toots, a two-time Grammy winner, is credited as the inventor of the coinage, reggae after using the word on his 1968 single, Do the Reggay with his group the Maytals.
On classics like “Pressure Drop,” “Monkey Man” and “Sweet and Dandy,” Mr. Hibbert sang in a raw but sweet tone that had echoes of Ray Charles, and he was often compared to other giants of soul music.
Further hits, like “Bam Bam” from 1966, made Mr. Hibbert and his group among the decade’s biggest stars in Jamaican music. They found a wider international audience thanks to “The Harder They Come,” the seminal 1972 Jamaican crime film
Remembering this great icon’s legacy, former manager, Cabel Stephenson said of Toots, “COVID steal a lot of the great ones, but the legacy that he leaves will endure. I travelled the world with him, and Toots was loved everywhere.”
Toots Hibbert released his final album, Got To Be Tough, in August 2020, one month before his death, on the Trojan Jamaica label. The album went on to win the Grammy for Best Reggae Album in 2021.
